[CoE Press Release] La settimana del Consiglio d’Europa, 15 – 21 febbraio

Ref. DC 019 (2016)

Week in brief 15-21 February 2016

Moot Court Competition on the European Convention on Human Rights

15-18 February, Strasbourg – The final round of the 4th edition of the European Human Rights Moot Court Competition will take place at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Sixteen university teams from 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom) have been selected following the written round of the competition. The competition simulates the procedure of complaints to the European Court of Human Rights in a fictitious case regarding environmental damage and responsibility. The 16 selected teams will plead the case during the final round at the European Court of Human Rights to win a traineeship at the Court. The competition is organised by the European Law Students Association (ELSA) with the support of the Council of Europe.

Regional conference on money in politics

18-19 February, Tbilisi – The conference will gather political finance experts from around the world and will aim to identify areas of political finance regulations in need of reform; exchange good practices and lessons learned on the effective enforcement and monitoring of political finance legal frameworks; identify approaches, mechanisms and procedures for improving the implementation of existing regulations; and help form a regional peer network on political finance. The event is organised jointly by the Council of Europe, the International IDEA, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the State Audit Office of Georgia, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).

More information

Meeting debate on the future of journalism

20 February, Brussels (4-5 pm) – On the occasion of the participation of the Council of Europe in theBrussels Book Fair (18-22 February), a meeting debate entitled “What future for journalism?” will be organised at the “Europe place” with Françoise Tulkens, former Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights, Ricardo Gutierrez, General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, Lecturer at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Stéphane Hoebeke, legal counsellor by RTBF and responsible for the media education, Jean-Paul Marthoz, correspondent in Europe for the Committee to Protect Journalists (New York), columnist for Le Soir; the debate will be moderated by Onur Andreotti, Coordinator of the Task Force for Freedom of Expression and Media, Council of Europe.

Also…

15 February, Switzerland – PACE rapporteur Liliane Maury Pasquier will be meeting with WHOrepresentatives at the Organisation’s headquarters in Geneva, in the context of the follow-up to PACEResolution 2071 (2015) on “Public health and the interests of the pharmaceutical industry: how to guarantee the primacy of public health interests?”.

15 February, Brussels – The final conference of an international project aimed at improving the conditions of detention for children in Europe will take place at the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels. The project, coordinated by DCI-Belgium and supported by the Council of Europe, has enabled European and international organisations, as well as global experts, to share their experience and expertise on this issue and will result in the publication of a practical guide for national authorities.

15-18 February, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” – Lise Christoffersen and Valeriu Ghiletchi, PACE co-rapporteurs for post-monitoring dialogue with the country, will make a fact-finding visit to Skopje, Gostivar and Tetovo.

16 February, Strasbourg – The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 11 judgments concerning Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia and Spain.

16 February, Brussels – Milena Santerini, PACE General rapporteur on combating racism and intolerance, co-ordinator of the No Hate Parliamentary Alliance, and author of the report on “Recognising and preventing neo-racism” will speak at a round table on “Combating Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe”, organised by the European Parliament Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup (ARDI).

17 February, Strasbourg – Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee (CPT) will publish the report on its last visit to Sweden.

17 February, Madrid – PACE President Pedro Agramunt will meet the Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo.

18 February, Strasbourg – The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 64 judgments and/or decisions concerning Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Turkey and the United Kingdom.