The Committee of Ministers has adopted a recommendation on the Revised European Sports Charter submitted by the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS). The revised version concludes a process initiated by the 15th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for sport in Tbilisi in 2018 and supported by the 16th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for sport held under the Greek Chairmanship last February.

Driven by the need to enable sport to deliver its benefits, such as health, inclusion and education, to the whole population, the European Sports Charter strongly emphasises the concept of sport for all. It formulates the principle of a “Right to Sport” that everyone should enjoy.

“In the context of globalised and commercialised sport, it is more important than ever for European States to clarify the common features of a framework for European sport and to clarify the values to be upheld in sport. I particularly welcome the fact that the revised version underlines the principle of a right to sport to be enjoyed by all citizens”, highlighted Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge, upon the adoption by the Committee of Ministers.

Energy systems and climate action cannot be left to the market. It’s urgent to transition to energy democracies that are optimal for people and planet. How can public ownership, community control and participatory governance ensure that justice is served? And which forms of collective action will help us get there?

In this webinar, on Monday 25 October 2021, we will dive into the biggest challenges to a renewable energy future and best practices from across Europe, South Africa and the Americas. A set of formidable speakers is ready to equip participants with concrete handles for building system-wide people power to ensure that those on the frontlines of the climate crisis are the ones driving the energy transition.

The Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General, Bjørn Berge, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, will open the conference on “The role of foreign policy in advancing gender equality: Addressing the challenges, pushbacks and obstacles faced by women” which is organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus in partnership with the Council of Europe. Diplomats, representatives of the Council of Europe and other international organisations as well as NGOs, will address the following three main themes: the role of multilateralism in the promotion of gender equality and women’s rights, good practice examples of national feminist foreign policies and the role of gender-sensitive foreign policies in the area of migration. The conference is organised on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Cyprus joining the Council of Europe.

For more information, visit the conference webpage.

The Conference of INGOs is organising two events on 18 October 2021, to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October) and the European Anti-Trafficking Day (18 October).

A ceremony with senior officials of the Council of Europe will be held outside the Palais de l'Europe from 12h30 - 13h15. Testimonies of persons who have been a victim of trafficking or whose rights to decent work have been denied will be presented. 

The ceremony will be followed by a webinar that will explore the issue of decent work - articles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 26 of the revised European Social Charter related to: the formality of work; usefulness of work and impact on the environment, respect for the rights and dignity of all persons. 

The webinar can be followed online - a link will be made available before the event

Programme of the ceremony

Programme of the webinar

A delegation of the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) carried out an evaluation visit to Belarus from 28 September to 1 October 2021 as part of the second evaluation round of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. During the visit, the GRETA delegation held consultations with Mr Hennadz Kazakevich, Deputy Minister of the Interior, as well as officials from the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Border Committee, the Investigative Committee, the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Supreme Court. In addition, the delegation travelled to Brest where it met representatives of relevant regional and local authorities and law enforcement agencies. The delegation held separate meetings with representatives of non-governmental organisations, intergovernmental organisations, lawyers and victims of human trafficking. In the course of the visit, GRETA visited a specialised shelter for victims of human trafficking in Minsk, run by the IOM, and the crisis room of the territorial centre of social protection in Brest, which can accommodate victims of human trafficking.

On 7 October 2021, the Anti-Trafficking Division of the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Directorate General of Migration Management of Turkey, organised a round-table meeting in Ankara to discuss progress made in the implementation of the first report (add hyperlink) of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) on Turkey and the related Committee of the Parties recommendation (add hyperlink) to the Turkish authorities. The meeting brought together some 60 representatives of relevant ministries, public agencies, intergovernmental organisations and civil society. Participants discussed progress and remaining challenges in the field of prevention, identification and assistance provided to victims of human trafficking, the criminal justice response to human trafficking, and co-ordination of anti-trafficking action.  Turkey is expected to report to the Committee of the Parties to the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings on measures taken to comply with the recommendations by 18 October 2021.

On 11 October 2021, GRETA published its second evaluation report on Kosovo*, which acknowledges progress made in certain areas and calls on the authorities to further strengthen their anti-trafficking efforts, particularly with regard to the identification of and assistance to victims of trafficking. GRETA welcomes the steps taken since the publication of its first evaluation report on Kosovo* in 2016, such as measures to prevent human trafficking through awareness raising and training, the adoption of unified indicators for the identification of victims and potential victims of trafficking, and the appointment of human trafficking co-ordinators at prosecutor’s offices.

