Ref. DC 135(2021) Week in brief 28 June-4 July 2021 Online version Council of Europe and national minority rights
29 June, online event (9 a.m.-6.45 p.m.) – The Council of Europe and the Hungarian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers will organise a high-level conference “Council of Europe norms and standards on national minority rights: Results and challenges”.
The aim of the conference is to assess the achievements and to identify the remaining challenges in the field of minority rights protection in Europe.
The participants will discuss the Council of Europe instruments on the protection of national minorities and monitoring procedures, as well as their reform, the role of the Parliamentary Assembly and the European Court of Human Rights in the context of minority protection in Europe.
The conference will be opened by Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Gergely Gulyás, Minister, Head of the Prime Minister’s Office of Hungary. Among the speakers are Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Vesna Crnić-Grotić, Chair of the Committee of Experts on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Marie B. Hagsgård, President of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and Ivana Jelić, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights.
Media will be able to follow the webcast. Interviews with selected speakers can be organised upon request.
More information - Draft programme - Contact: Tatiana Baeva, tel. +33 6 85 11 64 93 Venice Commission Plenary Session
2-3 July, Venice – The Venice Commission will hold its plenary session in a hybrid format.
On Friday 2 July, it should adopt the following opinions: - an opinion on the draft Law on preventing conflict of interests in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- an opinion on the compatibility with international human rights standards of bills introduced late last year to the Russian State Duma, to amend laws affecting so-called “foreign agents”;
- an opinion on constitutional amendments adopted by the Hungarian parliament in December 2020;
- an opinion on the compatibility with international human rights standards of Law no. 7262 on the Prevention of Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction recently passed by Turkey’s National Assembly, amending the Law on Associations (No. 2860) and Law on Aid Collection.
On Saturday 3 July, the Venice Commission should adopt an opinion on the draft law for dismantling the section for the investigation of offences committed within the judiciary of Romania.
The session should also endorse previously issued urgent opinions concerning Armenia, Georgia, Malta, Montenegro and Ukraine.
No media can visit the session.
Contacts: Panos Kakaviatos, tel. +33 6 98 37 64 04, Tatiana Baeva, tel. +33 6 85 11 64 93 And also… 28 June, online event (9.30-10.30 a.m.) – The Council of Europe independent experts’ report on “Respecting human rights and the rule of law when using automated technology to detect online child sexual exploitation and abuse” will be presented in an event featuring Snežana Samardžić-Marković, Director General of Democracy of the Council of Europe; Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos, former President of the European Court of Human Rights who led the group of independent experts authoring the report; Christel De Craim, Chairperson of the Lanzarote Committee, and Katarzyna Staciwa, independent expert. The report describes the technologies used to automatically detect content and/or behaviors, the limitations and potential of such technologies. It also contains recommendations to the private sector players and policy makers/regulators to help them find appropriate solutions to reconcile the respect of the right to private life and protection of personal data, with the imperative to fight child sexual abuse online.
The event will be webcast.
Countering sexual violence against children
Contact: Tatiana Baeva, tel. +33 6 85 11 64 93 28-29 June (online event) – Organised by the African Union Commission, the European Union and the Council of Europe in partnership with other organisations, the second African Forum on Cybercrime will be an opportunity to assess the progress achieved by the many African countries that initiated legislative and policy reforms in the area of cybercrime and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience. The first edition of the Forum took place in 2018.
More information - Contact: Estelle Steiner, tel. +33 6 08 46 01 57 28-29 June, online event – The Intercultural Regions Network will host the first Intercultural Regions Academy online. The Academy will enable regional policymakers to acquire active understanding of intercultural integration. The event is open to journalists.
Contact: Giuseppe Zaffuto, tel.+33 6 86 32 10 24 29 June, Strasbourg – The Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić, and the Mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian, will sign a new partnership agreement to strengthen the long-standing cooperation between the two institutions, updating the 2010 agreement.
