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2021 North-South Prize awarded to the COVAX Mechanism and Zarifa Ghafari
On its meeting on 19 November, the Executive Committee of the North-South Centre endorsed the decision of the North-South Prize Jury to award the 2021 North-South Prize of the Council of Europe to The COVAX Mechanism and Ms. Zarifa Gafhari. The Covax Mechanism is selected in recognition to the...
Tunisia launches new initiative to better detect and help victims of human trafficking
The “National Referral Mechanism” (NRM), the first framework of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for identifying and referring potential victims of human trafficking, has been launched with the support of the European Union and the Council of Europe. Based on a human rights...
Venice Commission publishes opinions in fourth and final plenary session of 2021
In their final plenary session of the year, again held in a hybrid format because of Covid, the constitutional experts of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission have adopted, among other texts, opinions on Albania, Cyprus, Hungary, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The as-adopted opinions...
Hungary: LGBTQI amendments incompatible with international human rights standards says Venice Commission
The constitutional law experts of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission have published an Opinion on the compatibility with international human rights standards of Act LXXIX, as enacted by the Hungarian Parliament in June 2021. The Opinion focuses on amendments to Hungarian legislation...
AI in judicial systems: new action plan on digitalisation for a better justice
The Council of Europe’s European Commission for the efficiency of justice (CEPEJ) has adopted an action plan on digitalisation for a better justice for 2022-2025, aiming at reconciling the efficiency of new technologies and the respect of fundamental rights. This action plan sets the major...
“Crime and Criminal Justice -The Role of Restorative Justice in Europe”: Justice Ministers’ conference in Venice
“Crime and Criminal Justice -The Role of Restorative Justice in Europe” is the theme of the Conference of the Ministers of Justice organised by the Italian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers in Venice on 13-14 December at the Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista. Restorative Justice...
Claire Bazy Malaurie elected as new Venice Commission President
Claire Bazy Malaurie, member of the Constitutional Council of France since 2010, has been elected President of the Venice Commission, succeeding Gianni Buquicchio, who has been President since 2009. Her two-year term begins today, 10 December, and she will be eligible for re-election in 2023. She...
Human Rights Day 2021: Now more than ever, we must stand up for human rights
The Secretary General of the 47-nation Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, has made the following statement ahead of Human Rights Day on 10 December: “When faced with difficult challenges, it can be tempting for states to consider relaxing human rights protections. In fact, the opposite...
GRECO President: “Covid-19 related corruption risks remain high; governments should respond quickly but lawfully to the pandemic”
To mark the International Anti-Corruption Day, commemorated every year on 9 December, the President of the Group of States against Corruption of the Council of Europe (GRECO), Marin Mrčela, issued the following statement: “As governments face successive waves of the Covid-19 pandemic and still...
“Free to Create, Create to be Free” – digital exhibition on artistic freedom
In today’s world, freedom of expression is facing growing pressure – and so is the freedom of artistic expression. The COVID-19 crisis has severely affected artists and the cultural and creative sector, having rendered, at the same time, ever more visible the importance of arts and culture that...