Today, the Council of Europe Expert Group on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) published its first baseline evaluation report on Slovenia.

The report contains a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of the provisions of the Istanbul Convention. It highlights numerous positive legal and policy measures but points out that less attention is directed towards the forms of violence against women other than domestic violence. Women from socially vulnerable groups should be paid more attention to, data collection should be improved, stronger criminal justice response is needed.

Turkey and CEB sign agreements to mitigate seismic risk in Istanbul and to support healthcare investments for refugees

The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and the Ministry of Treasury and Finance of Turkey signed a third loan agreement worth € 100 million in support of the Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project (ISMEP). Initiated in 2005 under the sponsorship of the Istanbul province governorship, ISMEP is one of the largest single city seismic risk mitigation programmes in the world. It seeks to implement a comprehensive set of mitigating measures and disaster management system to gradually transform Istanbul into a city resilient to a major earthquake.

The Bank also signed an agreement with the Turkish Ministry of Health on the implementation of two EU grants in total value of  €80.6 million to support refugee healthcare investments. The grants will finance the construction and/or renovation of migrant health centres and physiotherapy and rehabilitation units in public hospitals as well as the purchase of medical equipment and supplies. They are part of a €90 million investment project in refugee healthcare infrastructure that will make quality health care services more accessible to refugees and persons eligible for subsidiary protection in Turkey.

Current challenges and possible strategic solutions for building non-discriminatory local communities, in particular European and Ukrainian experience in this field, were discussed on September 16, 2021 during a special event of the Council of Europe* within the V Ukrainian Women's Congress held in Kyiv on September 15-16, 2021.

 To read more about the event: Council of Europe special event

The pilot implementation starting in 110 schools through 10 provinces of the EU/CoE Joint Project Strengthening Democratic Culture in Basic Education was officially launched on October 28. The implementation will serve to test the education materials developed with the support of the project and aiming at consolidating a democratic school culture. On the following day, policymakers started to work on the development of policy recommendations to ensure that the competences for democratic culture are integrated into Turkish educational policy documents. Following this summer Trainings of Trainers (TOTs) the Ministry of National Education decided to accredit the two modules (on Strengthening Democratic Culture in Basic Education and on Methods and Approaches in Adult Education) in the regular teachers’ annual in-service training offer

A webinar organised by the Lisbon Recognition Convention Committee and the ENIC Network, took place on September 29 and gathered over 70 credential evaluators from the ENIC and NARIC centres. On the basis of presentations by the Danish, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, and Swedish ENICs/NARICs, the workshop addressed the practical implementation of the Recommendation on Recognition of Qualifications held by refugees, displaced persons and persons in a refugee-like situation. Greece and the Council of Europe highlighted the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees.

 On 27 September, the BeNeLux Secretariat organised an event to celebrate the recent signing of a BeNeLux – Baltic agreement on automatic recognition. The hybrid event saw the participation of the Ministers of Education of Belgium (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles), Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands. The Council of Europe was invited to moderate a panel debate with stakeholders.

On 16 and 17 September a hybrid consultative meeting was held to discuss the conclusions of the review of the Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)7 on Young People’s Access to Rights and its implementation in member states and by youth organisations. The participants of the meeting discussed the outcomes of a study and desk research made to support this review process.  They also provided input to the draft conclusions to be presented by the monitoring group to the Joint Council on Youth in October.

The review focuses on measures taken to address discriminatory practices faced by young people and on obstacles to the right of young people to assemble and to freely form, join, and be active in associations and trade unions.  A specific page containing the results of the desk research and surveys is set up to provide knowledge on the review process for the participants and wider stakeholders interested in young people's access to rights: Young People’s Access to Rights.

The Joint Council on Youth is expected to discuss the conclusions and adopt measures for supporting and monitoring issues of young people’s access to rights.

The 25th Council of Europe Meeting of the Workshops for the implementation of the Council of Europe Landscape Convention on “Landscape policies! Landscape strategies, action plans and policy documents for landscape quality” is being organised in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on 6-8 October 2021, by the Council of Europe – Secretariat of the Convention, Directorate of Democratic Participation – in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture and Sport of Spain and the Council of Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain, within the framework of the Work Programme of the Convention.