Contact: Estelle Steiner, tel. +33 6 08 46 01 57 29 June, online event (4-5 p.m.) – A high-level dialogue on “Decision-makers and Youth talk about democracy and the environment” will be organised as part of the World Forum for Democracy. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić, Vice President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Šuica, French State Secretary for Children and Families at the Ministry of Solidarities and Health Adrien Taquet and Mayor of Strasbourg Jeanne Barseghian will make introductory remarks.
Programme - Contact: Estelle Steiner, tel . +33 6 08 46 01 57 29 June, Strasbourg – The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 17 judgments concerning Cyprus, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Russia and Turkey.
More information - ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08 30 June, Paris – The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić will participate in the opening ceremony of the Generation Equality Forum.
More information - Contact: Daniel Höltgen, tel. +33 6 68 29 87 51 30 June, Strasbourg – The monitoring body of the Council of Europe’s Warsaw Convention against money laundering and terrorist financing – the Conference of the Parties – will publish a report evaluating to which extent its State Parties have legislative or other measures in place to provide that, in serious offences, the burden of proof is reversed regarding the lawful origin of funds or other properties which may be subject to confiscation, thereby obliging the perpetrator to demonstrate their legal origin.
More information - Jaime Rodriguez, tel. +33 6 89 99 50 42 1 July, Strasbourg – The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 27 judgments and/or decisions concerning Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Lithuania, the Republic of Moldova, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine.
More information - ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08 1 July, online event (4-5.30 p.m.) – The Digital Services Act package (DSA) will organise a webinar which will focus on fixing platforms’ vulnerabilities against their manipulation in order to amplify harmful behaviours, such as the spread of political disinformation, hoaxes and manipulation during pandemics, harms to vulnerable groups. A supervised risk-based approach will oblige very large platforms to assess and mitigate the risks their systems pose, including for protecting fundamental rights, public interests, public health and security, and to subject their assessments and measures to independent audit.
Registration - Contacts: Giuseppe Zaffuto, tel. +33 6 86 32 10 24 1 July, online event (9 a.m.-5.30 p.m.) – The Council of Europe will host the symposium ‘Low-risk drug consumption rooms in Europe: maintaining the momentum in the face of the major challenges of the 21st-century’, with the aim of exchanging European experiences, providing support for existing low-risk drug consumption rooms (DCRs) and contributing to the development of similar risk-reduction mechanisms throughout Europe.
The event is organised by the Council of Europe’s Pompidou Group as part of its 50th anniversary programme jointly with the City of Strasbourg and Ithaque Association which manages the DCR ‘Argos’ in Strasbourg, and in partnership with the Interministerial mission to combat drugs and addictive behaviour of France (Mildeca), the ARS regional health agency for the Grand Est region, The European Forum for Urban Security (EFUS) and Correlation Network.
Programme and registration.
Contact: Tatiana Baeva, tel. +33 6 85 11 64 93 1-2 July, online event (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) – The HELP Network will organise its 2021 Annual Network conference which will bring together members and partners of the Europe’s only peer-to-peer human rights training network. They will discuss how HELP through its online courses has sought to respond to global challenges related to the rule of law, environmental protection, as well as health in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The conference, organised under the auspices of the Hungarian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, will feature opening addresses by Ambassador Harry Alex Rusz, Permanent Representative of Hungary to the Council of Europe, Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe; Ambassador Meglena Kuneva, Head of the EU Delegation to the Council of Europe, as well as a keynote speech by Robert Spano, President of the European Court of Human Rights. Newly developed and updated HELP online courses will be presented, as well as the achievements of the HELP Programme over 2020-2021 in the EU, Western Balkans and Turkey, Eastern Europe and Russia, the South Mediterranean and Central Asia.
Media will be able to follow the conference webcast live (in English, French and Russian).
More information – Agenda - Concept note
Contacts: Tatiana Baeva, tel. +33 6 85 11 64 93; Giuseppe Zaffuto, tel. +33 6 86 32 10 24 All times mentioned are CEST |
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