The Council of Europe was founded in 1949 in response to the Second World War and as such has the task of promoting and safeguarding democracy, human rights and the rule of law throughout Europe. To date, 47 States have acceded to the Council of Europe. The European Court of Human Rights is probably its most well-known body, judging on violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.
On 25 November 2019, members of the GCILS – Professor Jörg Terhechte and Professor Christian Tams -participated in a conference marking the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe. Organised by our partners, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany, in collaboration with the Ministry for Federal and European Affairs of Lower Saxony and the Glasgow-Leuphana European Centre for Advanced Studies (ECAS), the conference focused on “The Role of the Council of Europe in Challenging Times”.
The conference focused on issues such as the general role of the Council of Europe in promoting and safeguarding democracy, human rights and the rule of law, its achievements to date and challenges, both existing and future. Renown experts critically examined and discussed issues such as the role of non-EU Member States in the Council of Europe and the impact of digital transformation on the Council of Europe and its work.
Professor Jörg Terhechte convened the event and Professor Christian Tams chaired a panel discussion on “The Role of Non-EU Members in the Council of Europe”, with Prof. Dr. Jörg Polakiewicz (Director of the Directorate of Legal Advice and Public International Law of the Council of Europe), Prof. Dr. Bertil Emrah Oder (Koç University Law School, Istanbul, Turkey), and Prof. Dr. Caroline von Gall (University of Cologne, Germany).
The conference was a great success and was well attended.
Further details of the event can be found here.
The conference programme can be viewed here CoE Conference_Einladung