25 November : International campaign for the elimination of violence against women. The Human Rights Channel website includes an “Actions” page which asks you to share this message on the web and on social media. More...

Participants from both sides of the Mediterranean meet at the Lisbon Forum to build better bridges between countries of origin, transit and destination of migrants and displaced people.
Representatives of municipalities – including Patras, Greece; Tangiers, Morocco and Stavanger, Sweden – are assessing how to improve local approaches to the crisis. More...

Secretary General Jagland and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, are launching a series of initiatives to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the European Union. More...

The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption group (GRECO) today made public its Second Compliance Report on the Russian Federation concerning incriminations (criminalisation of corruption) and transparency of party funding. More...

“The 15th anniversary of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime is a turning point, in that the Convention is now reaching out into the ‘clouds’,” said the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, at the opening of the 2016 Octopus conference.
Data, and therefore electronic evidence, is increasingly stored on servers in foreign, unknown or multiple jurisdictions. This can make it extremely difficult for criminal justice authorities to lawfully secure such evidence. And without it, criminals operating in cyberspace cannot be prosecuted. More...

“In some countries, they call them “invisible persons”, in others – “ghosts”. Throughout Europe there are many migrants, primarily rejected asylum seekers, who live in a state of protracted legal and social limbo without any long-term prospects.”, says Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights, in his latest Human rights Comment published today. “The authorities refuse to regularize them or to grant them any kind of legal status, but often, they cannot go back to their countries of origin for various reasons, most often, fear of persecution.” More...

18 November marks the European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. This day was set up by the Committee of Ministers on 12 May 2015, as a tool to raise awareness of these terrible crimes, which are a very serious violation of children’s rights.  This is also a topic that many people find difficult to speak about.  The European Day therefore also provides an opportunity for these subjects to be discussed openly, thus also helping to eliminate the stigmatisation of victims. More...

Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children can happen online, on a phone, on the streets or through a webcam, at home or at school. It can cause lifelong damage to the child’s physical and mental health. To help prevent these crimes, prosecute the perpetrators and protect the victims, the Council of Europe has set up in 2015 the European Day for the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse marked on the 18th of November. More...

Fifteen years after its adoption, the Budapest Convention remains the most effective international treaty on cybercrime and the rule of law in cyberspace. Achievements and challenges, such as access to electronic evidence and the use of information technology for terrorist purposes, will be discussed at the Council of Europe’s Octopus conference on cybercrime from 16 to 18 November in Strasbourg. The conference will begin with a special meeting to mark the 15th anniversary of the Convention. More...

“I would like to congratulate the President of the French Republic, François Hollande, for the historical acknowledgement of the internment of French Gypsies (tsiganes), which he gave during the speech he made on 29 October 2016 in Montreuil-Bellay. He deserves credit for initiating, at the highest State level, the process for the reparation of this forgotten part of French history, and for officially acknowledging, 70 years after the liberation of the last internment camps for nomads, the Republic's responsibility in the tragic fate of these French citizens,” stated Valeriu Nicolae, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for Roma Issues. More...