the INGO ConferenceThe INGO (international non-governmental organisations) Conference is the body representing civil society in the Council of Europe, a European organisation founded in 1949. The Council of Europe has 47 member States with some 800 million citizens and its seat is in Strasbourg, France. His president is Gerhard ERMISCHER (CIVILSCAPE).
The INGO Conference of the Council of Europe is a space for free and innovative participation of committed citizens, offering the possibility to contribute directly to the construction of Europe. As the President of the Committee of Ministers, Micheline Calmy-Rey, put it on 25 January 2010 addressing the Parliamentary Assembly: "The Council of Europe is playing an irreplaceable role in the building of a single Europe. Its intergovernmental co-operation method is enriched by a prominent parliamentary dimension – so well represented by your Assembly – as well as by a regional and local dimension in the form of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, not forgetting civil society, represented through the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations. Thus, the huge diversity of our continent is represented within a single institution. No organisation can claim to be more representative of all Europeans". En 2021, the Secretary general of the Council of Europe, Ms Marija Pejčinović Burić elected in June 2019, shares such perception and priorities. Historical background Consultative status At its 8th session, in May 1951, the Committee of Ministers stated that it "may, on behalf of the Council of Europe, make suitable arrangements for consultation with international non-governmental Organisations which deal with matters that are within the competence of the Council of Europe" (Resolution (51) 30Fe). In October 1972 it adopted the "Rules for Consultative Status" for INGOs (Resolution (72) 35). The Secretary General of the Council of Europe Georg Kahn-Ackermann increased the cooperation with the INGOs and suggested that they should get organised among themselves. This led to establishing in January 1976 the "Liaison Committee", chaired by Claude-Laurent Genty, a body made up of 17 INGOs elected by the "Plenary Conference of the INGOs enjoying consultative status with the Council of Europe". In 1979, the Committee of Ministers decided to establish, within the Directorate of Political Affairs, a secretariat for the Liaison Committee and to put interpretation and meeting rooms at the disposal of the INGOs. In order to finance the collective work the Liaison Committee set up, in 1995, the association "INGO Service" to receive voluntary financial contributions from INGOs. The Committee of Ministers supported this initiative by contributing 15 000 FF (10’200 € in 2009). In 1991, the Plenary Conference of INGOs set up "groupings" in order to enable the INGOs to work collectively on specific thematic issues and to reinforce their cooperation with the directions concerned, often allowing for more synergy among them. In order to make the cooperation with the INGOs more flexible and easy, and at the same time, to strengthen the conditions set for obtaining the consultative status, the Committee of Ministers adopted, in October 1993, a new resolution "on relations between the Council of Europe and the international non-governmental organisations" (Resolution (93) 38). In October 2001, the Ministers' Deputies decided "to examine possibilities to adapt the Committee of Ministers Resolution (93)38 on relations between the Council of Europe and international non-governmental organisations in order that the Council may take greater advantage of its relations with NGOs in the pursuit of its aims. The Liaison Committee and the Plenary Conference were associated to this work." The participatory status On 19 November 2003, under Daniel Zielinsky (ELISAN) chairmanship of the NGOs, the Committee of Ministers changed the consultative status into a participatory status (Resolution Res (2003) 8), "considering that it is indispensable that the rules governing the relations between the Council of Europe and NGOs evolve to reflect the active participation of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) in the Organisation's policy and work programme, and to facilitate INGO participation and access to such bodies as the steering committees and governmental expert committees, and other subsidiary bodies of the Committee of Ministers" and "recognising the important role to be played by the Liaison Committee as the democratically elected representative body of all of the INGOs enjoying participatory status with the Council of Europe, and by the INGO thematic groupings as their collective voice and, thus, of millions of European citizens, working in each of the fields represented by them". At the same time, the Committee of Ministers created a status of partnership for national NGOs (Resolution (2003) 9). It is one of the priorities of the INGO Conference to enable national and local NGOs to benefit more from the Council of Europe's achievements and to contribute themselves to its work. In December 2005, the Committee of Ministers stipulates that the INGO Conference may delegate its representatives to the steering committees and subordinate bodies, like the Parliamentarian Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (Resolution (2005)47). Its chairwomen is invited to the Heads of States Summit in Varsovia In June 2008 and December 2021, the Conference of INGOs carried out a profound reform of its organs, under Annelise Oeschger and Anna Rurka chairmanship, to adapt its functioning to the evolution of the Council of Europe. Operating mode : Volunteering A characteristic of the representation of INGOs at the Council of Europe is the fact that this is done on a voluntary basis. This induces a representation subordinate to the human and financial resources specific to each INGO. Internal organisation and "quadrilogue" The Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe, currently composed of 327 INGOs with participatory status, is the main deliberative body of non-governmental organisations. It determines the general action to be taken in order to organise its participation in the Council of Europe "quadrilogue" (partnership between the four pillars of the Council of Europe, namely the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the Conference of INGOs), ensure the proper functioning of the participatory mechanism and thus contribute to the affirmation of the political role of civil society within the Council of Europe. It sets guidelines, defines and adopts action programs. It meets twice a year face-to-face or at a distance during an epidemic. It is chaired by a president elected for a renewable three-year term. The current President is Gerhard ERMISCHER (CIVILSCAPE) elected in January 2021 Committees The committees prepare positions in the steering committees and subordinate bodies, organize with the secretariat activities on all these themes both in the Council of Europe and in the member states, draw up draft declarations and recommendations to the other pillars of the Council of Europe for adoption by the Conference of INGOs or its standing committee. They cooperate with the Directorates-General and the various intergovernmental bodies of the Council of Europe by providing their expertise. In addition to this collective work, national and international NGOs continue to collaborate individually, as experts, with the various organs and directorates-general of the Council of Europe. Relations with the Parliamentary Assembly and Congress The committees work in synergy with the committees of the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. They issue opinions at their request or on their own initiative. Joint actions can be undertaken within the Member States and fights are fought together Several joint actions were carried out. This has been particularly the case on participation from the very beginning, on climate and migrants during COP21, and more recently on the rights of the older persons Note also that in relation to the theme of this Committee, on April 28, 2010, in favor of the International Year of Biodiversity, for the first time, the President of the Conference of INGOs, Jean-Marie Heydt, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, and the President ai of the Congress, Ian Micallef, signed a Joint Declaration “Acting together for biodiversity”. |
Council of Europe BODIES
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Council of Europe Chairmanship |