News
Discussion of the Draft Law on Mediation
On 17 September 2021 the discussion of the draft law on mediation took place in the framework of the project "Support to the judicial reform – enhancing the independence and professionalism of the judiciary in Armenia." One of the Project’s components is focused on the improvement of the...
Taking stock of raising awareness of the Istanbul Convention and other gender equality standards in Azerbaijan
At the Board meeting of the project “Raising awareness of the Istanbul Convention and other gender equality standards in Azerbaijan”, which took place in a digital format, the project management informed Board members and observers about the progress of the project, the results achieved to date...
Supporting equality bodies from the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership regions to address hate speech
The European Union and the Council of Europe, through their partnership continue their work to reinforce the capacities of equality bodies from the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership regions to address hate speech. On 13 September, a new e-learning tool was launched and a pilot group of...
Web article on problems encountered by Roma people
Hate speech and discrimination against the Roma community in the Republic of Moldova is the issue covered through the article developed and published by the journalistic platform "Oameni și Kilometri," in cooperation with the Ombudsoffice, the Equality Council and the Promo-LEX NGO in the...
Call for proposals: Grants for support to civil society organisations for increasing access to justice for victims of discrimination in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine
Under the framework of the European Union and Council of Europe joint programme Partnership for Good Governance, and its regional project "Strengthening access to justice through non-judicial redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes in the Eastern Partnership...
Expert discussions on the procedural safeguards and protection against undue interferences for lawyers in Armenia
The expert discussions were organised prior to the development of a country-specific action plan for Armenia. They served as a platform for discussing the feasibility of the introduced recommendations, the ways of their transformation into the action plan and their practical realisation with the...
Increasing the capacities of police investigators and prosecutors on combating hate crime in Ukraine
As a response to the needs of the Office of the Prosecutor General and the National Police of Ukraine, we organised a training of multipliers in June. The aim is to create a pool of competent staff that can provide police officers and prosecutors with training on the prevention and effective...
Increasing the capacities of Ukrainian police officers to handle hate crimes affecting LGBTI people
On 21 and 22 July and on 29 and 30 July 2021, 28 police officers increased their knowledge about LGBTI groups and their skills on how to handle hate crimes affecting LGBTI people, thanks to two training courses organised by the regional EU-Council of Europe project on “Strengthening access to...
Protecting LGBT People from Hate Crimes in Ukraine
From 1 February to 31 July 2021, the LGBT Human Rights Nash Mir Centre from Ukraine carried out the project “Protecting LGBT People from Hate Crimes in Ukraine: Recommendations Based on Experience and Advocacy”, with the support of the European Union-Council of Europe joint programme Partnership...
A new manual to ease individuals’ access to Constitutional Justice in Georgia available now
Constitutional Court’s case law on admissibility criteria has been compiled and analysed in the manual "Constitutional Complains' Admissibility Standards." It is the first manual of its kind, and its’ aim is to guide individuals, citizens, civil society representatives and other potential parties...
Azerbaijani authorities and civil society to jointly develop a campaign strategy on violence against women
A series of capacity-building sessions was organised in July for Azerbaijani authorities and civil society representatives working in the field of violence against women and domestic violence. The aim is to develop jointly an awareness raising campaign on the issue. The sessions included...
Leadership training for women-judges
On 22 July 2021 the online training on Leadership skills development for women-judges took place within in the framework project ''Support to the judicial reform – enhancing the independence and professionalism of the judiciary in Armenia.'' One of the Project’s components is focused on...
Taking stock of results and planning next actions on strengthening anti-money laundering and asset recovery in Azerbaijan
The second Technical Project Committee meeting on strengthening anti-money laundering (AML) and asset recovery in Azerbaijan took place, with representatives from 16 national authorities. The aim was to provide an overview of the activities implemented since the beginning of the project and...
Moldovan National Institute of Justice trainers enhanced their skills to deliver both in-person and online interactive trainings
With the aim to create a more conducive learning environment in judicial training courses, whether they take place online or in classrooms, a course was held remotely for twelve trainers of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The trainers participating are engaged in delivering initial and...
Raising awareness on hate speech in the Republic of Moldova
Hate speech harms individuals and the groups it targets, and it harms the social cohesion and democratic principles of societies. To raise awareness in the Republic of Moldova about this issue, several activities are carried out in the second half of 2021 by the regional project “Strengthening...
Web article on problems encountered by LGBTI people
Hatred and discrimination can affect all persons. A series of six web articles will be published online through the platform "Oameni și kilometri", prepared by our regional project on combating discrimination with input by the Moldovan Ombudsoffice and the Promo-LEX NGO. The first web article is...
