Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia and Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe opened the high-level conference on Prosecutorial Independence and Accountability held in Yerevan, Armenia. Organised in collaboration with the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Armenia, the aim of the conference was to facilitate a cohesive dialogue among main actors in the ongoing reform on strengthening the independence and accountability of prosecutors, in close co-ordination with international partners.

A flash-mob with the cavalry squad of the National Inspectorate for Public Security, attracted attention of citizens and media coverage. The message “Block the hatred. Share the love” was prominently shared during the event and aimed to raise awareness on fundamental rights and freedoms of vulnerable groups and minorities. The event was part of the Council of Europe week organised in the Republic of Moldova.

A training on the use of human rights narratives to counter hate speech was organised for representatives of state institutions, Public Defenders office and civil society organisations in Georgia. The aim of the course was to create a network of multipliers of communication experts and enhance the inter-institutional co-ordination against discrimination.

A roundtable serving as a platform for discussion on the importance of preventing and combating hate speech, sexism and other forms of gender-based violence ahead of electoral campaign for the 5 November 2023 General Local Elections was held. It included representatives of electoral management bodies, local authorities, non-governmental organisations, anti-discrimination stakeholders, mass-media, and potential voters.

40 representatives of state institutions, civil society organisations and networks discussed the challenges in defining hate speech, the monitoring of it and entities to coordinate the work on data collection of hate speech cases at an online roundtable.

More than 50 Young European Ambassadors trained to combat hate speech and develop counter-narratives. They are expected to play a fundamental role to further echo the message for a free and equal society in their local communities in the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan regions. The programme “Young European Ambassadors” is an initiative of the European Union, to create and develop a network for sharing skills, ideas and promote EU values and opportunities among Youth.

Bilateral meetings were organised with the Supreme Court, the General Prosecutor's Office, the Anti-Corruption General Directorate under the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Financial Monitoring Service, and the State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan to support the strengthening of capacities  of prosecutors and judges on effectively managing money laundering cases, including the confiscations.

National authorities of Azerbaijan advanced in the preparation of internal practices for the assessment and management of corruption risks in state institutions through the support provided by the joint European Union and Council of Europe "Partnership for Good Governance" programme. Once conducted the risk assessment will enhance the government’s efforts in preventing corruption and inform necessary strategic interventions to mitigate corruption risks in public institutions.

AZERBAIJAN
Representatives of nine civil society organisations working with and/or representing vulnerable groups in Azerbaijan and the Office of Ombudsperson of the Republic of Azerbaijan discussed on combining efforts and improve co-operation for promoting equality and non-discrimination in the country.

GEORGIA

The court coaching programme of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) continues with the second assessment visit to the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Rustavi Municipal Court, as well as with the first visit to two other pilot courts: the Zugdidi District Court and the Batumi Municipal Court.

Legal professionals from the Eastern Partnership countries participate in the launch of the mentoring programme on women’s access to justice. This is the third programme cycle of the mentoring programme. The previous two phases resulted in a network of almost 800 legal professionals, championing gender equality issues in courts, prosecution offices and judicial training institutions across the region.

At its 136th plenary session (held on 6-7 October 2023), the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe adopted, among others:

• Armenia: the joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR on the draft amendments to the Electoral Code and related legislation
• Republic of Moldova:
• the follow-up Opinion to the opinion on the draft law of the Republic of Moldova on the Intelligence and Security Service, as well as on the draft law on counterintelligence and external intelligence activity.
• the joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe on the draft law on the anti-corruption judicial system and on amending some normative acts of the Republic of Moldova.
• the joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR on amendments to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Moldova and other related laws concerning ineligibility of persons connected to political parties declared unconstitutional.