Foreign Minister to participate in Council of Europe Committee of Ministers session in Strasbourg

Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins on 7 May will take part in the 118^th session of the Council of Europe (CoE) Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg, where ministers will consider ways to consolidate the CoE system of human rights protection. During the informal part of the discussion, the officials will debate the situation in south-eastern Europe.

At the working session Minister Riekstins is expected to draw attention of his counterparts to the recent developments in Georgia and to the human rights situation in Belarus. The effectiveness of the European Convention of Human Rights will be analysed at the Committee of Ministers session. The issue of Protocol 14 is high on the agenda – the document was already adopted in 2004 with the aim of enhancing the operation of the European Court of Human Rights. Despite repeated calls by CoE member states, the Russian Federation is the only member state out of the 47 which has not ratified this protocol, thus seriously hindering the work of the European Court of Human Rights. The agenda of the session also includes for example, co-operation between the CoE and the EU, CoE reforms, CoE's contribution to promoting intercultural dialogue, and the adoption of the amended European Convention on the Adoption of Children. Following the discussions, the ministers will issue a joint communiqué.  

At the close of the session, Sweden will succeed Slovakia as the Chair of the Committee of Ministers for the next six months.

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