The Conference of INGOs is publishing a report on a follow-up visit to Romania that it organised on 3-5 December 2018. During the visit, special attention was paid to the evolution of the legal environment in which NGOs are operating in Romania and on the interactions between NGOs and public authorities. Two meetings with more than 30 NGOs were held. The NGO participants represented varied profiles: advocacy-oriented organisations, umbrella organisations representing social workers and teachers, grassroots NGOs from outside Bucharest, women and a children’s rights umbrella organisation. The delegation of the Conference of INGOs proceeded to the exchanges of views with representatives of the Parliament: Chair of the Committee for Legal Matters, Discipline, and Immunities, Vice-Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies and an MP, at that time, in charge of relations with the Venice Commission. The meetings were held with the representatives of the Directorate for Open Governance and Civil Society Relations under the General Secretariat of the Government and the representative of the Ministry for Cooperation with the Parliament. The delegation also exchanged views with the Presidential Advisor from the Department of Relationship with Public Authorities and Civil Society. The exchanges were completed by the meeting between the President of the Conference of INGOs and the representative of the National Office for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering, accompanied by the representative of the Ministry of Justice during their visit to Strasbourg.
Statement of the Icmica federations of Catalunya
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The 3 members of Icmica Pax Romana in Catalunya have published the following statement:
In reference to the Supreme Court’s sentence that condemns different social and political Catalan leaders the undersigning Christian entities want to express the following:
1. We consider that this judgment and its sentence are a serious attack of the essential democratic principles of our society and it is also a serious violation of the human rights of the people affected due to the improper application of the penal laws to facts that cannot be considered criminal, with the result of abusive penalties being imposed. We also consider that there have been violations of the procedural guarantees during the judgment processes, as it has been pointed out by the working group on arbitrary arrests of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and as it has been denounced by multiple national and international NGO'S of Human Rights (International Federation of Human Rights, Amnesty International, World Organization against Torture, International Federation of Christians for the abolition of torture...).
CoE : Letter from the President of the Conference of INGOs
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Please find enclosed a letter from Anna Rurka, President of the Conference of INGOs, on the session taking place from 28 to 31 October 2019.
With best regards,
Philippe GROLLEAU
+33 6 07 79 11 34
Permanent Delegate of Pax Romana
to the Council of Europe
CoE : Visit of the Conference of INGOs to Romania
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Report published: Visit of the Conference of INGOs to Romania
STRASBOURG 27 SEPTEMBER 2019
CoE : visit of the Conference of INGOs to Italy
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Report on the fact-finding visit of the Conference of INGOs to Italy
STRASBOURG 7 OCTOBER 2019
The Conference of INGOs is publishing a reporton its fact-finding visit to Italy, which was organised on May 2019.
The report covers the legal Framework for NGOs in Italy, the reform of the Third Sector and participation in the Decision-making Process, including interactions between public authorities and NGOs in the context of migration policy as well as equal opportunities and the fight against discrimination.
More information on the visit can be found here.
CoE : visit of the Conference of INGOs to the UK
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Report on the fact-finding visit of the Conference of INGOs to the Uk
STRASBOURG 8 OCTOBER 2019
Following its visits to London on 20 and 21 May 2018, and on 16 October 2018, the Conference of INGOs is publishing a report that highlights the issues that NGOs and representatives of the Ministries and other public agencies had at stake at the time of the visit: regulatory framework, political activities, lobbying regulation, participation in decision making and Brexit.
CoE : 70th anniversary 1949-2019
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Dear friends, dear everyone,
I invite you to visit the chronological history over the 70 years of the Council of Europe and the various commemorations of this anniversary with the following link:
CoE : Side Event : Female and outspoken
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Female and outspoken:
The twofold burden facing women human rights defenders and journalists
Responses from Armenia, Russia and Turkey
Side Event
13.00-14.00, 1 October 2019
Room 2, Palais de l’Europe
See attachment
CoE : World Forum for Democracy
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Is democracy in danger in the information age?
Strasbourg, 6-8 November 2019
CoE : Sexism: See it. Name it. Stop it”
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Strasbourg, 16 September 2019 |
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“Sexism: See it. Name it. Stop it” - Council of Europe takes action
In March 2019, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers adopted a newRecommendation on Preventing and Combating Sexism. Not only does this text contain the first ever internationally agreed definition of sexism, but it also proposes a set of concrete measures to combat this wide-spread phenomenon.
