The high-level conference "Combating racism, xenophobia and intolerance in Europe" opened in Yerevan, 21-22 October

On October 21, Edward Nalbandian Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, opened the high level conference "Combating racism, xenophobia and intolerance in Europe" in Yerevan.

The conference is organized in the framework of the Armenian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

The opening ceremony of the conference was attended by a number of high-ranked guests, including Nils Muižnieks Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Michael O'Brien, Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the CoE, Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Jonas Gunnarsson, Member Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, Jean-Marie Heydt, President of the Council of Europe Conference of INGOs and Fadel Muhammad Javad, Assistant Secretary General of the Arab League.

High ranked representatives from CoE Member states and CoE major bodies including European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and the General Secretariat, as well as from international organizations - UN, OSCE, European Union and Arab League visited Yerevan for participating in the conference.

The agenda of the two-day conference in Yerevan includes several issues that concern the societies of the CoE member states such as expression of racism and hate speech in political discourse, the role of political leaders and civil society in combating such processes, the intensive use of preventive measures, overcoming racial stereotypes, exclusion of manifestations of xenophobia and intolerance and spread of hate speech, etc.

Speech by Thorbjørn Jagland 
Speech by Edward Nalbandian