Seminar on trainer skills in combating discrimination in Ukraine
In co-operation with the Legal Aid Coordination Centre, we organised a seminar for Legal Aid trainers on trainer skills in combating discrimination in Kyiv, Ukraine. The seminar was the last activity of a four-month training of trainers carried out by our project “Strengthening access to justice...
Legal expertise service of the Armenian Cassation Court enhanced their skills on specific aspects of the application of the Convention standards
The seminar "Specific aspects of the application of Articles 5 and 6 of ECHR at the national level" was organised for the legal expertise service and judicial assistants of the Court of Cassation of Armenia. Participants improved their knowledge and skills: In the right to hear witnesses in...
A new Criminal Procedure Code of Armenia adopted in line with Council of Europe expertise
On 30 June 2021, the Armenian Parliament adopted a new Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). The new criminal procedure legislation is a result of several years of complex legislative work of the Armenian authorities. The Council of Europe supported the preparation of the new Code with legal expertise....
Interagency dialogue on transparency of beneficial ownership in Ukraine
The Council of Europe national and international experts contributed to the conference on "Transparency of ultimate beneficial ownership: lessons and prospects", initiated by the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine and attended by representatives of Ukrainian public authorities included...
A Model Code of Conduct for all Public Servants in Armenia
The European Union-Council of Europe joint project, continues to support Armenian authorities in their efforts to establish solid corruption prevention systems in the country. The Corruption Prevention Commission of Armenia (CPC) is moving forward with the development of formalised general rules...
Awareness-raising videos on combating hate speech in Armenia: Discrimination
This is one of the three awareness-raising videos prepared in co-operation with the with the Human Rights Defender of Armenia. These awareness-raising videos on combating hate speech have been prepared in the framework of the project “Strengthening the access to justice through non-judiciary...
Supreme Court Judges of Georgia enhance their knowledge on economic crime adjudication
An online workshop on “Best practices of adjudication of money laundering and other economic crime cases” was organised together with the Supreme Court of Georgia for the judges of the Chamber of Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of Georgia, with direct contribution from an international...
Public seminar on the role of civil society in promoting equality, diversity and human rights in Azerbaijan
The Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Equality Platform Azerbaijan, organised a public webinar on the role of civil society in promoting equality, diversity and human rights. The event targeted civil society organisations in Azerbaijan, but was also open to civil society actors from...
Court management online training session in Azerbaijan
An online training session for trainers on court management, in particular on the collection and analysis of judicial statistics, performance evaluation, measuring the quality of justice and case and time management was held on 23-25 June. The participants were judges and court presidents, court...
Presentation of the Analysis on how CEPEJ methods can be applied on judicial statistics in Georgia
The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) organised an online seminar to present the analysis of existing data and statistical reporting processes to demonstrate the use of CEPEJ methods to guide and support policy and managerial capacity required for the creation of...
What is hate speech? Video available in English, Romanian and Russian
Romanian version Russian version
New publication available in Azerbaijani on Article 13 of the Istanbul Convention
The Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, is the most comprehensive international legal standard to end violence against women and domestic violence. It starts from the point that violence...
International Conference on Advancing Beneficial Ownership Transparency
In contributing to the international on-going efforts to enable countries to access and share reliable beneficial ownership information, the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the European Union, is organising an international Conference on Advancing Beneficial Ownership Transparency on...
Training law professors in Azerbaijan to become trainers on violence against women
Aiming to equip law professors at the Faculty of Law of the Baku State University with the capacity of tutoring the Council of Europe Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) course Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, an online training session was organised by our project...
Azerbaijani authorities boost their capacities on anti-corruption and ethics in public service
The handbooks on anti-corruption concepts, standards, and practices, as well as ethics in public service were presented at the meeting of the Scientific-Advisory Council under the General Prosecutor of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This is of particular importance due to the establishment of the...
Online training on appeals against acts of enforcement agents in national courts in the Republic of Moldova
A series of 10 online training seminars are being conducted in the field of enforcement in civil and administrative matters, largely based on the new Commentary to the Enforcement Code, recently developed at the initiative of the Council of Europe. The agenda of these training is focused on the...
Online discussion of the Opinion of the methodology and the procedure for the performance evaluation of Court of Cassation/Supreme Court judges in Armenia
On 11 June 2021 the online discussion of the Opinion of the methodology and the procedure for the performance evaluation of Court of Cassation/Supreme Court judges in Armenia took place in the framework of the project "Support to the judicial reform – enhancing the independence and...
