The Special Representative on Migration and Refugees, Ambassador Drahoslav Štefánek, is hosting the first visit of Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer (FRO), Jonas Grimheden, to the Council of Europe. Mr Grimheden is accompanied by a team of Fundamental Rights Monitors. The visit, from 8-10 November, is focusing on the migration-related standards of the Council of Europe and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.

The Special Representative welcomed the team to the Council of Europe and gave an overview of his activities. He presented the Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe (2021-2025), whose implementation he is currently coordinating. He emphasised that the Action Plan, which contains some 30 activities, is composed of four pillars based on Council of Europe standards: Human Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy. The fourth pillar focuses on co-operation between migration and asylum authorities in Council of Europe member states, through the Network of Focal Points on Migration.

Meetings are scheduled with the Executive Secretary of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), Régis Brillat, the Head of Division and Executive Secretary of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), Petya Nestorova, the Division of Human Rights Training for Legal Professionals (HELP), and the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Frontex team will also get updates on the latest relevant cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), and the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECtHR.

The mandate of the Special Representative includes complementing the activities of relevant Council of Europe bodies and co-ordinating actions with other international partners, notably the UNHCR, IOM, UNICEF, EU, FRONTEX and others.