The Venice Commission organised in co-operation with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) and the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies (Spain) an international conference "Current Challenges for Democracy in a State based on the Rule of Law," which was held in San José, Costa Rica, on 20-21 November 2025.
The conference aimed to address such topics as the crisis of democracy and the rule of law; democracy in light of the case-law of international and national courts; democracy and independent judges; and democracy in the face of new technologies. Participants also had the opportunity to exchange on the recommendations of the “Amicus Curiae Brief for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on democracy as a human right” adopted in June 2025 by the Venice Commission.
Judges from Constitutional and Supreme Courts of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru as well as judges of the Inter-American Court, members of the Venice Commission and experts from the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies took part in the work of the conference.
The event was organised in the framework of the joint European Union - Council of Europe programme “Support to targeted key actors and processes – Regional Human Rights instruments and mechanisms in countries of Latin America, Central Asia and Mongolia”, financed by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe.
