This forum was co-organised by the Council of Europe (Education and Youth sectors) and the Department for Youth Policy and the Universal Civic Service of the Italian government, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Amnesty International (European Office and Italian section), the City of Turin, the National Youth Council of Italy and the European Youth Forum, in the framework of the Italian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

The General Conclusions highlight that the Reference Framework for Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) has proven to be effective and instrumental in the field of EDC/HRE, and the continued need for further work in the fields of assessment and evaluation and for capacity building for schools, training teachers and other educational staff members. Council of Europe member States are called upon to increase their efforts to implement civic/citizenship education by creating effective policy responses and by integrating the principles of the EDC/HRE Charter in a sustainable manner, to support the training on RFCDC, and the setting-up of a network of teacher trainers in co-operation with national teacher training institutions, thereby addressing the need for capacity building for school communities, and fostering the Whole School Approach. Member States are also invited to encourage higher education institutions to increase the provision of EDC/HRE in their programmes and strengthen the professional development of practitioners and researchers in the field.

The General Conclusions are also accessible at the web pages of the forum: