Participation of member states of the Council of Europe and international intergovernmental organisations

In pursuing its longstanding co-operation with other European and national actors, invitations to attend the Closing conference will be issued to:

· representatives of all 47 member states of the Council of Europe as well as non-member states with observer status
· representatives of the different bodies of the Council of Europe: the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe
· representatives of international intergovernmental organisations working in the field of preventing and combating violence against women, including domestic violence.

Participation upon invitation only.

Participation of NGOs

The Council of Europe has always operated in close cooperation with NGOs in areas of interest to their work. This cooperation has been strengthened following the adoption of Res(2003) 8 on participatory status for international non-governmental organisations and Res(2003) 9 on status of partnership between the Council of Europe and national non-governmental organisations.

NGOs wishing to participate in the Closing Conference may be invited upon request if they meet the following criteria:

- active in preventing and combating domestic violence
- enjoy participatory status with the Council of Europe or otherwise active at European level.

On the basis of these criteria, registrations will be considered but it should be noted that the number of places is limited. Only in exceptional circumstances will more than one representative per organisation be admitted.

The Council of Europe will not be able to bear any costs for NGO participation in the Conference and therefore, NGO participants will have to cover their own travelling and daily expenses. There is no conference fee.

Requests for participation may be addressed to:

Taina Riski
Coordination of Campaign Activities
Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs
Council of Europe
67075 Strasbourg Cedex
E-mail: dg2.violence@coe.int
Tel: (33) 3 90 21 53 69
Fax: (33) 3 88 41 27 05