События

18-22 March, Strasbourg

In a plenary meeting GRECO will discuss, with a view to their adoption, 5th round evaluation reports on Malta, North Macedonia and Sweden focusing on corruption prevention in central governments, including top executive functions, and law enforcement. GRECO is also expected to adopt a public Declaration in respect of Belarus due to its persistent lack of compliance with anti-corruption standards. Other topics on the agenda are 3rd round compliance reports on Belarus, Germany and Turkey; and 4th round compliance reports on Azerbaijan, Georgia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Norway, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Turkey and USA.

Contact: Jaime Rodriguez, tel. +33 3 90 21 47 04

19 March, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 16 judgments concerning Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

More information - ECHR website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08

19 March, Strasbourg

The anti-torture committee (CPT) will publish the report on its most recent visit to Romania, together with the response of the Romanian authorities.

Contact: Jaime Rodriguez, tel. +33 3 90 21 56 04

19 March, Skopje (Marriot Hotel)

The 3rd meeting of the “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey” programme, funded by the European Union and co-funded and implemented by the Council of Europe, will take stock of actions taken in North Macedonia. The event will bring together representatives of the beneficiary institutions directly involved in the implementation of the programme and high-level officials of the Council of Europe, the Delegation of the European Union to North Macedonia and the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice.

The introductory speech and the round-table on “Horizontal Facility as a tool in the EU accession process: results and challenges” are open to the media.

A press briefing is planned for 10 a.m.

Agenda

Contacts: Dušan Vojnović , tel. +33 3 90 21 56 99 ; Marija Simić, tel. +381 63 60 13 37

19-21 March, Hungary

A delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities will carry out a monitoring visit to assess the implementation of the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which Hungary ratified in 1994. The two co-rapporteurs on local and regional democracy in Hungary, Marc COOLS, Belgium (L, ILDG), and Jean-Pierre LIOUVILLE, France (R, SOC), will examine developments in the situation of local self-government in Hungary.

20 March, Brussels (European Parliament)

On the occasion of the International Day Against Racial Discrimination, Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović will speak at the conference “Creating Trust through Uncovering and Recognising the Truth: Advancing Recognition and Remedy for Anti-Gypsyism”.

20 March, Strasbourg

A conference organised by the Council of Europe and Reporters Without Borders will bring together policy makers, academics, journalists and regulators to discuss public policies aimed at strengthening media pluralism. The conference will also explore how existing media legislation and policies regulating media ownership and control can be applied to the new media environment, where new online actors have assumed an essential role in distributing content and shaping public opinion. Held under the theme “Media Pluralism

how can we deliver?” the conference will also tackle the impact of media literacy on media consumption and public opinion as well as the role it can play against disinformation. Jan Kleijssen, director of Information Society and Action against Crime, and Michael Rediske, president of Reporters Without Borders International will speak at the opening. The conference is open to media.

More information and programme

Contact: Jaime Rodriguez, tel. +33 3 90 21 56 04

21 March, Tbilisi

The Council of Europe Office in Georgia is launching the awareness raising campaign “I Choose Equality”. An exhibition “Explore Diversity, Explore History” portraying images and quotes from travel journals celebrating historical Georgian diversity, videos on equality and diversity will be on display; participants will be able to leave their messages on an Equality Wall.

The event, open to media, will take place at the Georgian Museum of Fine Arts (Rustaveli Avenue 7).

Contact: Tatiana Baeva (Strasbourg) tel. + 33 3 88 41 21 41, Natia Kantaria (Tbilisi) tel. +995 322913870

21 March, Warsaw

Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland will carry out a working visit and will participate in a conference on the role and position of NGOs in the Council of Europe.

Contact: Daniel Höltgen, tel. +33 6 68 29 87 51

21 March, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 24 judgments and/or decisions concerning Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

More information - ECHR website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08

21-22 March, Venice

A roundtable meeting on policies to address school violence based on sexual orientation will be organised by the Council of Europe. The recently published Council of Europe / UNESCO report “Safe at School: Education sector responses to violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or sex characteristics in Europe” will be presented. Agnese Canevari from the National Office against Racial Discrimination and Luisella Pavan-Woolfe, the Head of CoE office in Venice will open the event. Ukrainian and Maltese offices of European Network of Parents, Italian Centro Risorse LGBTI, Lithuanian National LGBT Rights Organisation and other NGOs will participate. The event, open to media, will start at 9.30 a.m. at the Council of Europe’s Office in Venice (San Marco 180C).

Contact: Giuseppe Zaffuto, tel. +33 3 90 21 56 04

22 March, Warsaw (Poland)

At the invitation of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, the Parliamentary Assembly’s (PACE) Parliamentary Network on Diaspora Policies will organise a conference on “The role of diasporas in the development of civil society”. Network members will discuss, in particular, the involvement of diaspora associations in strengthening civil society, and mechanisms to ensure better participation of diasporas and civil society in decision-making processes.