Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

In October, a high-level meeting on the Roma resulted in Council of Europe member
states adopting the Strasbourg Declaration on protecting Roma across Europe. This
Declaration included actions on discrimination, citizenship, social inclusion and better
joint working between international organisations and Roma communities. The UK
played a key role in bringing together those with differing views.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a key consultative and
advisory body in the organisation, held debates at its four regular meetings in 2010
on a number of human rights issues. Key outcomes from these debates included
recommendations urging Russia to stop terrorism in the North Caucasus in line with
human rights and calling on the authorities in Armenia to revise media legislation.
Each of the 47 member states of the Council holds the chairmanship in turn for six
months. This is effectively the executive presidency of the organisation. We will
hold this position from November 2011 to May 2012, and the promotion and
protection of human rights will lie at the heart of our priorities. We will focus on
reform of the European Court of Human Rights during our chairmanship to ensure it
fulfils its work appropriately and effectively. We also want to see the conclusion of
negotiations on the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against
Women and Domestic Violence in 2011.
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