Civil society organisations in Finland have benefitted from a government-organised exchange aimed at increasing their awareness and engagement with the Council of Europe. The Foreign Ministry-organised event not only raised visibility of Finland’s role within the Organisation, but also of the ways in which civil society can contribute to its work.
Specifically, this was an opportunity to update the civil society organisations on current issues, including the implementation of the Reykjavik Declaration on future work on human rights, democracy and the rule of law, agreed last year by Europe’s leaders, as well as the role of the recently elected Commissioner for Human Rights, and plans around the 75th anniversary of the Organisation.
While Finland is a strong supporter of enhanced civil society engagement at both the national and international levels, regular civil society exchange on Council of Europe issues is a new practice in Finland. The first one was organised prior to the Reykjavik Summit in 2023 and the aim is that this will now become annual.
“Democracy is a key pillar of the Council of Europe’s work, and free civil society is a fundamental element of a functioning democracy. Therefore, it is important to raise awareness and engage with civil society, also on national level, on the Council of Europe’s work”, said Ambassador Sini Paukkunen-Mykkänen, Permanent Representative of Finland to the Council of Europe. “The expertise contributed by the civil society actors is very valuable. It may have gone unrecognized that many of Finnish secondments in the Council of Europe secretariat have been from the civil society already for a couple of decades.”
The Council of Europe is working with civil society throughout its standard setting, monitoring and co-operation activities. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can also engage with the European Committee of Social Rights.
As a frontrunner on social rights in Europe, Finland is the only member state allowing its national NGOs to lodge a collective complaint against it under the European Social Charter, which is considered as a good practice by the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe and Civil Society - Civil Society Portal
