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Armenia has become the 40th member of the Council of Europe’s Co-operation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs (Pompidou Group). The Government’s decision takes effect from 1 January 2020. More...

Following heavy criticism against Greece from the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for having downgraded and softened its anti-corruption legislation, GRECO published a report today concluding that the Greek government has to some extent re-introduced more appropriate sanctions in this respect. More...

Serbia’s legal framework for protecting national minorities is solid, Serbian authorities are making commendable efforts to improve the situation of Roma-communities and to regulate the status of stateless persons, to develop cultural initiatives and minority media. However, the contrast between the levels of protection of minority rights in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and in other regions of Serbia remains notable, lack of data hinders work on protecting rights of minorities, and the participation of minorities in state administration should be significantly improved. More...

The report comes from the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), which determines that Poland has implemented seven of 16 recommendations and only one of six recommendations for a more recent “ad-hoc” procedure addressing heavily criticized judicial reforms (2016-2018). More...

The Committee of Ministers has adopted a Recommendation to member States on effective guardianship for unaccompanied and separated children in the context of migration. More...

Children have been more severely affected by the austerity measures put in place in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis. They incur a higher risk of poverty and social exclusion than the adult population and the elderly. Almost 385 million children, or 19.5% of the world’s children, live in extreme poverty, compared to 9.2% of adults, according to UNICEF. More...

The Commissioner regrets that no progress has been made regarding the protection of freedom of expression. Journalists and social media activists who express dissent or criticism of the authorities are continuously deprived of their liberty on a variety of charges that defy credibility. More...

These contemporary challenges do not stop at borders or regions; they affect both member states of the Council of Europe and our neighbours. It is by growing its membership that the North-South Centre can reach further and aim higher. The North-South Centre´s work today is more urgent than ever. More...

At its plenary meeting in Paris on 21-22 November 2019, the CCPE adopted its Opinion No. 14 on the role of prosecutors in fighting corruption and related economic and financial crime which takes into account existing standards and instruments of the Council of Europe and other international organisations. More...

Azerbaijan has become the 46th state to have ratified the Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (“Lanzarote Convention”). Today, the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the Council of Europe, Ambassador Fakhraddin Ismayilov, has deposited the instrument of ratification in the presence of the Deputy Secretary General, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni. The Convention will enter into force in Azerbaijan on 1 April 2020. More...