Europe

Europe

United Kingdom takes over presidency of Council of Europeâ€™s Committee of Ministers

07 November 2011 16:21 (UTC +04:00)

APA reports that the special meeting was held on UKâ€™s taking over the chairmanship on November 7. The United Kingdom presented its priorities for the coming six months.

The main priorities of the UK are reforming the European Court of Human Rights and strengthening implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights, supporting Secretary General ThorbjÃ¸rn Jaglandâ€™s program of reform of the Council of Europe as an organization, strengthening the rule of law, internet governance, including freedom of expression on the internet, combating discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, streamlining the Council of Europeâ€™s activities in support of local and regional democracy. In addition to these priorities, the UK Chairmanship will of course work to progress other areas of important Council of Europe business.

Within UK Presidency in Council of Europeâ€™s Committee of Ministers, this countryâ€™s Foreign Minister William Hague and CoE Secretary General held a joint briefing and spoke about the reforms implemented in the European Court of Human Rights. Hague underlined the United Kingdomâ€™s support for EU accession to the European Convention on Human rights but said â€œtime and troubleâ€ needed to be taken to â€œget it rightâ€ at the beginning: â€œIt wants a more â€œfocused court,â€ which is not used as a substitute for national judicial systems, so that the Strasbourg human rights court can be as â€œstrong for the future as it has been in the past.â€
Speaking at a press conference today to launch the United Kingdomâ€™s chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, Hague said change was necessary to allow the court to â€œoperate effectively.â€

UK will chair the CoE Committee of Ministers till May 14 2012.