Please find attached a message from Anna Rurka, President of the Conference of INGOs.

“During the week of 22 to 26 June, the Standing Committee proposes to hold several short thematic online meetings with interpretation. Their number will be limited, and we need to prioritise the topics. We wish to organise activities on issues that are as close as possible to your concerns and needs, as well as to the needs of the Conference of INGOs as an organisation. Taking into account that all these activities will involve high-level personalities or guests, we need to check your availability.

By clicking on this link, please choose the topics that are important for your INGO

https://forms.gle/QWTZTuNTcwFt196a6

Your answers are expected no later than 15 May 2020.

The President

Strasbourg, 7 May 2020

Dear INGOs representatives

Dear colleagues,

Our world and our countries are going through difficult times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic not only threatens our health but also deeply affects the social, economic and cultural dimension of our life.

Many associations have been and continue to be in the front line, fighting against the pandemic, working to support vulnerable people, but also observing and analysing the respect of the rule of law in the context of a state emergency, and, when necessary, warning when the standards were not anymore met. Thank you for your mobilisation, your courage and commitment !

Through this letter I would like to inform you regarding the future activities of the Conference of INGOs and also to solicit your input

Continuation of the activities

The Standing Committee has been mobilized since the beginning of the pandemic, in order to ensure the continuity of the INGO Conference’s work.

The Standing Committee adopted two Declarations:

The Expert Council on NGO Law published:

The Standing Committee continues to work on the draft Rules of procedure. In this regard, the Honorary Presidents of the Conference of INGOs were consulted by the President.

The draft rules will be accompanied by a high-level political declaration of the Conference of INGOs, specifying civil society’s unprecedented contribution and role, all over Europe, in the post pandemic time.

The vote on those 2 important documents is now planned for October 2020.

June Session of the Conference of INGOs (22-26 June 2020)

The organisation of the coming sessions of the Conference of INGOs will obviously depend on the evolution of the pandemic and the general health situation in France and Europe.

However, please be assured of the willingness of the Standing Committee to maintain contact and connection with you all! It has taken some time to find out how to realize the impact of the sanitary crisis, then to reorganise in this new context, in a way to articulate both our aspirations and a substantial relevance, with new logistical possibilities.

During the week of 22 to 26 June, the Standing Committee proposes to hold several short thematic online meetings with interpretation. Their number will be limited, and we need to prioritise the topics. We wish to organise activities on issues that are as close as possible to your concerns and needs, as well as to the needs of the Conference of INGOs as an organisation. Taking into account that all these activities will involve high-level personalities or guests, we need to check your availability.

By clicking on this link, please choose the topics that are important for your INGO

https://forms.gle/QWTZTuNTcwFt196a6

                                Your answers are expected no later than 15 May 2020.

Institutional set-up between the Conference of INGOs and the Council of Europe: Evaluation and Improvement

As you know, since the last two years, the civil participation and the interactions between (I)NGOs and the Council of Europe bodies are the priorities of the Organisation. The various recommendations and the Helsinki decision adopted by the Committee of Ministers attest this.

In this perspective, at the beginning of this year, Directorate General Oversight decided to evaluate the Conference of INGOs activities conducted from 2016 to 2019, the effectiveness and efficiency of our work and added value of the interventions of the Conference of INGOs to the Council of Europe work.  This evaluation is expected to contribute to the improvement of the institutional set-up between the Conference of INGOs and the Council of Europe, in order to assess the existing framework and identify possible avenues for continued support to the Conference of INGOs.

The evaluation of the different components of the Council of Europe is an ordinary activity within the Organisation. In 2016, several of our representatives gave their input to the Evaluation of the contribution of NGOs to standard setting and monitoring in the Council of Europe.

Now we will have a chance to receive specific recommendations regarding our functioning and the outputs we produced. The fact that the Conference of INGOs is looking to renew its way of working and deciding shows the dynamic of our organisation and the commitment towards improvement.

In this context, your opinion will probably be solicited by an external consultant.in a very near future.

The Standing Committee is also preparing a collective contribution to this evaluation process

At the end, I wish you the best, our physical and mental health are both important. The condition of the civil society sector is determined by the people who make it up.

Don’t hesitate to share your preoccupations with us!

Above all, take care of yourself

Looking forward to reading you soon

Anna Rurka