Lithuania should step up its efforts to strengthen its understanding of money laundering and financing of terrorism risks, says Council of Europe report. More...

In prisons, too, allegations of ill-treatment persist; the practices of fixation of inmates and locking up remand prisoners in their cells for 23 hours a day for months and years continue and must be stopped. In psychiatric hospitals visited, despite the generally positive atmosphere, chronic overcrowding and prolonged prescription of benzodiazepines to patients was observed. More...

Azerbaijani multiculturalism welcomes expressions of cultural identity, but increased restrictions on democracy, absence of legislation, inflammatory language prevent national minorities from fully exercising their rights. More...

Australia is the 32nd country to sign this convention, the only international, legally-binding instrument that can secure global co-operation against the manipulation of sports. More...

In its sixth report on Germany, the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages praises steps taken to protect and promote regional or minority languages (Danish, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian, North Frisian, Sater Frisian, Low German and Romani), including legislation and strategies meant to strengthen the position of these languages in education, administration and media. More...

Founded on 5 May 1949, the Council of Europe brings together 47 member states under the banner of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The member countries have all signed the European Convention on Human Rights and have set up a court – the European Court of Human Rights – to ensure compliance with their commitments. More...

The Committee of Ministers has adopted guidelines to facilitate the use of electronic evidence in court proceedings. More...

“The high level of tension currently prevailing in France gives me cause for concern and I believe that there is an urgent need to calm the situation,” said Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović today following her mission to Paris on 28 January to discuss human rights issues relating to the “yellow vests” movement. More...

In a Declaration adopted today, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers encourages states to put in place a regulatory and policy framework that facilitates the operation of quality journalism, while not constraining media outlets’ editorial and operational independence. More...

The country’s “Anticorruption Strategy 2015-2020” set the last quarter of 2015 as a deadline to adopt such a code, but the draft is lingering in Parliament, according to a new compliance report published today (see the Croatian version of the report). More...