More than 200 representatives of international non-governmental organisations will come to Strasbourg for its autumn session this week. From 28 September to 2 October, they will discuss civil-society participation in addressing existing and emerging threats to democracy and human rights in Europe.
Climate crisis to the fore
A strategy session on climate risk in Europe will be held in view of COP31, the key annual conference on climate-change issues to take place in Türkiye in November 2026. Exchanges on recent trends in civic space, on the new intergovernmental committee on foreign information manipulation and interference, as well as on the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in the field of transnational repression are expected to take place.
The reports on CINGO’s recent fact-finding visits to Denmark and Montenegro, conducted in May and September respectively, will be discussed and endorsed.
On 2 October, a training session will take place on participation of civil society in the monitoring of the European Social Charter application, organised with the Committee of social rights.
The 50th anniversary of the Conference of International NGOs will be marked by a series of special events: an exhibition “Say NO to violence against women and YES to gender equality” in cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly, as well as thematic debates and screening of films on migration and on the rise of far-right movements.
Later in autumn, CINGO will host a meeting of environmental human rights defenders with various Council of Europe bodies and international actors on 12 October, and a high-level coordination event on defending human rights defenders on 18-19 November.