The Meeting aims to present experiences of public policies concerning the implementation of Article 5 of the Council of Europe Landscape Convention on “General measures”, according to which each Party undertakes:

• to recognise landscapes in law as an essential component of people’s surroundings, an expression of the diversity of their shared cultural and natural heritage, and a foundation of their identity;
• to establish and implement landscape policies aimed at landscape protection, management and planning, through the adoption of the specific measures set out in Article 6 of the Convention ;
• to establish procedures for the participation of the general public, local and regional authorities, and other parties with an interest in the definition and implementation of the landscape policies;
• to integrate landscape into their regional and town planning policies and in their cultural, environmental, agricultural, social and economic policies, as well as in any other policies with possible direct or indirect impact on landscape.

For more information:  Council of Europe Landscape Convention / Official website (coe.int)

Programme of the Meeting: 25th Council of Europe Meeting of the Workshops for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention (coe.int)

The final weeks of the European Heritage Days 2021 events are approaching, but there is still plenty more to discover and explore. The events are happening soon in Bulgaria, Armenia, Malta, North Macedonia, Albania, Spain and Montenegro based on this year’s shared theme of “Heritage: All Inclusive!”. Events to coincide with the European Year of Rail are planned in several areas, while Greece will also be remembering the 200th anniversary of the 1821 Greek Revolution, ‘Tourism for Inclusive Growth’ will be a focus for San Marino, and Croatia will be celebrating the country’s ‘Year of Reading’.

The conference on “Preserving independent production, diversity and pluralism in TV series in Europe” took place in Budapest on 30 September and 1 October. Industry professionals exchanged on the most urgent needs to facilitate the production of high-end series in a very competitive market dominated by non-European players. In their conclusions, the participants confirmed the importance of the role of the Council of Europe in preserving cultural diversity and pluralism in the audiovisual sector. They also highlighted the role of international cooperation to offset the fragmentation of the European audiovisual market. As a next step, Eurimages would further explore the legal and financial solutions to codify the rules of drama series co-production and possibly cover part of the constantly increasing budgets required at critical moments of the production chain.

On 6 October, the opening ceremony of the 2021 edition of the Etoiles et Toiles du Cinéma Européen initiative was held at the Odyssée cinema in Strasbourg. A selection of 14 Eurimages-supported co-productions were shown and the screening schedule is available on the Odyssée cinema’s website. A jury composed of Permanent Representatives of several member States of the Council of Europe and senior civil servants of the Organisation, chaired by Marie Fontanel, French Ambassador and Permanent Representative at the Council of Europe, will award two prices at the closing ceremony which will take place on 10 November 2021.

The ECML Governing Board was held on 5-6 October with nineteen representatives in Graz and a further eighteen participating online. The Board partly renewed its Bureau, adopted a new 2-year project on language-sensitive teacher education and expressed satisfaction with the latest revisions to the draft Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture. It also paid tribute to Sjur Bergan, outgoing Head of Education, for his tireless support for the Centre over the years.

 The ECML’s first ever hybrid workshop for the project Developing teacher competences for pluralistic approaches attracted 42 professionals from 33 countries. Participants considered which specific competences were required to allow teachers to implement approaches involving several languages and how these could be developed through teacher education programmes. The workshop evaluation confirmed that 70% of the participants intend to integrate workshop content into their own practices.

The invitations to ministers from State Parties and Observer States to attend the the EUR-OPA Major Hazards Ministerial Meeting to be held on 24 November in Matosinhos, Portugal were sent out at the end of September by HE Eduardo Cabrita, Minister for Home Affairs  of Portugal. The Secretariat actively followed up by soliciting confirmations of attendance and interventions during the meeting. In order to ensure the smooth organization of the meeting and given that the EUR-OPA Major Hazards Ministerial Meeting will be held back-to-back with the UN European Forum on Disaster Risk Reduction, the Executive Secretary visited the UNDRR Europe Office in Brussels on 5 October to discuss the technical modalities of the event and the perspectives for future cooperation. The Executive Secretary also met in Brussels with representatives of EC’s DG for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) to discuss synergies and future cooperation.  

 The Secretariat released the publication entitled “Inclusion of migrants and refugees in preparedness and response to biological disasters: case study of the COVID-19 pandemic” which has been drafted in collaboration with the author John Twigg and the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The 10th meeting of the Group of Experts on the Conservation of Amphibians and Reptiles took place online on 28 September. 