Round table: A comprehensive approach to combating hate speech in the Republic of Moldova
The Council of Europe organised an online round table on 11 June, in co-operation with the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova, the Audiovisual Council and the Centre for Continuous Electoral Training to discuss the application of a comprehensive approach to combating hate...
Second awareness-raising webinar on violence against women and the Istanbul Convention held in Azerbaijan
The second webinar on raising awareness of violence against women under the Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, known as the Istanbul Convention, took place on 8 June 2021. Raising awareness of violence against women is the...
Regional launch in Eastern Partnership countries for HELP course on Women's Access to Justice
The Council of Europe and its member states have made specific commitments to improve women’s access to justice and prevent and combat violence against women. The role of justice system professionals in ensuring and strengthening women’s access to justice is essential in achieving substantive...
Azerbaijan’s Financial Intelligence Unit learns about EU member state experience on ultimate beneficial ownership register
The representatives of the Azerbaijani Financial Intelligence Unit (Financial Monitoring Service) were introduced to the process of development, implementation and management of the Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) Register in one of the EU member states in the framework of the project...
Georgian currency exchange bureaus trained to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorism financing in their daily business
The Council of Europe in cooperation with the Financial Monitoring Service of Georgia (FMS - Financial Intelligence Unit of Georgia) organised a two-day online training on “Anti-money laundering/countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance for currency exchange bureaus”. In addition to...
Webinar on reasonable length of proceedings and case backlog in Georgian courts
A second webinar, part of a series dedicated to “Judicial proceedings within reasonable time”, was held on 3 June 2021. Its aim was to present Council of Europe European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) timeframes in conformity with Article 6 of the European Convention of Human...
National risk assessment process on money laundering/terrorism financing enhanced in Azerbaijan
A three-day workshop was organised by the Economic Crime and Cooperation Division of the Council of Europe with the aim to support Azerbaijani authorities in the process of performing their second national risk assessment (NRA) in the field of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of...
Enhancing equality and non-discrimination by training police and the judiciary on hate crime in the Republic of Moldova
Following up on the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) conclusions on the implementation of its priority recommendations made to Republic of Moldova, an online round table on enhancing equality and non-discrimination by training law enforcement and the judiciary on hate...
Ombudsperson Institutions united in fighting for Roma inclusion
Upon the initiative of the Ukraine Ombudsperson office, the Council of Europe co-organised the “Kiev International Forum of Equality Bodies on Roma Inclusion”, on 27 May 2021. The Forum gathered over 140 participants, from over 20 independent human rights institutions from across Europe and...
Online discussion of the study ''Gender equality in the judiciary of Armenia: challenges and opportunities''
An online discussion of the study ''Gender equality in the judiciary of Armenia: challenges and opportunities,'' took place on 25 May in the framework of the Partnership for Good Governance II (2019-2022) project ''Support to the judicial reform – enhancing the independence and professionalism of...
Training for public officials on combating hate speech in Armenia
On 24 and 25 May 2021, the regional project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crime in the Eastern Partnership” organised two training sessions offline, for 30 civil servants working in the relevant ministries and institutions, and in the...
Evaluation of the performance of enforcement systems and reporting in the Republic of Moldova
An online seminar on the evaluation and reporting on the performance of enforcement systems and their agents was conducted in the Republic of Moldova. The seminar gathered 25 participants, from the Moldovan National Union of Enforcement Agents as well as court presidents and judges. With the...
Moldovan Equality Council staff trained to better structure and articulate arguments and draft motivation on discrimination cases
The Council of Europe facilitated an online workshop to consolidate the Moldovan Equality Council staff capacity on constructing decisions for cases of discrimination. The workshop took place on 14 and 24 May 2021 and it consisted of structural tips, persuasion techniques and methodological...
Improving the methodology of distribution of resources in the Moldovan judiciary by using statistical data
The ability of the courts and of the judiciary in general to properly evaluate and reason their needs is a key aspect of modern judicial management. The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) organised a second online seminar on taking decisions with regard to the distribution...
Georgian authorities discuss how to identify and manage conflict of interests and assess corruption risks in the public sector
The Council of Europe in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Georgia (MOJ) organised a two-day workshop on “Corruption Prevention in the Public Sector”. The workshop aimed at supporting the transition of the Anti-Corruption Council Secretariat to the Administration of the Government of...
Policing hate crime against LGBTI persons: training for a professional police response” and launch of the manual in Ukrainian
On the occasion of the International Week Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, an online public event on combating hate crime affecting LGBTI people, including a launch of the Ukrainian adaptation of the Council of Europe manual “Policing hate crime against LGBTI persons: training for a...
