The Week Ahead: Key Events and Meetings

A special event (*) on the Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment, a 60,000-euro annual prize rewarding outstanding initiatives which promote the empowerment of women in all their diversity, will be one of the highlights of the Standing Committee meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).

The Prize, a joint initiative of the Icelandic Government and PACE, pays tribute to former Icelandic President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the first woman in the world to be elected as a Head of State.

After the opening of the meeting by PACE President Tiny Kox, Landtag (Parliament) Speaker Albert Frick will give a welcome address, followed by an exchange of views with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport Dominique Hasler, in the framework of Liechtenstein’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers.

The parliamentarians will also debate the observation of the parliamentary elections in Poland (15 October 2023), heritable genome editing in human beings, and institutional racism of law enforcement authorities against Roma and Travellers.

The Standing Committee, which acts on the Assembly’s behalf between plenary sessions, is made up of the President and Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, the chairpersons of political groups, the chairpersons of national delegations and the committee chairpersons, totaling some 60 parliamentarians from the Council of Europe’s 46 member States.

(*) Event on the Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment

Special page - Draft agenda

The meeting of the Standing Committee, which is open to the press, will take place from 10 am to 1 pm and from 2.30 to 5.30 pm (Venue: Vaduzer-Saal, Main Hall, Giessenstrasse 3, 9490 Vaduz, Liechtenstein) The meeting will be livestreamed.

Contact: PACE Communication Division, tel. +33 3 88 41 31 93

The Council of Europe’s Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) will hold its biennial Diversity Conference organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport of the Principality of Liechtenstein under the framework of the Liechtenstein Presidency of the Committee of Ministers on 29 November 2023.

The aim of the conference is to assess the current state of play and propose a drive for change in the inclusion of child migrants and refugees in and through sport. The Conference will bring together national and international experts, policy makers and those working for NGOs and grassroots sport.

The Conference will be opened by Dominique Hasler, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport of the Principality of Liechtenstein, Marja Ruotanen, Director General of Democracy and Human Dignity at the Council of Europe, and Alexandre Husting, Chair of the EPAS Governing Board.

Three speakers – Khalida Popal, Cyrille Tchatchet and Gerald Mballe – will share their journeys from being young refugees to seeing how sport has played a major role in their lives and specifically in terms of their inclusion within their host countries. Khalida Popal is the founder and director of Girl Power Organization and the Programme and Event Director of the Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team, Cyrille Tchatchet is an Olympic athlete and Gerald Mballe is an Adviser for Special Olympics Europe Eurasia.

There will be panels with experts looking into the current situation and the way forward, and in particular how the Council of Europe can play a meaningful role.

The Conference will take place from 9am to 1.15pm and will be live streamed via this link. Journalists who wish to attend on site should send an e-mail to [email protected] and complete the registration form by close of business on Monday 27 November at the latest.

More information

Contacts: Council of Europe: Päivi Suhonen, tel. +33 6 69 76 52 89, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Education and Sport of Liechtenstein: Thomas Lageder, tel. +423 236 64 45

The Observatory on History Teaching in Europe (OHTE) will hold its 3^rd Annual Conference on the theme “Teaching History, Teaching Peace?”. The event will be opened by an address by Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge by video message.

As part of the conference, on 30 November, the first OHTE General Report on the State of History Teaching in Europe will be presented at a press conference. The report discusses the place of history in education systems, explores textbooks and other educational resources in terms of design, dives into dynamics of teaching but also into learning outcomes and assessment of students. Country-specific information concerns 16 members of the OHTE: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Cyprus, France, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, North Macedonia, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye, as well as Ukraine as observer state.

The Annual Conference will be open to media, upon preliminary registration. It will also be webcast in English and in French.

The press conference to present the Report will take place on Thursday, 30 November, at 12.45 pm in the Room 8 of the Palais de l’Europe, as well as online. The link will be provided upon request.

Alain Lamassoure, Chair of the OHTE Governing Board will present the content and purpose of the General Report in the presence of renowned historian Timothy Garton Ash (University of Oxford).

