Check against delivery

It is a pleasure to be here to mark this important milestone for the Human Rights Trust Fund.

For ten years now you have brought together a group of like-minded – and far-sighted – member states who pool their resources in support of the Convention.

Not just to help member states accelerate and execute the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, as called for at the Council of Europe’s 2005 Third Summit in Warsaw.

But to go further still, and fund activities that support the implementation of our other human rights instruments too.

Over the past decade, a lot has been achieved.

You have raised more than 15 million euros, supporting 30 projects, including multilateral initiatives that have benefited every one of our 47 member states.

So while it is fair to point out that 18 countries have featured most prominently as beneficiaries, we all benefit from your work to ensure the efficient and effective implementation of human rights across our common legal space.

Supporting the execution of Strasbourg Court judgments.

Cutting back on repetitive applications before domestic courts.

And providing remedies where human rights violations have occurred.

There is of course a great deal more work waiting to be done.

A point not lost on the Committee of Ministers when it met at April’s High Level Conference in Copenhagen.

There, member states’ governments reaffirmed their deep and abiding commitment to the European Convention.

And their obligation to secure the rights and freedoms it defines for all 830 million Europeans within its jurisdiction.

The final Declaration encouraged the Committee of Ministers to “consider the need to further strengthen the capacity for offering rapid and flexible technical assistance to State Parties facing the challenge of implementing Court judgments”.

And it called on them to consider making contributions to the Human Rights Trust Fund.

So it could scarcely have been more explicit.

We need the Human Rights Trust Fund to do even more, and for that we need more funding.

Yes, we should take pride in what started as an initiative between Norway, the Council of Europe and the Council of Europe Development Bank.

And we should be grateful to the six states that contribute today: Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

But I hope that the Fund’s record of extraordinary success will persuade other member states to invest in this essential work too.

The Council of Europe’s 2018-19 Programme and Budget includes many projects for potential funding by the Human Rights Trust Fund.

And the more that we put into that Fund, the more that human rights, democracy and the rule of law will prosper on our continent.

Thank you for all that you do – and I wish you a very happy anniversary.