Information Documents
SG/Com(2019)1360                                                        13 November 2019[1]

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Dialogue with the Secretary General

and the Deputy Secretary General

at the 1360th meeting of the

Ministers’ Deputies (13 November 2019)

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DIALOGUE WITH THE SECRETARY GENERAL

1.          Meetings in Strasbourg

Mr Alain Berset, Federal Councillor, Head of the Federal Department of the Interior of Switzerland, 7 November

Ms Liliane Maury Pasquier, President of the Parliamentary Assembly, 7 November

Bureau of the Staff Committee, 12 November

2.            Events in Strasbourg

In the framework of the World Forum for Democracy, 6-8 November:

-       Opening of the World Forum for Democracy

-       Ms Sibeth N’Diaye, Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, Spokesperson of the French Government

-       Mr Pierre-Yves Le Borgn’, former member of the Parliamentary Assembly

-       Directors of Political Schools

-       Inauguration of Cartooning for Peace’s Fresco, organised by the French Presidency of the Committee of Ministers

-       Presentation of the Democracy Innovation Award and Closing Address

-       Opening of the Diploma Ceremony and presentation of diplomas to graduates of the Schools of Political Studies

Inauguration of the Art exhibition 'Women artists as change agents', organised by Ambassador Corina Călugăru, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova, 6 November

Reception given by Ambassador Janusz Stańczyk, Permanent Representative of Poland, on the occasion of the Polish National Day, 12 November

3.            Events outside Strasbourg

Working visit to prepare the incoming Committee of Ministers’ Presidency, Tbilisi (Georgia), 10-11 November

-       Ms Salomé Zourabichvili, President of Georgia

-       Mr Giorgi Gakharia, Prime Minister of Georgia

-       Mr David Zalkaliani, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia

-       Mr Archil Talakvadze, Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia and Ms Tamar Chugoshvili, Head of the Georgian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

-       Launch of the new Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023

-       Presentation of the commemorative coin for the 70th Anniversary of the Council of Europe and 20th Anniversary of Accession of Georgia to the Council of Europe

DIALOGUE WITH THE DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL

1.            Meetings in Strasbourg

Mr Vladimir Filippov, Rector of the People's Friendship University of Russia, 16 October

Mr Mokhtar Hammami, Minister of Local Affairs and Environment of Tunisia, 28 October

2.            Events in Strasbourg

Ouverture de la session plénière de la 156e réunion du Comité de direction Eurimages, 16 octobre

Ouverture de la journée officielle de l’Assemblée des Journées européennes du patrimoine, 17 octobre

Le jeudi 17 octobre, j’ai ouvert l’Assemblée des coordinateurs nationaux des Journées européennes du patrimoine, en présence de Monsieur João Delgado, représentant de la Commission européenne.

L’année 2019 a porté sur le sujet « Arts et divertissements » qui  a pu se décliner de diverses manières dans les 50 Etats Parties à la Convention culturelle européenne qui participent à ces Journées.

J’ai félicité les coordinateurs nationaux du remarquable travail réalisé pour animer ces Journées à travers l’Europe. Les expériences collectées dans le cadre de la coopération transfrontalière en faveur du patrimoine sont significatives. La thématique choisie pour l’année 2020 est également importante: Patrimoine et éducation. La construction d’un futur harmonieux ne pourra se faire sans une sensibilisation des élèves, dès leur plus jeune âge, à l’importance que revêtent les patrimoines. Nous sommes heureux de poursuivre cette coopération avec la Commission européenne dans le cadre du Programme joint des Journées européennes du patrimoine. 

3.            Events outside Strasbourg

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s 2019 Humanitarian Symposium and Prize Ceremony, Los Angeles (United States of America) 18 October

On 18 October, I attended, at their invitation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s 2019 Humanitarian Symposium and Prize Ceremony in Los Angeles (California), honorring METAdrasi, the Greek civil society organisation for its work in the field of refugees, with nearly 120,000 people following the event from all over the world. In my speech following the award of the 2019 Hilton Humanitarian Prize to METAdrasi which had also been the recipient of our 2015 North‑South Prize, I noted that our Organisation is working with the Greek Government, and others in Europe, to help ensure that the rights of migrants and refugees are upheld. NGOs including METAdrasi are there to help but our experience shows that it is better when that hope is underpinned by laws and action.

Meetings of the WADA Executive Committee and Foundation Board and World Conference on Doping in Sport, Katowice (Poland), 5-7 November

On 5-7 November, I participated in the World Anti-Doping Conference as well as in the associated meetings of the Executive Committee and Foundation Board of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Katowice (Poland) in my capacity as a deputy to the European member of the WADA Executive Committee and member of the WADA Foundation Board. I would like first of all to congratulate and thank the Polish authorities for the excellent organisation of my mission and for their warm hospitality.

