The Week Ahead: Key Events and Meetings

The 2nd Liverpool Summer School on “Council of Europe at 75: Protecting Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law in a Rapidly Changing World” will be organised by the School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool, in cooperation with the Council of Europe’s OCEAN programme and other partners.

The Summer School will explore the role of the Council of Europe in addressing key challenges for human rights protection in the era of digital revolution and new technologies. In addition, the participants will consider how different bodies of the Council of Europe, such as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), the Social Rights Committee (SRC) and the Venice Commission, have been contributing to the fundamental aims of the organisation.

The 45 participants from over 20 countries, will attend the course. 25 experts will give presentations, including Presidents of the European Court of Human Rights and the Parliamentary Assembly, Chairs of the CPT and the SRC as well as one of the Vice Presidents of the Venice Commission.

Contact: Tatiana Baeva-Frachon, tel. +33 3 88 41 21 41

On the occasion of the 80^th anniversary of European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day events will be organised.
On 2 August 1944 over 3 000 Roma men, women and children were exterminated in the gas chambers of the “Zigeunerlager” at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
In Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) – A commemoration ceremony will be organised by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and the Association of Roma in Poland in cooperation with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and within the framework of the EU:CoE Joint Programme “Roma Holocaust Remembrance and Education – RomaMemory”.
Representatives of parliaments, governments, international organisations, and civil society will participate.
To commemorate the date, several other events from 31 July to 2 August will be held over several days:
-In Krakow, Auschwitz -Birkenau with the last survivors of the Holocaust of Roma and Sinti.
-In Strasbourg, Palais de l’Europe – A ceremony will be held at noon on the lawn in front of the building. Council of Europe officials, Permanent Representations, and a representative of Roma civil society will take part in the ceremony, which is organised by the Roma and Travellers Division, Anti-Discrimination Department. The speeches will be followed by laying of flowers in front of the “Human Rights” sculpture.
Contact: Panos Kakaviatos, tel. +33 3 90 21 50 27

9 July, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 11 judgments concerning Croatia, France, Malta, Romania, Russia and Türkiye.

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

11 July, New York (Permanent mission of the Republic of Lithuania and online, 1.15-2.45 pm local time, EDT)

A high-level panel will assess how to best build a resilient, multi-stakeholder coalition to face climate challenges and how they relate to human rights during the UN 2024 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development entitled “Charting the way forward: Combating the impact of climate change on human rights”.

This side event, organised by the Council of Europe and Lithuania, will include Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić and President of the European Court of Human Rights Marko Bošnjak will deliver video messages. The Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the United Nations Rytis Paulauskas who will make opening remarks.

An interactive discussion, the side event also will include the participation of Council of Europe Director on Social Rights, Health and Environment Rafael Benitez, Vice-President of the Lithuanian Consumers Alliance Kęstutis Kupšys, the current and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment Astrid Puentes, as well as MPs, NGO, local authorities’, and youth representatives, will also participate in this event. It will be moderated by Council of Europe Head of Department, Reykjavík Process and Environment Tanja Kleinsorge.

More information - Contact: Panos Kakaviatos, tel. +33 6 98 37 64 04

11 July, Barcelona (Spain)

A new Spanish version of the HELP course on child-friendly justice (2023) will be launched at the Judicial School of the General Council of the Judiciary of Spain. This new version has been adapted to the Spanish context in the framework of the EU/CoE Joint Project “Strengthening child-friendly justice through effective co-operation and coordination among different Barnahus-type services in the regions of Spain” for different professionals working for and with children, particularly for judges, prosecutors and lawyers, and for the staff working at Forensic Sciences and Legal Medicine Institutes.

The course provides information on the most important instruments at international and European level on child-friendly justice, and their application in practice across Europe and beyond. Initially developed in 2017, it was updated in 2023 under the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) Programme of the Council of Europe in close cooperation with the Council of Europe Children’s Rights Division and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).

Following the launching event, a study visit to different Barnahus Units will take place.

Programme - Contact: Tatiana Baeva-Frachon, tel. +33 6 85 11 64 93

11 July, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 37 judgments and/or decisions concerning Azerbaijan, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Portugal, Russia, Türkiye and Ukraine.

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

16 July, Strasbourg

The Council of Europe’s Access Info Group (AIG), an independent group of experts created to monitor parties’ compliance with the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents, also known as the Tromsø Convention, will publish its first baseline evaluation reports on 11 states: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, the Republic of Moldova, Sweden and Ukraine. The Convention, in force since 1 December 2020, was the first binding international legal instrument to recognise to everyone the right to access official documents held by public authorities.

Contact: Jaime Rodriguez, tel. +33 6 89 99 50 42

18 July, Blenheim Palace in Woodstock (United Kingdom)

Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić will participate in the European Political Community (EPC) Summit.

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

24 July, Strasbourg

The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body MONEYVAL will publish a fifth round mutual evaluation report on the United Kingdom Crown Dependency of Jersey assessing its level of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards for countering money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Contact: Jaime Rodriguez, tel. +33 6 89 99 50 42

4-5 September, Vilnius

Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić will participate in an informal Conference of Ministers of Justice of the Council of Europe “Towards Accountability for International Crimes Committed in Ukraine”.

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

All times are CEST unless indicated otherwise