BPW Europe Leadership Summit ÁINE FEENEY BPW INTERNATIONAL REP TO INGO CONFERENCE OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE BPW IRELAND NATIONAL REP TO NWCI

Promoting Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Intergovernmental Organisation 47 member states

IN BRIEF  ?feature=player_embedded&v=7S KqVzlHc9o ?feature=player_embedded&v=7S KqVzlHc9o  HUMAN RIGHTS  In accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights 1953 – ECHR: Human Rights, as they are put down in the ECHR, cover basic rights and freedoms like the right to life; the right to liberty and security; the right to a fair trial; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion or the right to freedom of expression. They also ban certain things like; torture; discrimination; slavery and forced labour or punishment without law. Decision-making body: Committee of Ministers (=Foreign ministers of the member states) Consultative bodies: Parliamentary Assembly; Congress of Local and Regional Authorities; Conference of INGOs; Commissioner for Human Rights Main legal instrument: European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) Legal basis: European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) plus more than 200 Conventions, Additional Protocols and Partial Agreements Administration: Secretary General plus Secretariat Annual budget: € 300 million

DEMOCRACY  RULE OF LAW  A state, governed by the rule of law, is – among other things – based on a constitution, its judicial authorities hold fair trials and it punishes its citizens neither arbitrarily nor excessively, but in accordance with the law. A democracy is – among other things, based on free and fair elections, a pluralistic media environment and a parliament, which holds the actual power and is made up by different political parties.

Council of Europe Structure 8 key institutions

Committee of Ministers The Committee of Ministers meets only once a year for a plenary session. During the rest of the year, the Foreign Ministers – who constitute the Committee of Ministers – are represented in Strassburg by their ambassadors. These ambassadors are, therefore, called Permanent Representatives, and the Embassies of the Council of Europe member states in Strassburg are Permanent Representations.

THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY is a consultative body of the Council of Europe. Since many of the important instruments were conceived by the Assembly, it is often called the Council of Europe’s “engine”. The Parliamentary Assembly is responsible for the election of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, its Human Rights Commissioner and the judges at the European Court of Human Rights.

Parliamentary Assembly Contd The Assembly brings together 318 delegates (plus 318 substitutes), who are elected members of parliament in their respective countries and are organised in the following five political groups: 1. the Socialist Group (SOC) 2. the Group of the European People’s Party (EPP/CD) 3. the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) 4. the European Democrat Group (EDG) 5. the Group of the Unified European Left (UEL)

SECRETARIAT  On behalf of the Committee of Ministers and under the aegis of the various Council of Europe bodies, 2,200, in part highly specialised officials from different fields of expertise draft, organise, coordinate and oversee all activities of the whole organisation.  The Secretariat is divided into three Directorates-General: 1. Directorate-General I (Human Rights and Rule of Law) 2. Directorate-General II (Democracy) 3. Directorate-General DGA (Administration)  Unlike the Permanent Representatives of the Committee of Ministers and the diplomats under their authority, who only work in Strazbourg for a couple of years, before they are posted to a different job in a different country, the officials in the Secretariat of the Council of Europe remain at the organisation. Some of the executive staff members have been working for the Council of Europe for decades, know the organisation inside out and exert considerable influence on it.

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities  HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER  The creation of the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights is based on a resolution adopted by the Committee of Ministers in As an independent body, the Commissioner works towards protecting Human Rights and raising public awareness in regard to them, in the 47 Council of Europe member states.  The Commissioner visits the Council of Europe’s member states in order to gain information from political stakeholders, NGOs and members of civil society on site. He meets with leading politicians and participates in round-table talks.  The Commissioner is elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for a nonrecurring six-year term of office. In April 2012, Nils Muižnieks from Latvia was elected Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner, becoming the successor of Thomas Hammarberg from Sweden ( ) and Alvaro Gil-Robles from Spain ( ). It consists of a chamber of Local authorities and a chamber of Regional authorities, whose all in all 318 delegates (plus 318 substitutes) are elected members of local or regional political bodies in their respective countries. The Congress is striving to strengthen the cooperation between the Council of Europe member states and to promote civic rights and liberties at the local and regional level within its member states. In this context, the Congress provides the Committee of Ministers with valuable input. The Congress holds plenary sessions twice a year and its members engage in the following three committees: Monitoring committee - Governance committee - Current Affairs committee

