Delegations from the Council of Europe’s 46 member States have held an informal exchange of views with representatives of civil society on Challenges faced by human rights defenders, particularly those active in the fields of women’s rights, protection of the environment and media freedom. They discussed trends and challenges, including various forms of reprisals, smear campaigns, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) and other intimidating acts, as well as possible responses and good practices.
The aim was to explore how the Council of Europe could strengthen its engagement with, and create an enabling environment for, human rights defenders. The exchange of views, which took place on 8 December, forms part of the Secretary General’s follow-up to the decision taken by the Committee of Ministers (Helsinki Ministerial Session, May 2019) to protect and promote civil society more effectively by improving the participation of civil society organisations in the work of the Council of Europe.
It was also a first step in the follow-up to the Reykjavík Declaration of the 4th Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government (Reykjavík, Iceland, 16-17 May 2023) which stated: “We reiterate the pan-European role of the Council of Europe and in this regard, we will step up and strengthen the Council of Europe’s engagement with democratic actors in Europe and its efforts to create an enabling environment for human rights defenders”.
