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Council of Europe Congress to co-organise the First Citizens' Assembly in Mostar to promote deliberative democracy
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, jointly with the City of Mostar, is organising a Citizens’ Assembly, which will be inaugurated on 10 July 2021, as part of the first deliberative process of this kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the South East of...
Striking the right balance between the public interest and individual rights: role of prosecutors discussed in Saint-Petersburg
Role of prosecutors in the protection of individual rights and public interest in light of requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights has been the topic of the high-level conference that concluded in Saint-Petersburg today. The Conference was co-organised by the General Prosecutor’s...
Minority languages in Slovenia: progress on German and Italian welcomed; renewed recommendation to recognise Croatian, German and Serbian
A new report published by the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages evaluates the measures taken by Slovenia to implement the recommendations for immediate action given to it in November 2019. The Charter entered into force in Slovenia in 2001; it applies...
Committee of Ministers: Informal exchange of views with civil society representatives on free exercise of lawyer profession
At an informal meeting on 8 July 2021, delegations from the Council of Europe’s 47 member States held an exchange of views with representatives of international civil society organisations active in the area of the protection of the freedom of exercise of the profession of lawyer and the defence...
Netherlands makes voluntary contribution to Council of Europe
The Netherlands has made a voluntary contribution of €301,200 to the Council of Europe. Ambassador Roeland Böcker made the financial commitment in the presence of Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge. €100,000 will be spent on the Action Plan for Ukraine and €50,000 on the Action Plan for...
The CEPEJ publishes a Handbook on court dashboards
The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) has produced a handbook to provides practical step-by-step guidelines on how to develop comprehensive court-level and judge-level dashboards. It covers the process of designing the dashboard including content, data visualisation and...
Special Representative of Secretary General on Migration and Refugees reports on his mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees, Ambassador Drahoslav Štefánek has published a report on his fact-finding mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of the mission was to provide a picture of the current situation of migrants, refugees and asylum...
Secretary General at Ukraine Reform Conference: progress made, but further efforts needed
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić in the opening speech at the 4th Ukraine Reform Conference “Strong Ukraine in a Stronger European and Euro-Atlantic Family” spoke about the important contribution that Ukraine has made to the work of the Council of Europe,...
Human Rights Trust Fund supports three new projects
The Assembly of Contributors of the Human Rights Trust Fund (HRTF) has decided to allocate funding to three new projects: Strengthening the provision of health care and mental health care in prisons in Romania; Ensuring the effective implementation of the right to a fair trial (Article 6 of the...
Secretary General meets Holy See Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin
Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić received a courtesy visit by Holy See Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The exchange of views focused on Council of Europe-Holy See relations and on the importance of the inter-religious dimension of intercultural dialogue. The relevance of the...
Published Venice Commission opinions this week concern Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Romania, Russia and Turkey
The Venice Commission this week published opinions it had adopted during its summer plenary session (Friday 2 July and Saturday 3 July), which was held in a hybrid format due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns. an opinion on the draft Law on preventing conflict of interests in the institutions of...
Secretary General: Western Balkans countries play “central and valued role” in Council of Europe
Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, addressing today the Prespa Forum Dialogue International Conference “Western Balkans: the Missing Puzzle for Completing Europe” in Ohrid, North Macedonia, explained the role of the Council of Europe in helping the region along...
Drug consumption rooms important part of reducing harm, Strasbourg Symposium hears
Drug consumption rooms - special facilities that provide safe and hygienic environments for supervised drug use, protecting users from risk - are a useful element in increasing public health and safety and promoting safer drug use patterns, an expert symposium heard today. Organised by the...
Human rights training for legal professionals: number of online users doubled since 2020
HELP, Europe’s only peer-to-peer human rights training network for legal professionals, is holding its annual conference in Strasbourg on 1 and 2 July, with take-up of its online courses doubling from March 2020 to June 2021 The conference will hear how the HELP network has responded to global...
Secretary General participates in opening ceremony of Generation Equality Forum in Paris
Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić has underlined the relevance of the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as Istanbul Convention, at the opening ceremony of the Generation Equality Forum in Paris. “Last year, we saw a surge in...
Warsaw Convention report: Burden of proof should be reversed to allow confiscations in serious offences
The Council of Europe’s Warsaw anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing convention committee has called on its States Parties to effectively apply the reversal of the burden of proof regarding the lawful origin of alleged proceeds or other property liable to confiscation in serious...
Secretary General at « Les Conversations de l'Odyssée »
Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić has taken part in « Les Conversations de l'Odyssée » with Faruk Gunaltay, the director of the Odyssée cinema in Strasbourg. The Secretary General highlighted the relevance of culture in contemporary Europe and the challenges of the...
New partnership agreement between Council of Europe and City of Strasbourg
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, and the Mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian have signed a new partnership agreement to reinforce the longstanding co-operation between the two sides, updating the 2010 agreement. “Ever since 1949, the City of Strasbourg...
Challenge of ensuring national minority rights taking new forms, tools to address it adapting
Achievements and future challenges in protecting national minority rights has been the focus of a high-level conference in Strasbourg organised by the Council of Europe under the Hungarian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers. Persons belonging to national minorities face particular...
Automated technology to detect online child sexual abuse must respect human rights
Technology used to detect the online sexual abuse of children must respect human rights and the rule of law, says a new report for the Council of Europe. “There has been a sharp rise in the exchange of online child abuse material during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Council of Europe Secretary...
