25 février 2017

The space for democratic debate in Turkey has shrunk alarmingly following increased judicial harassment of large strata of society, including journalists, members of parliament, academics and ordinary citizens, and government action which has reduced pluralism and led to self-censorhip. This deterioration came about in a very difficult context, but neither the attempted coup, nor other terrorist threats faced by Turkey can justify measures that infringe media freedom and disavow the rule of law to such an extent. The authorities should urgently change course by overhauling criminal legislation and practice, re-develop judicial independence and reaffirm their commitment to protect free speech. More...

The Council of Europe’s EDQM has participated last week in the Summit on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism organised by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican State to raise awareness on organ trafficking and human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal. On the occasion, the EDQM provided its contribution to a Statement, signed by all participants at the Summit, pledging their commitment to promoting ethical organ donation. More...

There is a growing trend in Europe and beyond towards granting same-sex couples legal recognition for their relationships, which confers certain specific protections. The first country to provide “registered partnerships” was Denmark in 1989, while The Netherlands was first to adopt same-sex marriage in 2001. Today, 47 countries in the world, 27 of which are in the Council of Europe, provide some form of legal recognition for same-sex couples. More...

The conference in Nicosia, Cyprus – an event organized under the Cypriot chairmanship of the organisation – focuses on the support that domestic and international courts can provide for social rights in Europe. More...

The Council of Europe’s Department for the Execution of Judgments launched a new search engine which aims to improve the visibility and transparency of the process of execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights: HUDOC-EXEC.
This new search engine (based on the existing HUDOC-ECHR search engine of the European Court of Human Rights), provides access, via a single unified interface, to relevant information and documentation in all cases pending before the Committee of Ministers, as well as in cases closed by a final resolution. More...

The Council of Europe has just published the 2016 annual report on the implementation of its 2014-2017 Gender Equality Strategy by its member states which looks at how existing challenges to women’s rights are being addressed.
Among the challenges identified in the report is the critical vulnerability of refugee women, increasing sexist hate speech and other forms of violence against women, attacks to women’s reproductive health and rights, reduced resources allocated to gender equality due to budgetary cuts and austerity measures, barriers preventing women from disadvantaged groups to benefit from gender equality policies and standards, shortcomings to achieving women’s balanced participation in political and public decision-making, and the spread of misconceptions about gender equality through the label of “gender ideology”. More...

“The use of migrant detention across Europe, whether for the purpose of stopping asylum seekers and other migrants entering a country or for removing them, has long been a serious human rights concern.” says Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, in his latest Human Rights Comment published today. More...