The main objective of the meeting was to review currently implemented national conservation initiatives, the status of species and progress made to prevent and control the Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans chytrid fungus (a pathogenic chytrid fungus responsible for declines of amphibian populations worldwide).

The Secretariat was pleased to welcome representatives of national authorities, scientific experts on amphibians and reptiles, and representatives of partner institutions/organisations. For more information, please visit the meeting page.

The 12th meeting of the Group of Experts on Protected Areas and Ecological Networks was held online on 5-6 October.

The Group elaborated its programme of work for 2022 and discussed issues related to the Emerald Network of areas of special conservation interest and the reporting under Resolution No. 8 (2012) on the conservation status of species and habitats.

For more information, please consult the meeting agenda.

Support HumAn Rights EDucation was the title of the Compass training course on human rights education promoted and coordinated by the NowHere+ (progeaNGO) Association and REDU – Rete Educare Diritti Umani within the framework of the "Youth for Democracy"  programme of the Council of Europe.

The course took place from 17 to 20 September 2021 in Florence and involved over 30 youth workers, educators and trainers from all over Italy. The programme supported the development of participants' skills in human rights education and democratic citizenship and how to multiply those values in a broad and widespread way among young people in Italy through youth work and non-formal education.

The training course was based on the Compass manual, the principal European tool for the education of young people in human rights, with practical and interactive workshops to make it an integral part of the future experiences of the participants.

For more information about the course, please visit www.progeango.it

On 4 October 2021, a public event on “The impact of the Lanzarote Convention on case-law, decisions and legislation” was held online. The event focused on the impact of the Lanzarote Convention on the case-law and decisions of international bodies with Mr Robert Spano, the President of the European Court of Human Rights as one of the keynote speakers. He presented how the Court has referred to the Convention and its interpretation by the Lanzarote Committee when examining allegations of breaches of the ECHR. Other key speakers included Pr Aoife Nolan, Member of the European Committee of Social Rights, Mr Bragi Guðbrandsson, Member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and Ms Christel De Craim, Chairperson of the Lanzarote Committee. The event also discussed the impact of the Lanzarote Convention at national level with examples drawn from case-law (from Norway) and the legislation (from Spain).

An Intercultural Cities expert visit took place on 5-6 October to Neumarkt, Germany to discuss the city’s Intercultural Cities INDEX results and their significance for the future policies. The visit gathered a large number of diverse actors including political leaders, city officials, NGOs and engaged citizens, to discuss the policies in place and to brainstorm ideas for the future plans. The visit provided information for the “intercultural profile” of the city which will form the basis of the subsequent work of Neumarkt within the Intercultural Cities network.

The number of transplants performed worldwide (almost 147,000 in 2018) continues to be far from meeting present and foreseeable global needs. As a result, thousands of patients die or endure a poor quality of life. Patients with limited accesses to transplantation at their jurisdictions may feel compelled to travel to countries with active programmes of deceased donation.

However, the movement of patients for the purpose of receiving a transplant from the deceased donor waiting list in foreign jurisdictions is a matter of concern for transplant authorities and poses different challenges for the safety of the patient and the transplant systems both of the countries of origin and destination. Transplant authorities and governments are challenged by the need to provide adequate and humanitarian solutions to non-resident patients, while assuring the best possible transplantation services to their resident population.

At the present time, access of non-residents to transplantation with deceased donor organs remains a largely unexplored topic globally. Therefore, the European Committee on Organ Transplantation of the Council of Europe (CD-P-TO) performed a study to understand the dimension of the phenomenon in the Pan-European setting and its impact on national waiting times for transplantation, and to learn the different strategies used by member states of the Council of Europe to address the subject.

The complete results of this work, comprising information on non-resident patient access to transplantation and the different policies and strategies in place in 28 countries, have now been published in the scientific journal Transplant International.[1] This data, available for the first time in the European setting, shed light on the phenomenon of international travel for transplantation and provide valuable information to support the development of suitable and fair policy decisions.

[1] Pérez-Blanco, A. et al. "Access of non-residents to transplantation of deceased donor organs: practices and strategies in the European setting."; Transpl Int 2021; Sep 23. doi: 10.1111/tri.14113 [online ahead of print].