Contacts: Tatiana Baeva, tel. +33 3 88 41 21 41, Bogumiła Warchalewska, tel. +33 3 90 21 44 84

27 November-1 December, Strasbourg

In a plenary meeting, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) will examine, with a view to their adoption, evaluation reports on  the Republic of Moldova, the United States of America and Türkiye, assessing measures to prevent corruption and promote integrity among persons with top executive functions in central government and as regards the police.

GRECO will also consider follow-up reports on Denmark, Malta, Slovakia and Spain evaluating their compliance with its recommendations on the same subjects.

As regards the evaluation of measures to prevent corruption in respect of parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors, GRECO will adopt follow-up reports on Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Portugal and Serbia.

Contact: Jaime Rodriguez, tel. + 3 6 89 99 50 42

27 November, Ankara (Convention and Cultural Centre of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations)

An international conference on “Fostering women’s access to justice in Türkiye” will take place as part of the EU/CoE joint action entitled “Fostering women’s access to justice in Türkiye”.

The event will include a signing ceremony for the launch of a grant scheme for funding legal aid services for women in eight pilot provinces. Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Ankara William Massolin, Head of the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Division Caterina Bolognese, Ambassador and Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Türkiye Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, and President of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations Erinç Sağkan, will open the conference.

The opening remarks and the signing ceremony will be open to the media (9-10.45 am). Interpretation in English/Turkish will be provided.

Programme

Contacts: Andrew Cutting, tel. +32 485 21 72 02; Marija Simić, tel. +381 63 601 337

27 November, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will be ruling in the case of Communauté genevoise d’action syndicale (CGAS) v. Switzerland (2.30 pm).

The case concerns measures, in force from 17 March to 30 May 2020, which were adopted by the Swiss Government to counter the coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID -19”).

More information – ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08

28 November, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will hold a Chamber hearing in the case Karsai v. Hungary (9.30 am).

This case concerns complaints under the Convention raised by the applicant, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) a type of motor neurone disease, in the context of issues related to self-determined death.

More information – ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08

28 November, Brussels

Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić will participate in an international conference on a Global Alliance to counter migrant smuggling.

Contact: Giuseppe Zaffuto, tel. +33 6 86 32 10 24

28 November, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 11 judgments concerning Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Romania, Russia and Türkiye.

More information – ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08

28 November, Tbilisi (Tbilisi Municipality City Assembly)

The Council of Europe will organise an event and exhibition entitled “Participatory Democracy and Human Rights in Georgia – From Vision to Action!”. Participants will include the Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and representatives of the government, the Parliament, local authorities, and civil society organisations in Georgia.

The program will showcase the achievements by 18 local authorities and CSOs from 8 regions in Georgia in strengthening civil participation and human rights, as well as innovative methodologies and tools, civil participation campaign and project achievements in enhancing youth participation within the project “Strengthening Participatory Democracy and Human Rights at Local Level in Georgia”.  

The event will mark and celebrate the closure of the project which is implemented jointly by the Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity, Division of Elections and Participatory Democracy and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023, with the financial contribution of the Austrian Development Cooperation.

The event will be open to media. 

30 November, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 118 judgments and/or decisions concerning Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Republic of Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Türkiye and Ukraine.

More information – ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08

30 November, Strasbourg

The Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) will publish the report of its most recent visit to San Marino together with the response by the San Marino authorities.

Contact: Giuseppe Zaffuto, tel. +33 6 86 32 10 24

30 November-1 December, Skopje

Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge will participate in the 30th meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council.

Contact: Päivi Suhonen, tel. +33 6 69 76 52 89

30 November-1 December, Skopje

More than 30 Roma and Traveller women activists and organisations, academics and policy makers will gather during the 9th International Roma and Traveller Women’s conference to discuss challenges, trends and synergies in view of effective implementation of international standards protecting Roma and Traveller women and girls. The conference will be organised in partnership with the Government of North Macedonia, and in cooperation with other civil society organisations.

Contact: Dušan Vojnović, tel. +33 3 90 21 56 99