Human rights at local level among highlights
18th Congress Session: Human rights at local level, climate change and Euro-Mediterranean dialogue among highlights
How can cities and regions take up the challenges of climate change? What is at stake for human rights at local and regional level? What is needed on both shores of the Mediterranean to engage communities in cooperation? These questions will be at the centre of discussions during the 18th Plenary Session of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, in Strasbourg from 17 to 19 March 2010.
The session will begin on 17 March with the election of the Congress Secretary General, from the shortlist of three candidates: (in alphabetical order) Antonella Cagnolati (Italy), Andreas Kiefer (Austria) and Leo Platvoet (Netherlands).
The session's highlights feature debates on the role of local and regional authorities in implementing human rights, implications of the Copenhagen Summit on climate change for territorial authorities, North-South cooperation and the launch of a regional and local assembly for the Euro-Mediterranean (ARLEM), as well as ways to achieve sustainable gender equality in political life at local and regional level.
As part of its monitoring action, the Congress will examine reports on the situation of territorial democracy in Iceland, Portugal and Switzerland. In the framework of the Congress election observation mission, the report on the observation of municipal elections in Azerbaijan on 23 December 2009 will be debated. As a follow-up to the 2006 recommendation on the situation of local and regional democracy in Albania, Congress members will hold an exchange of views on its implementation with a representative of the Albanian government.
Also on the agenda are the discussions of the Utrecht Declaration on good local and regional governance, as well as reports on the role of minority languages as an asset for regional development, and on the importance of intra-regional transport for sustainable development and regional cohesion.
Among guest speakers at the session are:
- Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland and State Councillor for the St-Gallen Canton Kathrin Hilber (for the Swiss Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers);
- Mayor of Rabat Fathallah Oualalou (Morocco), Deputy Mayor of Copenhagen Klaus Bondam (Denmark), Lord Mayor of Weimar Stefan Wolf (Germany), Mayor of Yerevan Gagik Beglaryan (Armenia) and Mayor of Sax Ana Barceló Chico (Spain);
- Senator for the Bas-Rhin, former Mayor of Strasbourg Fabienne Keller (France) and member of the Luxembourg Parliament Lydie Err;
- Gerhard Stahl, Secretary General of the EU Committee of the Regions, Deborah Bergamini, Chair of the North-South Centre, and Dieter Von Blarer, Ombudsman for the Canton Basel-city (Switzerland).
Acting President of the Congress Ian Micallef will give a press conference on Wednesday 17 March at 10 am in Room 1 of the Palais de l'Europe. All session proceedings will be webcast live on www.coe.int/congress.
