bringing human rights from the conference table to your kitchen table

The Council of Europe works for you. We want to give visibility to the role, standards and work of the Council of Europe in its member states, to show how Council of Europe membership has helped achieve particular results or changes. Our aim, through a variety of events and actions, is to highlight ways in which the Council of Europe’s action has helped improve the life of individuals and contributed to improving people’s enjoyment of fundamental rights.

Jerzy Baurski,  Ambasador, Stały Przedstawiciel Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej przy Radzie Europy

Whether it is the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights at national level, or the Council of Europe's work in many fields, such as working to abolish the death penalty or to ensure freedom of expression and freedom of the media, or to adress online and technology-facilitated violence against women through the Istanbul Convention and Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, the Council of Europe has achieved a lot since 1949. View achievements »

Events

18-19 November

• The Warsaw Dialogue for Democracy highlighted some of the most pressing issues facing democracies today with a focus on the impact of new technologies on democracy and human rights. This year´s event also celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe, with the aim of raising awareness and visibility of the organisation´s expertise, including the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, other related treaties and conventions, as well as the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. Read more.

July-August

• Information campaign in Polish language on the X platform on important Council of Europe conventions.

14-16 April 2024

• « 75 years of influence of the Council of Europe on shaping the European legal space in the areas of democracy, rule of law and protection of human rights»  international human rights conference at the Sejm of the Republic of Poland: The inaugural ceremony of the conference will include addresses by: Speaker of the Senate of the Republic of Poland, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska; Deputy Ombudsman of Ukraine, Dr Valeri Vachev; Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski; Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, Dr Krzysztof Śmiszek; Chairman of the Committee on Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Prof. Robert Grzeszczak (University of Warsaw). Main sessions will be devoted to: The influence of the Council of Europe on shaping the European legal space in the area of human rights protection; The influence of the Council of Europe on shaping the European legal space in the area of democracy and the rule of law; The influence of the Council of Europe on the process of European integration; The evolution of the role of the Council of Europe in the system of European international organisations. See Call for papers.

22 November 2023

• The resurgence of Polish city of Łódź honouring its industrial heritage. The Polish city of Łódź hosted the 12^th Annual Advisory Forum of the Council of Europe´s Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes, and took the opportunity to show its transformation as a city on the European Route of Industrial Heritage.  A post-industrial town, Łódź has become a colourful example of how to harness history to secure investment, modernise infrastructure and build new attractions to the benefit of people who live in the city and those who visit it.  Read more.

Tbc 2023

• An event to mark the 30th anniversary of Poland’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights (19 January 1993), and to make reference to the previous CoE Summit in Warsaw in 2005.