Thursday 16 May 2019

5.00 p.m.         Treaty ceremony on the occasion of the 70^th Anniversary of the Council of Europe

                        (Room 2)

6.00 p.m.         Commemorative Ceremony of the 70^th Anniversary of the Council of Europe
                        (Room 3)

7.30 p.m.         Reception hosted by the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers

8.00 p.m.          Informal dinner restricted to heads of delegations of member States at the invitation of the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers (Room 5)

Friday 17 May 2019

8.40-8.55 a.m.  Official welcome of Heads of Delegation by the Chairman of the Committee of

                        Ministers and the Secretary General

9.00 a.m.          Official photo for all heads of delegation

9.15 a.m.          Opening of the formal Session (Room 7)

                        Address by the Prime Minister of Finland

1.00 p.m.          Informal lunch restricted to heads of delegations of member States at the invitation of the outgoing Chair (Room 5)

                        Parallel lunch for the other participants at the invitation of the Deputy Secretary General (Room 6)

2.30 p.m.          Press conference (Room 23)

3.00 p.m.          Resumption of the Session: transfer of the chairmanship between Finland and France

                        Date and place of the next Session

3.30 p.m.          End of the Ministerial Session

“The Committee of Ministers adopted a Declaration on the occasion of the 70^th anniversary of the Council of Europe, as it appears in document Decl(17/05/2019); < cf. document CM(2019)96-prov6>”]

“The Committee of Ministers,

Expressing its appreciation of the unique contribution of the Council of Europe to human rights, democracy and the rule of law over the last 70 years, and committed to take necessary measures to enable it to effectively fulfil its mandate;

Having regard to the aim of the Council of Europe, which is to achieve a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress – as defined in Article 1 of the Organisation’s Statute;

Reaffirming its commitments to the norms and principles of international law, including as mentioned in the UN Charter and the CSCE Final Act, to the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes, the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member States within their internationally recognised borders, which are interrelated in their interpretation and application;

Reaffirming that every member State of the Council of Europe must accept the principles of the rule of law and of the enjoyment by all persons within its jurisdiction of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and collaborate sincerely and effectively in the realisation of the aim of the Organisation;

Considering that the Council of Europe is an important platform for dialogue and co-operation bringing together 47 European countries, which truly provides it with a unique pan-European perspective:

1.          recalled that all member States shall be entitled to participate on an equal basis in the two statutory organs of the Council of Europe, as long as Articles 7, 8 or 9 of the Statute have not been applied;

2.         recalled that one of the fundamental obligations of member States is to pay their obligatory contributions to the Ordinary Budget, as provided by Article 38 of the Statute;

3.         took into consideration the Parliamentary Assembly’s Recommendation 2153 on the “Role and mission of the Parliamentary Assembly: main challenges for the future”;

4.         having regard to the importance of the elections of the Secretary General and of judges to the European Court of Human Rights, would welcome that delegations of all member States take part in the next June part-Session of the Parliamentary Assembly;

5.         welcomed that the enhanced dialogue between the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly has recently significantly intensified at different levels and in different formats, and encouraged continuing this dialogue in an efficient and transparent manner;

6.         noted the urgent need to develop synergies and provide for co-ordinated action by the two statutory organs, in recognition of their respective mandates, in order to strengthen the Organisation’s ability to react more effectively in situations where a member State violates its statutory obligations or does not respect the standards, fundamental principles and values upheld by the Council of Europe;

7.         building upon the Declaration on compliance with commitments accepted by member States of the Council of Europe, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 10 November 1994 at its 95^th Session, and in conformity with each organ’s statutory mandate:

-            instructed its Deputies to develop – in co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly – a clearly defined complementary procedure, which could be initiated by either the Parliamentary Assembly, the Committee of Ministers or the Secretary General, and in which all three of them would participate;

-            agreed further that such a co-ordinated response, carried out in a constructive manner, encouraging member States, through dialogue and co-operation, to take all appropriate measures to conform with the principles of the Statute, will include a number of concrete and well-defined steps, with a strict time frame fixed for each step by common agreement of the three parties, and may ultimately lead to a decision to act under Articles 8 or 9 of the Statute, which lies with the Committee of Ministers;

8.       stressed that it is a primary responsibility of any member State having violated statutory obligations to take steps toward solving the situation;

9.         called for a stronger and more structured co-ordination between the monitoring activities of the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly, the Secretary General, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as of the various specialised monitoring and advisory bodies and mechanisms of the Organisation, without prejudice to their independence.

