Council of Europe Committee to discuss promotion of civil society space in Helsinki

The Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) of the Council of Europe will hold its hundredth meeting in Helsinki in 25–28 June. The CDDH develops human rights standards and promotes human rights in the Member States of the Council of Europe. The intergovernmental work of the CDDH is based on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and on the European human rights treaties.

The CDDH will hold a Conference on the Protection and Promotion of Civil Society Space in Europe on Tuesday 25 June. It will evaluate the developments since the adoption of the 2018 Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on the need to strengthen the protection and promotion of civil society space in Europe.

The conference will be attended by Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Michael O'Flaherty and by representatives of civil society organisations, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) and bodies of the Council of Europe.

Conference panels will discuss challenges in and good practices for protecting and promoting the civil society space in Europe. In addition, the Council of Europe will present its activities to support an enabling environment for civil society.

The conference programme is available on the Council of Europe website. It is possible to watch the conference via the embedding below.