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS Every member state sends one judge to the Court. Each of these judges is democratically elected by the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. In turn, the Parliamentary Assembly consists of democratically elected members of the national parliaments of all member states. In every court case judged by the Small Chamber (7 judges) or the Grand Chamber (17 judges), the judge from the country in question is part of the chamber’s panel. Parliamentary Assembly The Court defends and protects human rights. It does so on the legal basis of an international treaty – the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The human rights, as they are set up within this treaty, are due to every human being, criminal and respectable citizen alike. international treaty European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)

Conference of INGOS Agora

INGO CONFERENCE  The Conference of INGOs is a consultative body of the Council of Europe.  It unites more than 400 internationally operating non-governmental organisations from all areas of civil society.  These organisations have participatory status at the Council of Europe: They have to be representative within their respective fields, they have to share the Council of Europe’s values, and they have to contribute to the Council of Europe’s work by providing it with their knowledge upon request.  The INGO Conference meets for a plenary session in Strassburg twice a year. In between sessions, the Conference remains in constant contact with the political bodies of the Council of Europe and the Secretariat through its Standing Committee.

The Council of Europe’s work benefits extensively from contacts and co- operation with the dynamic elements of society, as represented by NGOs. One of the main challenges currently facing the Organisation is to strengthen NGOs and civil society and to develop participatory democracy on a pan-European basis. The Council of Europe’s relations with NGOs focus on the following: I. Relations with international NGOs (INGOs) : this can seen as the Council of Europe’s statutory relations with NGOs through the INGOs holding participatory status, known collectively as the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe. Through this status INGOs are now actively contributing to the decision-making process at the Council of Europe and to the implementation of its programmes, thus ensuring their relevance to the expectations of Europeans.

II Civil Society Initiatives and Programmes with partner NGOs : civil society initiatives and co-operation programmes aim at strengthening the role of civil society in a pluralist democracy, in particular to improving relations between NGOs and public authorities. Since the introduction of consultative status for INGOs in 1952, the Council of Europe has developed even closer and fruitful relations with NGOs as representatives of civil society. The introduction of participatory status in 2003 has enabled INGOs to increase active participation in the policies and work programme of the Council of Europe, and to reinforce co-operation between the Council of Europe and the various associations in member States.

Mandate of the Conference of INGOs  The Conference of INGOs is the chief body representing the INGOs enjoying participatory status with the Council of Europe and as such identifies the general action needed to organise its participation in the Council of Europe “quadrilogue”, ensure that participatory status functions correctly, and so help to affirm the political role of civil society at the Council of Europe. It decides on policy lines and defines and adopts action programmes.  The Conference of INGOs is chaired by its President in office, whom it elects every three years. The current President of the Conference of INGOs, Ms Anna Ruka, who was elected in January 2015 for her first term of office of three years.

Session Schedules Winter Session – January Each year Summer Session – June Each year

Current priorities and objectives of the Conference of INGOs  HR Committee – Working Group on the Istanbul Convention  Chair Betty Doornenbal, Since Jan 2015 Anne Negre  The committee of the parties to the Convention held their first meeting 4/ 5 th May, 2015  Total number of ratifications – 18 (10 ony required for implementation)  Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges Committee – Education Working Group– Living together project  Chair – Prof Karl Donart The Standing Committee of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe adopted the aims and objectives of the Conference of INGOs at its meeting in Strasbourg on 26 January, Promoting the Council of Europe's values, giving substance to participatory democracy and developing the political role of the Conference of INGOs constitute the three main priorities.

Working Groups  Working Group A – Human Rights Co-development and Migration,  Working Group B – Interfield Co-operation for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse,  Working Group C – Abolition of Torture making particular reference to the torture conference which had taken place the previous November,  Working Group D – Human Rights Defenders and  Working Group E - Fighting against Hate Speech.

Effectiveness of the COE Conference Parliamentary Assembly Effective Lobbying Democratic Decision Making 400 NGO’S represented Representation Collaborative Representation

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them………Albert Einstein May, 2015