Sexism is present in all areas of life. From catcalls on the street, to women being ignored during work meetings, to boys being bombarded with aggressive role-models in video games. It is also there when comments are made about politicians on the length of their skirts rather than their latest parliamentary report. When sexist behaviour accumulates, it can lead to an acceptance of discrimination and even violence.
Secretary-General Thorbjørn Jagland said that “No-one should be discriminated against because of their sex. This is a basic principle which we are still far from respecting in practice. Through efforts to prevent and combat sexist behaviour, the Council of Europe wants to help ensure a level playing field for women and men, boys and girls.”
Sexism is harmful and lies at the root of gender inequality. It produces feelings of worthlessness, self-censorship, changes in behaviour, and a deterioration in health. Sexism affects women and girls disproportionately. Some groups of women, such as politicians, journalists, women’s human rights defenders, or young women, may be particularly vulnerable to acts of sexism. But it can also affect men and boys, when they don’t conform to stereotyped gender roles. Moreover, the impact of sexism can be worse for some women and men due to ethnicity, age, disability, social origin, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or other factors.
To address these issues and encourage the full implementation of the Recommendation, the Council of Europe has just launched a video and action pageunder the hashtag #stopsexism and the slogan “Sexism: See it. Name it. Stop it.” The aim is to help the wider public identify acts of sexism and take a stand against them.
Find out more about the work of the Council of Europe to prevent and combat sexism. |
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Panos Kakaviatos, Spokesperson/Media officer, tel. + 33 3 90 21 50 27 |
CoE : Consultation on Childrens' rights
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Please find below a consultation on children's rights launched by the President of the Conference of INGOs at the Council of Europe.
I invite all of you who are active in the field of children's rights to respond directly to this consultation and inform me about it.
Dear INGO representatives and members, dear colleagues,
On 13-14 November 2019, the Council of Europe will hold, under the French Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, the Children Rights Conference to mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) and will undertake the Mid-Term Evaluation of the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016-2021). In this link, you will find details on the event and the draft programme.
Kenya Professionals Call for Greater Lay Involvement in the Church and Society
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Catholic Professionals in Kenya made a passionate call for a greater involvement of the lay people in the life of the Church and society during their visit to the new Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya, H.E. Archbishop Bert Van Megan. The visit, which took place on 28th August 2019, was organized by the umbrella body of Catholic Professionals in Kenya, the Kenya Movement of Catholic Professionals (KMCP). It comprised representatives from Kenya Catholic Doctors’ Association, Catholic Members of Parliament Spiritual Support Initiative (CAMPSSI) and International Young Catholic Students.
You have to know what you want!
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At the beginning of May 2018, Viktor Orban was sworn in as Prime Minister following another clear victory after the parliamentary elections in Hungary. His subsequent speech contained the following key message: "The era of liberal democracy is over." It had proved unsuitable for defending human dignity, freedom and physical security. His answer and that of the Hungarians is "to have to build the Christian democracy of the 21st century instead of the shipwrecked liberal democracy". "We are Christian Democrats and we want a Christian democracy."
Peace is each step
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In the conception of the conference we were inspired by the Messages for the World Day of the Peace of the last four pontiffs, both for reasons of merit and method. From 1968 to the present day, in fact, these messages, addressed not only to the ecclesial community, but to all men of good will, have offered a range of positive declensions of the term "peace" that hold different dimensions together. Each contributes to building peace through peace, according to a reversal of the classical paradigm that saw war as a necessary way to peace. "Our" Paul VI had well expressed this intention in his 1965 speech to the UN, of which this passage seems emblematic to us: "And you know that peace is not built only by politics and the balance of forces and interests, but with the spirit, ideas, works of peace".
Faith and politics: a cultural service
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The historical passage we are going through is described, on the political level, by a lexicon dominated by the binomial sovereignty/populism, with which we try to mean a radical change in the balances and dynamics with which we build the political decision, especially within democratic and liberal institutional systems. However, this semantic choice, which takes as its qualifying trait the emphasis placed on the absolute primacy of the interest of the sovereign people, resorts to concepts that now belong to the history of the previous century and that are not able to fully restore the radicality of a historical change in which we are directly involved.
Excluded-included. Immigration and Democracy in Europe
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Inclusion or exclusion? The boundary is born as an inclusive idea and ends as an exclusive idea. Where the border is considered as frontier then it is exclusion and disregard of otherness and the other. Is it conceivable, today, a project of commercial globalization and at the same time a policy of insurmountable barriers that separate peoples and states?