As usual, the representatives of the European governments in these meetings were guided by the mandate prepared by the Ad hoc European Committee to the World Anti-Doping Agency (CAHAMA) and the on-site co-ordination was ensured by the CAHAMA Secretariat on the spot.

The focus of the meetings in Katowice was on the adoption of the new version of the World Anti-Doping Code and several International Standards (Result Management, Testing and Investigation, Education, Code Compliance, Protection of Personal Data and Therapeutic Use Exemptions). These documents were unanimously approved at the joint meeting of the WADA Executive Committee and Foundation Board on 7 November. Also, the Executive Committee approved a new document called the Athletes Anti-Doping Rights Act, which for the first time brings together in a clear and accessible manner all the rights provided by the World Anti-Doping Code as well as possible future ones. 

The WADA Foundation Board also elected the new President of WADA: the Minister of Sport and Tourism of Poland, Mr Witold Bańka, who was nominated to this position by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and was unanimously confirmed as the next President. Ms Yang Yang from China, proposed by the Sports movement, was also unanimously elected as the new WADA Vice-President.

Naturally, the World Anti-Doping Conference was almost entirely dedicated to the presentation of the new version of the Code and International Standards bring about, and rich discussions on their implications for the work of the Code signatories and other WADA stakeholders were held over the three days.

I highlighted the importance of proper acknowledgement of the relevance of the human rights standards to the fight against doping in sport in the new Code. Particularly, the reformulation of the Article 8 of the Code and the new International Standard on Result Management which draw on our lengthy and extensive dialogue with WADA – focus on promoting fair trials and independent disciplinary processes based on the fundamental principles of human rights and the rule of law in conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights and the recent case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.

Finally, I wish to underline the importance of the improved co-operation and co‑ordination between the representatives of the public authorities in WADA and the key role played in this process by the OneVoice Platform, which was established at our initiative and whose Secretariat is ensured by the Council of Europe. The OneVoice Platform now also co-ordinates the work on reviewing the existing funding formula of WADA, which was put in place in 2001 and has not been updated since. It is expected that the outcomes of the work of this group will be ready for adoption by the end of 2020 with a view to serving as a basis for the WADA budget for 2023 onwards.

Forum de la Paix, Colloque « Enseigner l’histoire, Enseigner la paix : Confronter et réconcilier les mémoires en Europe » Paris (France), 12 novembre

4.            Voluntary Contributions

I would like to thank our donors for their support to our work and mention the recent voluntary contributions which I have had the pleasure to sign^[2].

Finland

The Government of Finland has made a voluntary contribution of €15,000 to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals on environment, biodiversity protection and climate change through the Bern Convention.

France

Le gouvernement de la France a versé une contribution volontaire de 900 000 € pour réduire l'arriéré d'affaires bien fondées de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme, pour combattre la violence à l’égard des femmes, ainsi que pour soutenir l’enseignement de l'histoire et mémoire de l'Holocauste.

La France a également contribué 4 030,04 € pour promouvoir les bienfaits du sport pour la société avec des actions de partenariat entre les gouvernements et le mouvement sportif.

Germany

The Government of Germany has made a voluntary contribution of €20,000 to support the No Hate Parliamentary Alliance.

Ireland

The Government of Ireland has made a voluntary contribution of €81,922 to support Webcasting of public hearings of the European Court of Human Rights.

Luxembourg

Le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg a versé une contribution volontaire de 89 796,37 € pour soutenir le Plan d’action pour la Bosnie-Herzégovine 2018-2021.

Netherlands

The Government of the Netherlands has made a voluntary contribution of €100,000 to support the Council of Europe’s Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021 and €30,000 to support the Council of Europe’s Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023.

The Netherlands has also contributed €84,000 to reduce the European Court of Human Rights backlog of well-founded cases, €24,000 towards a mapping study of national responses to address hate speech in the Republic of Moldova, €20,000 to support the Internet platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and €16,000 to reduce the processing time of applications submitted to the European Court of Human Rights.

Slovak Republic

The Government of the Slovak Republic has made a voluntary contribution of €5,000 to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals on environment, biodiversity protection and climate change through the Bern Convention.

Switzerland

The Government of Switzerland has made a voluntary contribution of €390,000 to enhance the effectiveness of Civil Monitoring Boards in line with European standards in Turkey.

European Union

The European Union has made a voluntary contribution of €1,500,000 to the Joint Programme “ROMACT 7 - Building capacity at local level for the integration of Roma” and €1,000,000 to the Joint Programme “iLEGEND II, Intercultural Learning Exchange through Global Education, Networking and Dialogue”.

Human Rights Trust Fund (HRTF)^[3]

The Human Rights Trust Fund has made a voluntary contribution of €800,000 to further support the execution by Ukraine of judgments in respect of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

5.            Signatures and Ratifications

Switzerland ratified the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (CETS No. 199), 7 November

Albania acceded to the Convention on the Elaboration of a European Pharmacopoeia (ETS No. 50), 8 November