This week marks the 5th anniversary of the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation. I would like to recall the Committee of Ministers’ condemnation of the annexation, which constitutes a violation of international law and cannot form the basis for any alteration of their status, and to reiterate its commitment to the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. More...

The Council of Europe and Reporters Without Borders are organising a conference in Strasbourg on 20 March to discuss public policies aimed at strengthening media pluralism. More...

Today the Venice Commission published a set of guidelines to protect ombudsman institutions, following threats to these institutions in recent years. Ombudsman are important for democracy, their services are free, and are thus accessible to individuals who cannot afford to pursue their complaints through the courts. More...

Since 2012, when GRECO addressed 24 recommendations to Belarus and invited the authorities to authorise the publication of the Evaluation Report, twenty recommendations have remained outstanding; and GRECO repeatedly concluded that the level of compliance with its recommendations was very low and “globally unsatisfactory”. Belarus has never authorised publication of any of the evaluation or compliance reports. More...

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has expressed concern about several persistent problems in Romanian prisons - including the abuse of prisoners by staff and inter-prisoner violence - as well as about numerous allegations of police ill-treatment. More...

In the wake of recent challenges to the independent functioning of associations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Council of Europe's constitutional legal experts today adopted a report on standards with respect to foreign funding of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Council of Europe member states. More...

An opinion adopted today by the Council of Europe’s constitutional experts of the Venice Commission raises questions over two December 2018 laws establishing a separate system of administrative courts, with its own high court (the future Supreme Administrative Court, or SAC) and its own judicial council (the future National Administrative Judicial Council, or NAJC). More...

San Marino has taken additional measures to combat trafficking in human beings, according to a new report published today by the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), but a number of issues continue to give rise to concern. More...

Iceland has made some progress in tackling human trafficking in recent years, but the problem requires more political attention and better co-ordination in order to help detect victims of trafficking, carry out successful investigations and prosecute offenders.
These are among the main findings of the second evaluation report on Iceland from the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA). More...

Modern European democracies cannot function without truly independent judiciaries. Poland’s authorities should take further steps to restore full independence of the judiciary and act to resolve discord and deadlock that continue to affect the functioning and the credibility of some of the judicial institutions. Judges and prosecutors must be shielded from undue pressure. More...