modalities of participation
The INGOs enjoying participatory status :
4. The INGOs enjoying participatory status shall undertake to:
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- may address memoranda to the Secretary General in order to be addressed to other bodies;
- shall have access to the agenda and public documents of the Parliamentary Assembly in order to facilitate their attendance at public sittings of the Parliamentary Assembly;
- are invited to the public sittings of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and to contribute to its work according to its rules;
- are invited to attend seminars, conferences, colloquies of interest to their work according to the applicable Council of Europe rules;
- may be invited to contribute individually or through the Conference of INGOs to the work of intergovernmental committees in accordance with the terms of Committee of Ministers’ Resolution CM/Res(2011)24;
- may be invited to provide, through their specific activity or experience, expert advice on Council of Europe policies, programmes and actions;
- may request to be registered on the list of INGOs entitled to lodge collective complaints in the framework of the Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter which foresees a system of collective complaints (Article 1b);
- are invited to co-operate closely with the Commissioner for Human Rights, notably by communicating to him any information that they deem to be useful for his mission of promoting respect for human rights;
- may be consulted by the Secretary General, in writing or by means of a hearing, on questions of mutual interest.
4. The INGOs enjoying participatory status shall undertake to:
- promote the respect of the Council of Europe’s conventions and legal instruments in the member States;
- contribute to the implementation of Council of Europe standards and policies in collaboration with local, regional and national NGOs;
- participate actively in the sessions and the work of the Conference of INGOs;
- keep themselves regularly informed of Council of Europe activities and developments in standards;
- furnish, either spontaneously or at the request of the Council of Europe’s different bodies, information, documents or opinions relating to their own field(s) of competence on matters which are under consideration or which could be addressed by the Council of Europe;
- give maximum publicity to the initiatives and achievements of the Council of Europe in their own field(s) of competence;
- disseminate information on Council of Europe standards, instruments and activities, to their members, on a regular basis, and ensure that they too work actively to fulfil the requirements of the participatory status;
- submit every four years a report to the Secretary General which should specify their activities
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