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Ukraine takes over chairmanship of Council of Europe Committee of Ministers from Turkey

11 May 2011 14:39 (UTC +04:00)

Strasbourg. Fuad Gulubeyli â€“ APA. The meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on the level of Ministers for Foreign Affairs and state secretaries for the European issues of the Council of Europeâ€™s 47 member states was held in Istanbul. APAâ€™s Europe bureau reports that the meeting was chaired by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Ukraine took over the chairmanship from Turkey.

Ahmet Davutoglu presented a report on Turkeyâ€™s achievements over the past six months. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko presented the priorities of Ukraineâ€™s chairmanship.

Two major issues were discussed at the meeting: â€œCouncil of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violenceâ€ and Report of the Group of Eminent Persons â€œLiving together in 21st century Europeâ€.

At the beginning of the meeting the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence was declared open for signature. There will be mechanism monitoring the implementation of the document, which comprises the clauses concerning domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape, forced marriage, crimes committed in the name of so-called â€œhonourâ€ and genital mutilation. Visits will be paid to the states joining the document and reports will be prepared on the implementation of the commitments arising from the clauses of the document on combating violence against women and domestic violence. The states joining the convention will undertake commitment to implement the recommendations envisaged in these reports.

Council of Europe â€œGroup of Eminent Personsâ€ submitted the report â€œLiving together in 21st century Europeâ€. The report covers the issues of living together and coordinating differences and freedoms in 21st century Europe. Member of the group from Spain Javier Solana spoke about the problems causing discrimination, intolerance and racism in Europe. This report analyzes threats for living together in the open societies in Europe and proposes possible responses to them.

â€œGroup of Eminent Personsâ€ of 10 members is led by former foreign minister of Germany Joschka Fischer.

The council of Europe Committee of Ministersâ€™ chairmanship rotates every six months in alphabetical order. The next meeting of the Committee of Ministers will be held in Strasbourg on November, 2011. The United Kingdom will take over the chairmanship from Ukraine in that meeting.