Russia’s attack on Ukraine constitutes a clear violation of the Council of Europe’s statutes and led to expulsion from the organization. At the same time, there is a decline in democracy in other Council of Europe Member States and an undermining of the rule of law. We witness serious shortcomings when it comes to implementing judgments from the European Court of Human Rights and following up on recommendations from other bodies in the Council of Europe.
The purpose of the Oslo meeting is to help mobilize for a stronger Council of Europe and to provide input for its fourth summit, which will take place in Reykjavik on 16-17 May this year. Here, the Member States should adopt a strong resolution in which they undertake to comply with the Council of Europe’s standards and values and provide the organization with sufficient resources to follow up.
The Council of Europe is the continent’s most important pan-European organization and must be equipped to ensure democracy and peace in the future. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has asked the summit to adopt reforms to strengthen the organization.
A civil society summit 28 February-1 March 2023 did the same. A High-level Reflection Group, which includes Norway’s former foreign minister Ine Eriksen Søreide, has come up with several proposals.
State Secretary Eivind Vad Petersson introduces, while the leader of the Norwegian Parliament’s (Storting’s) delegation to PACE, Ingjerd Schou and other MPs participate in addition to experts and civil society actors. The Norwegian Bar Association, Amnesty International Norway, the Human Rights House Foundation, ICJ Norway, the Norwegian Institution for Human Rights (NIM), the Norwegian Center for Human Rights and SAIH contribute.
The meeting will be conducted in the Norwegian language.
Sign up for the meeting to [email protected] by 27 March at 12:00.
Official website of the Council of Europe Summit 16-17 May 2023
Report of ‘The High-Level Reflection Group’
Recommendations of the 28 February – 1 March Civil Society Summit