News

On July 15 in Strasbourg, the Committee of Ministers (CM) of the Council of Europe (CoE) thanked Lithuania for organising the 110th session of the CM in Vilnius. The approved Report emphasises that the session of Vilnius was an undoubted success. It notes that excellent preparation, active participation of representatives of member states, reports on key issues and the important documents adopted have justified the expectations of the chairing country and member states. The Report draws attention to the Vilnius Declaration on Regional Cooperation and Consolidation of Democratic Stability in Greater Europe, which was adopted on Lithuania’s initiative to introduce a new priority in the CoE activities. In addition to this, 36 CoE countries signed Protocol No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, stipulating abolition of death penalty in all circumstances. During the Vilnius session, an important Convention on Contact Concerning Children was adopted. The CM noted that in comparison to usual Strasbourg sessions, the session of Vilnius was an exceptional one not only because of the new political initiatives put forth by the chairing Lithuania, the geographical location of Vilnius and participation of high-ranking officials, but also due to the high profile it received from the mass media. The CM stressed the fact that Vilnius gave the CoE a rare opportunity to use the country’s national TV: the participants could see the coverage of the session on informational and political programmes. It was appreciated that by means of the Internet, Vilnius efficiently informed governments and the public of member states about the work of the session. The CM is actively deliberating possibilities of encouraging future chairing countries to follow Lithuania’s suit and to organise local CM of CoE sessions in their home cities.