CDADI
The Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity, and Inclusion (CDADI) held its third meeting from15 to 17 June 2021, partly in person. It examined the work of the Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (ADI-ROM), the Expert Committee on Combating Hate Speech (ADI/MSI-DIS), the Working Group on Intercultural Integration (GT-ADI-INT) and the Working group on a study on active political participation of minority youth. The Chair of the Expert Committee on Combating Hate Speech (ADI/MSI-DIS), María Rún Bjarnadóttir, presented the draft text of the Recommendation on combating hate speech. CDADI requested, as CDMSI had already done before, that ADI/MSI-DIS launch the stakeholder consultations. Pia Buhl Girolami, Chair of the Working Group on Intercultural Integration (GT-ADI-INT), presented the draft text of the Recommendation on multi-level policies and governance for intercultural integration. The CDADI gave also a green light for a stakeholder consultation on the draft text of this Recommendation. The CDADI furthermore adopted a Model Framework for an intercultural integration strategy which aims to guide the development of national strategies and multi-stakeholder governance mechanisms for intercultural integration. It is inspired by the successful experience of the nearly 150 intercultural cities in Europe and across the world, and by leading practice in some Council of Europe member states in fostering inclusion, community cohesion and diversity advantage. The document outlines the principles of intercultural integration, based on CoE standards and values, and provides a menu of policy measures and practice examples which can help meet these requirements. The Committee has also adopted the Study on active political participation of national minority youth that is built on good practices in member states, exchanged views on Artificial Intelligence (AI), equality and discrimination, and held discussions on the situation and participation of Roma women and girls and cooperation with civil society. The Vice-Chair of the Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (ADI-ROM), Jàn Hero, informed the Committee on the 3rd meeting of ADI-ROM, the Roma Youth Conference held in April 2021, the last Dialogue meeting with Roma and Travellers civil society on combating hate speech and on the preparation of the 8th International Roma Women conference that will take place on September 2021 in North Macedonia. In addition, the Head of the Roma and Traveller Team presented the various programmes that the Council of Europe’s Roma and Travellers Team implements in a number member states of the Council of Europe concerning education, access to justice, and the empowerment of local authorities. All documents will be published on the CDADI website. National Minorities and Minority Languages
On 14-17 June, the Committee of Experts (COMEX) of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) carried out an on-the-spot visit in Poland. Resuming its monitoring activities, a delegation of experts met with minority and regional speakers as well as with authorities. On 16 June, the Committee of Ministers took note of three new mid-reports of the COMEX on the implementation of the Recommendations for Immediate Action contained in the preceding evaluation reports on the Slovak Republic, Spain and the United Kingdom. Moreover, on 22 June, Vesna Crnić-Grotić, Chair of the COMEX, and Jeroen Schokkenbroek, Director of Anti-Discrimination, participated in an exchange of views with the PACE Sub-Committee on the Rights of Minorities. Mr Schokkenbroek presented the 10th report of the Secretary General on the application of the ECRML (2018-2020). Ms Crnić-Grotić informed the PACE members of the latest developments regarding the implementation of the COMEX recommendations and of the need to promote new ratifications. She also gave an overview of the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic in respect of the use of minority and regional languages.
Committee of experts on the rights and the best interests of the child in parental separation and in care proceedings
On 24 June 2021, the Committee of experts on the rights and the best interests of the child in parental separation and in care proceedings (CJ/ENF-ISE) and the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ) held a joint Bureau meeting. They examined and approved the feasibility studies on the protection of the best interest of the child and their rights in situations of parental separation and in care proceedings, and held an exchange of views on the proposals of draft legal instrument(s) and practical tool(s). Committee of the Parties to the Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse On 28-30 June 2021, the Committee of the Parties to the Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (Lanzarote Committee) held its 32nd meeting. This meeting opened with a live public presentation of the independent experts’ report on “Respecting human rights and the rule of law when using automated technology to detect online child sexual exploitation and abuse” was presented at an open public event. It generated high media attention. The report was elaborated in response to the request of the Lanzarote Committee to support Council of Europe member states in light of a debate triggered in the context of the European Union to allow the processing of personal and other data for the purpose of combating online child sexual exploitation and abuse. The Lanzarote Committee pursued its examination of draft chapters of its 2nd monitoring round draft implementation report dedicated to “The protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse facilitated by information and communication technologies (ICTs): addressing the challenges raised by child self-generated sexual images and/or videos”. The Lanzarote Committee further examined “draft compliance reports” with regard to 4 of the 10 Recommendations of its Special report “Protecting children affected by the refugee crisis from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse”. The Lanzarote Committee also considered a Reflection Paper containing suggestions to strengthen the effectiveness of the monitoring mechanism and procedure in the short or medium term. It approved its 6th activity report (covering the period 19 October 2019-30 June 2021). Finally, the Lanzarote Committee held elections of its Bureau and re-elected Ms Christel De Craim (Belgium) as its Chairperson and Ms Maria José Castello-Branco (Portugal) as its Vice-Chairperson.
Annual meeting of the EPAS Governing Board and Consultative Committee The EPAS Governing Board and Consultative Committee held their annual joint online meeting to discuss the EPAS programme of activities: the impact of COVID-19 on sports activities, safeguarding children and the revision of the European Sports Charter, among others. The meeting approved the 4th revised version of the European Sports Charter, thus concluding an ambitious and intense process initiated by the 15th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Sport. The final draft will be forwarded to the Committee of Ministers for consideration and possible adoption in the autumn of this year. The Governing Board also defined the framework for supporting and monitoring the implementation of the Charter at national level and recognised its strategic dimension for EPAS activities. Discussions were also held with the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Bjørn Berge who presented his priorities in the field of sport for the next four years: - To promote values-based sport,
- To put the protection of human rights and the fight against corruption high on the agenda of governments and the sport movement and,
- To reaffirm the role of the Council of Europe as a key partner working with bodies including, the IOC, FIFA, UEFA, Interpol, UNESCO etc. in addressing European sports issues.
The Governing Board decided to organise the 17th Ministerial Conference in 2022 in Turkey.
Second meeting of the Committee of the Convention The Follow-Up Committee of the Macolin Convention held its second meeting online on 23 and 24 June 2021. Delegates from the seven State Parties (Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, the Republic of Moldova, Switzerland and Ukraine) granted UEFA and FIFA the status of Observer to the Committee and welcomed the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sports (EPAS) amongst the Council of Europe bodies invited to participate in its future meetings. The list of decisions also includes the adoption of the Terms of Reference of the Advisory Group on the Network of National Platforms (Group of Copenhagen), as well as the election of the Bureau of the Committee for a two-year term. The Committee additionally identified outputs for the incoming period, including a draft list of sport organisations and the basis for a discussion on Malta’s recent commitment to sign the Convention. |