Georgian translation of the ECRI factsheet on LGBTI issues now available
The ECRI factsheet on LGBTI issues summarises recommendations made by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) to safeguard and protect the human rights of LGBTI persons. The factsheet includes sections on the Legal framework, Data collection, research and policy framework,...
Online discussion of the Comparative analysis on certain aspects of arbitration in Armenia
On 5 May 2021 the online discussion of the Comparative analysis on certain aspects of arbitration in Armenia took place in the framework of the project “Support to the judicial reform – enhancing the independence and professionalism of the judiciary in Armenia.” One of the Project components is...
Reforms and measures taken to protect people with disabilities against discrimination not enough according to report by UNISON NGO in Armenia
UNISON, the Armenian non-governmental organisation (NGO), conducted a survey on the topic "Discrimination on the Ground of Disability in Armenia". The survey respondents were 120 people with different types of disabilities. In this regard, raising the awareness of the general population about the...
Georgia: Joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR on the amendments to the Election Code of Georgia
The Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR issued their urgent joint opinion on the draft amendments to the Election Code of Georgia, following an urgent request for assistance by the then Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, Mr Archil Talakvadze, addressed to the OSCE/ODIHR on 9 March 2021....
Ukrainian Security Service better equipped to fight terrorist financing
A complex online training course on terrorist financing detection, disruption and investigation was delivered to practitioners of the Security Service of Ukraine, including operatives and investigators, as well as representatives of training institutions. Moreover, with a view to ensuring...
Georgia: Urgent Opinion on the amendments to the Organic law on Common Courts (appointment of Supreme Court judges) issued by Venice Commission
The Venice Commission in its urgent opinion welcomes the amendments to the Organic Law of Georgia on Common Courts, which have taken into account several of its previous recommendations. Nevertheless, there are a number of outstanding recommendations that should be considered in order to ensure...
Training on financial investigation for Georgian law enforcement
The Council of Europe in cooperation with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia organised a two-day training on “Financial investigation of money laundering/financing of terrorism cases”. The activity was delivered in “hybrid” format with the online involvement of international Council...
Call for participants: training course for journalists on combating hate speech in the audio-visual mass-media
The Council of Europe organises a training course on combating hate speech in the audio-visual mass-media for journalists from the Republic of Moldova. The training is organised around five sessions, on 17, 19, 21, 24 and 26 May. By the end of the training course, participants will be able to:...
Judges and prosecutors in Armenia getting trained on hate speech
Judges and prosecutors from Armenia started in April a training course on hate speech, organised by the project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crime in the Eastern Partnership countries” in co-operation with the Justice Academy of the Republic...
Findings and recommendations on improvement of asset recovery system discussed with Azerbaijani stakeholders
After a thorough consultation process with national authorities, the project “Strengthening anti-money laundering and asset recovery in Azerbaijan” has developed a holistic analysis of the institutional and legislative asset recovery framework in Azerbaijan, complemented with practical...
#JusticeForAll campaign launched in Georgia to promote access to justice free of visible and invisible barriers
Access to justice is a fundamental prerequisite for the protection of basic human rights by citizens. To improve access to justice means to tackle existing inequalities and provide quality services to all, notwithstanding their gender, ethnicity, race, identity, age, social condition or physical...
Ukrainian prosecutors refine their knowledge and skills on effective investigation and prosecution of money laundering offences
A three-day online training course on “Effective investigation and prosecution of money laundering” was organised together with the Training Centre of Prosecutors of Ukraine. The Prosecutor General’s Office as well as regional and district public prosecution offices benefited from the training,...
Presentation of the Handbook on improving the quality of judicial decisions
On 27 April 2021 the online presentation of the Handbook on improving the quality of judicial decisions developed by the Council of Europe international consultant Oleksandr Ovchynnykov, took place in the framework of the project ''Support to the judicial reform – enhancing the independence and...
Concluding the series of discussions to enhance the quality of justice in Georgia
Evening Talks, a series of online discussions aiming at contributing to the quality of improvement of the justice system in Georgia concluded with its final session held on 18 April. This series created an online platform promoting different policy papers, guidelines, and documents developed by...
Electoral legislation amendments in Armenia are welcomed, but further improvements needed
The Council of Europe’s body of constitutional legal experts, the Venice Commission, and the OSCE/ODIHR have published an urgent joint opinion today on amendments to the Electoral Code and related legislation of Armenia. Having examined the conformity of the procedure of their development, as...
Interactive online tool of the checklist on gender mainstreaming law school’s curricula available now in seven languages
There is an urgent need for tools and support networks on gender mainstreaming academia, particularly in view of the impact of Covid-19 on women’s rights and the rising anti-gender sentiments and opposition in several European countries. We have therefore developed an interactive tool of the...
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