Deliberative democracy to regenerate participation
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"Politics is based on the fact of the plurality of men... it is about the coexistence of the different... it is born among men... it is born in the infra and is affirmed as a relationship". Luciano Manicardi quotes H. Arendt in the opening pages of "Spirituality and Politics", adding that "in the empty space between men, between me and the other, between me, the other and the third, between us and the others, therefore in the interpersonal and social space, politics also meets the spiritual dimension".
No to barbarization!
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As a missionary, I denounce the cynicism with which the yellow-green government rejects the "shipwrecked of development". I would never have thought that an Italian Government could give us a poisoned morsel such as the Decreto sicurezza bis, a decree whose clauses violate the fundamental principles of our Constitution, law and ethics. It is precisely ethics that is hit to death because this Decree declares it a crime to save lives at sea. But above all I appeal to Catholic associations to join the secular forces and say no to the barbarization of our society.
An ecclesial cloth to repair
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The success of the “Lega” in the recent European elections was no surprise, even though the extent of the consensus received was not easily imaginable. Politicians and political journalists have extensively reasoned about the causes of this small earthquake, which, while it has not significantly shifted the European balance, on the other hand has changed the Italian political framework making it even more problematic. The support for Matteo Salvini came largely from the North, where the League was born and has always had a strong consensus, but this time also from the areas of Central and Southern Italy, where in the past there was a strong hostility towards the “Lega” project; it came from the middle class, but also from the urban suburbs until a few years ago in favor of left-wing parties; and it came from a substantial part of the Catholic world.
CoE : Questionnaire: Study on NGO activities, particularly humanitarian efforts targeting refugees and other migrants
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Message from the President of the INGOs Conference of the Council of Europe
Dear NGO representative,
In 2008 the Conference of INGOs created the Expert Council on NGO Lawin order to contribute to the enabling legal environment for NGOs. Our Expert Council carries out thematic and country studies on specific aspects of NGO legislation and legal opinions on specific piece of legislation.
Considering its mandate, the Expert Council is currently preparing a thematic study on the impact on NGO activities, particularly humanitarian efforts targeting refugees and other migrants, of changing criminal law approaches or provisions in Council of Europe Member States. The aim is to cover as many national contexts as possible, including those which are already known as threatening NGOs helping migrants.
Obviously, the results of the study will depend on the available data. That’s why we solicit your help, asking you to answer the enclosed questionnaire (in English) related to the relevant legislation and practice in the field of migration. We know that NGOs are at the forefront when it comes to respond to the human rights challenges of asylum and migration in Europe.
We really count on your help. Thank you in advance for kindly sending your responses by email to before 2 September 2019.
As always, you will be informed about the progress and final results of the study.
Yours sincerely,
Anna RURKA
President of the Conference of INGOs
Enclosed: Questionnaire on State Practice
CoE : 3rd session of the PACE (cont'd)
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The Assembly today elected Marija Pejcinovic Buric (Croatia) Secretary General of the Council of Europe for a five-year term beginning on 18 September 2019.
In the first round of the election Marija Pejcinovic Buric obtained 159 votes, an absolute majority, and Didier Reynders (Belgium) 105 votes. There were 264 votes cast.
Ms Pejcinovic Buric is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia.
PACE ratifies Russian delegation’s credentials
- 26/06/2019
- SESSION
PACE has voted to ratify the credentials of the Russian delegation after they were challenged on substantial grounds on the second day of its plenary session in Strasbourg, declaring that it remained “committed to dialogue as a means of reaching lasting solutions”.
However, in return the Assembly called on Russia to fulfil a series of recent Assembly recommendations, citing among other things the release of Ukrainian sailors, co-operation on bringing to justice those responsible for downing Flight MH17, and taking measures to end violations of the rights of LGBTI people, especially in Chechnya.
In a resolution based on a report by Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom, EC), the parliamentarians pointed out that the Assembly was a place where “political dialogue on the Russian Federation’s obligations under the Statute of the Council of Europe can take place with the participation of all those concerned” and where the Russian delegation could be “kept accountable” on the basis of the Organisation’s values and principles.
The Assembly said it expected its “clear offer of dialogue” to be reciprocal and to lead to concrete results. It resolved to debate a report on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Russia no later than the April 2020 part-session.
Vote on Resolution, Web page of the session, Adopted resolution
