Parliamentary Assembly session25 June 2024Strasbourg
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today elected Alain Berset (Switzerland) as Secretary General of the Council of Europe for a five-year term beginning on 18 September 2024. In the second round of the election, Mr Berset obtained 114 votes, a majority of the votes cast....
Civil society plays an essential role in encouraging respect for human rights, as well as strengthening democracy and the rule of law in Europe. The Council of Europe Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) organised a conference in Helsinki, Finland, on protecting and promoting the space for...
Parliamentary Assembly session25 June 2024Strasbourg
“Your strong and timely political recommendation to the Committee of Ministers to expel Russia was groundbreaking and – for many of us – brought back faith in our common institutions,” said Gabrielius Landsbergis, President of the Committee of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of...
Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić has met the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. The excellent institutional co-operation between the Council of Europe and United Nations has been underlined during the exchange of views. Marija Pejčinović Burić...
Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić has met the Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Committee of Ministers Gabrielius Landsbergis. The meeting focused on the Priorities of the Lithuanian Presidency. The opening for signature of the Framework Convention on Artificial...
The Venice Commission has published two new opinions on Georgia adopted at the latest plenary session: the Opinion on amendments to the Election Code abolishing gender quotas and the Follow-up opinion to the December 2023 joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR on the draft...
Parliamentary Assembly session24 June 2024Strasbourg
“As we continue to celebrate the Council of Europe’s 75th anniversary, I believe that the importance of its future success is understood by our member states and that despite all the complications there is an opportunity to build on this Organisation’s extraordinary legacy with a new layer of...
Parliamentary Assembly session24 June 2024Strasbourg
The first Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment has been awarded to the Irida Women’s Center in Greece, a grassroots NGO which works for positive change in the lives of women experiencing poverty, social exclusion and gender-based violence. The 60,000-euro annual prize, awarded jointly by PACE and...
The Register of Damage for Ukraine (RD4U) and the Council of Europe’s Congress held an event in Kyiv to kick off preparations for an awareness campaign aimed at involving representatives of Ukrainian cities and regions in promoting RD4U's mandate and the process of submitting claims to the...
Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić has met President of Iceland Guðni Th. Jóhannesson. The meeting focused on the Reykjavik agenda follow-up, notably in the areas of non-discrimination, gender equality, the environment, and artificial intelligence. The 75th anniversary initiatives and the...
Directors of European prison and probation services from the 46 Council of Europe’s member states are meeting in Sofia on 24 and 25 June to discuss ways to improve the autonomy and resocialisation of prisoners and combat organised crime groups in the prison and probation contexts, among other...
The Venice Commission plenary session on 21 and 22 June adopted or endorsed 17 opinions concerning eight countries (Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, and Poland). The documents adopted by the plenary session are being published this...
On Wednesday 26 June, the Council of Europe, in the presence of its Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić, will have the honour of welcoming the Paris 2024 Olympic Torch to its Assembly Chamber. For the first time ever, the torch will enter the premises of a parliament, and will be doing so...
The Venice Commission is holding its second plenary session of the year, with an agenda that includes 17 opinions concerning eight countries (Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, and Poland). The session is closed to the public, but the...
A joint debate on the legal and human rights aspects of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, on the role of sanctions and on the erasure of cultural identity are among the highlights of the summer plenary session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, taking place from 24 to 28 June...
Group of States against Corruption (GRECO)21 June 2024Strasbourg
The Council of Europe´s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2024. Since 1999, when it was established, GRECO has been a driving force in countering corruption in its member states, which today include the 46 Council of Europe member states, the United...
Benin, Fiji and Kiribati have acceded to the Convention on Cybercrime. With these new accessions, made in Strasbourg on 20 June in the presence of Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge, 75 States are now Parties, two have signed it and 18 have been invited to accede to the Convention....
After one year of membership as an observer state, Ukraine has joined the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe as a fully-fledged member state. “Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine reconfirmed the need to change approaches and practices in history teaching, the importance of implementing...
Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA)20 June 2024Strasbourg
A new report by the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) calls on Switzerland to take more measures against trafficking, particularly by improving victim identification and access to compensation, combating trafficking for the purpose of...
Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić has marked World Refugee Day by paying tribute to the support given by Council of Europe member states to millions of refugees. “Our continued commitment to upholding the rights of refugees is a testament to our shared values. Over the last decade, Europe...
The Council of Europe’s International Co-operation Group on Drugs and Addictions (Pompidou Group) will mark its 50th anniversary at an event that will look back over its history and successes, while also highlighting the importance of placing human rights at the heart of drug policies. Opening statements will be made by Marta Temido, Portuguese Minister of Health, Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and a high-level representative of France (9.30-10.30 a.m.).
The Pompidou Group will announce winners of the 10th European Drug Prevention Prize 2021, which is awarded for addiction prevention projects involving young people at the planning, implementation or evaluation phase (4.30 p.m).
The event will be livestreamed; accreditation is mandatory for journalists who wish to be present.