“The Committee of Ministers,

Referring to the report of the Secretary General “Ready for future challenges – Reinforcing the Council of Europe”, as it appears in document SG(2019)1, calling for intergovernmental co-operation and co-ordination and for strengthening multi-stakeholder participation within the Council of Europe;

Recalling also the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the UN Paris Principles, as well as the 1992 Helsinki document, Chapter IV, § 16;

Recalling the Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)11 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the need to strengthen the protection and promotion of civil society space in Europe, adopted on 28 November 2018, and that “member States should call on Council of Europe bodies and institutions to pay special attention to issues concerning the enabling environment in which all human rights defenders, including NHRIs and civil society organisations, can safely and freely operate in Europe”;

Recalling further the Committee of Ministers’ 2008 Declaration on Council of Europe action to improve the protection of human rights defenders and promote their activities and 2017 Guidelines for civil participation in political decision making, and reiterating that “whereas the prime responsibility and duty to promote and protect human rights defenders lie with the State, the Council of Europe shall also contribute to creating an enabling environment for human rights defenders and protect them and their work in defending human rights”;

Recalling also the Committee of Ministers’ Resolution CM/Res(2016)3 and recognising the important role of the Conference of INGOs as the representative body of all of the INGOs enjoying participatory status with the Council of Europe;

Bearing in mind the important role played by civil society organisations in modern democratic societies and the subsequent necessity to uphold freedom of association and freedom of expression as enshrined in numerous international legal instruments, and to develop good practices in this field as recommended by the Venice Commission in its recent opinions;

Expressing its deep concern about the trend of a shrinking civic space, not only for civil society actors, but also for democracy and stability in Europe;

Taking note of the conclusions and proposals for action put forward at the Warsaw Conference on the Role and Position of NGOs in the Council of Europe held on 22 March 2019;

The Committee of Ministers agreed to:

1.           examine further options for strengthening the role and meaningful participation of civil society organisations, and national human rights institutions in the Organisation, with the view to increasing its openness and transparency towards civil society, including access to information, activities and events;

2.           further strengthen the Organisation’s mechanisms for the protection of human rights defenders, including the Secretary General’s Private Office procedure on human rights defenders;

3.           invite the Secretary General to explore the possibilities of inviting the relevant human rights NGOs to a regular exchange with a view to further enhancing co-operation between civil society and the Council of Europe and enriching the discussions of the Committee of Ministers and other Council of Europe bodies.”

“1.     The Committee of Ministers recalled its engagement at its 128^th Session held in Elsinore on 18 May 2018, to continue the reform of the Council of Europe, took into account the report of the Secretary General “Ready for future challenges – Reinforcing the Council of Europe”, as it appears in the document SG(2019)1, and instructed the Ministers’ Deputies to give appropriate follow-up to the proposals contained therein.

a.      Strengthening the Council of Europe’s acquis by addressing major challenges

2.      The Committee of Ministers agreed to continue analysing the protection provided by existing European standards with a view to identifying gaps and developing sector specific recommendations, guidelines and codes of conduct, as well as, if required, other instruments, and instructed its Deputies:

-            to examine the feasibility and potential elements on the basis of multi-stakeholder consultations, of a legal framework for the development, design and application of artificial intelligence, based on the Council of Europe’s standards on human rights, democracy and the rule of law;

-            to examine ways of strengthening action against trafficking in human beings.

3.      The Committee of Ministers:

-         recalling the importance of freedom of expression, online and offline, as a cornerstone of a democratic and pluralistic society, agreed to reinforce the Organisation’s work in this field and to enhance its co-operation and dialogue with the relevant tools of the Council of Europe, including the Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists;

-         underlined the need to address increasing inequality, racism, xenophobia, hate speech and discrimination on grounds of religion or belief or any other ground mentioned in the report of the Secretary General;

-         recalled the need to continue addressing the challenges arising from global migration;

-         reaffirmed the importance of social rights across the continent, and invited member States that have not yet done so to consider signing and/or ratifying the revised European Social Charter and its Additional Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints;

-         reaffirming its commitment to equality between women and men, and to fight violence against women and domestic violence, stressed the importance in this regard of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention).

b.      Strategic objectives for addressing future challenges

4.      The Committee of Ministers:

-        taking into account the human rights issues at stake and the particular characteristics of each conflict, reiterated the fundamental role of the Commissioner for Human Rights, as laid out in Resolution Res(99)50, who shall have full and free access to all member States;

-        referring to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, underlining the essential role of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), also in emergency situations, recalled that it shall have unlimited access to places where persons are deprived of their liberty, including the right to move inside such places without restriction and the right to interview in private persons deprived of their liberty;

-        recognising the important role of the Parliamentary Assembly, the European Court of Human Rights and Council of Europe monitoring bodies, expressed support for their activities to promote and strengthen human rights, the rule of law and democracy, and for the activities of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in enhancing resilient local and regional democracy.

c.      Ensuring the sustainability of the Organisation

5.      The Committee of Ministers invited their Deputies to examine the proposals made in the Secretary General’s report on ensuring the sustainability of the Organisation.

d.      Continuing structural and administrative reforms

6.      The Committee of Ministers:

-         reaffirming the importance of intergovernmental co-operation, invited its Deputies to evaluate the possibility to reinforce the co-ordination and role of intergovernmental committees taking into account the proposals made in the Secretary General’s report and to provide them with the necessary flexibility to adapt to urgent needs;

-         invited its Deputies to consider the functions and the election procedure of the Deputy Secretary General;

7.      acknowledging the results of the reform process achieved to date, the Committee of Ministers invited the Secretary General and the incoming Secretary General to continue the structural and administrative reforms, including further strengthening the Organisation’s independent evaluation function, to ensure even greater efficiency, effectiveness, flexibility and value for money.”