Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset on International Women’s Day:
“I do not believe in a world where a woman’s place is one of limited rights and unlimited fear.”
#InternationalWomensDay #Equality #WomensRights #CouncilOfEurope
www.coe.int/en/web/porta...
🧵1/ The Council of Europe’s Journalists’ Safety Platform has released its 2026 report: “On the Tipping Point: Press Freedom 2025”. The findings show a sharp deterioration in media freedom across Europe.
The forest is the system: Not the individual trees. Many people try to build resilience by making themselves bigger, stronger, more independent. They stockpile resources, they build higher walls, they try to go it alone. HOWEVER, We The People are stronger together. Unite!
A bird's-eye view of a former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp showing a wide dirt pathway flanked by parallel rows of barbed-wire fences. Groups of visitors walk along the path, surrounded by the remnants of brick structures and barracks, now reduced to foundations. Green grass contrasts with the somber history of the site, as the path leads toward a guard tower in the distance.
Auschwitz was at the end of a process. We must remember that it did not start from gas chambers.
This hatred gradually developed: from ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder.
Auschwitz took time.
Murderous regime.
The Irish Independent’s View: Playing nice won’t cut it any more – Europe must stand up to Donald Trump
And you are very good at it! Vive la philosophie du very good!
European leaders need to refute the critics: Europe’s power lies not in mimicking those who oppose #HumanRights, but in showing that dignity, law, and freedom remain the only foundations on which a stable and prosperous future can be built.
Read my latest shoutout 👇
www.coe.int/en/web/commi...
3 things to know about the #ECHR & migration:
✅ Protects everyone, regardless of nationality
✅ Not all rights apply in immigration cases
✅ States keep border control
Learn more: www.coe.int/en/web/porta...
💙 Happy birthday to the European flag!
Adopted 70 years ago by the Council of Europe, it became the #EU emblem in 1985.
12 stars. Blue sky. A circle of unity. A symbol for the whole of Europe and shared values.
Learn more: go.coe.int/HmDIt
The dark logic of arguing over whether the second strike was legal means the media have stopped talking about whether the first strike was.
'It is also a reminder that anti-trans, anti-queer and Islamophobic positions do not spring from nowhere. Public consensus can be manipulated by discreet networks with distinct agendas and multimillion dollar budgets.'
Well worth reading.
www.theguardian.com/world/commen...
So 3 out of 4 ARE concerned.
REMINDER:
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) keeps us all safe and free.
Every. Single. Day.
In a joint statement to mark the International Day for Political Prisoners, PACE's Azadeh Rojhan and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Steve Cohen recall the courage of "those deprived of their liberty for defending truth, freedom and human dignity".
The full statement:
pace.coe.int/en/news/1008...
The Constitution is not self-enforcing.
The only thing holding our Republic together are our norms.
And the only thing that enforces those norms is The People.
No one is coming to save us.
It's entirely up to us.
Finally!!! The real scandal of the asylum hotels. Why, instead of shining the light on these parasites, months were spent on demonising vulnerable people at their mercy?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
What does “Europe” say about using criminal law to limit #FreeSpeech?
Check out this new guide from the 46-member @coe.int👇
🔗 www.coe.int/en/web/porta...
@coemediafreedom.bsky.social #ECHR #FreedomOfExpression
“Like drinking from polluted water”
How misleading media coverage of immigration and the #ECHR has distorted public debate in the UK👇
🔗 reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/its-dri... via @reutersinstitute.bsky.social
European states should refrain from actions in externalised #migration policies that may lead to #humanrights violations. Read my new report www.coe.int/en/web/commi...
The body of evidence showing that when centrist parties adopt the priorities and talking points of the far right, they torpedo themselves is vast and powerful. Yet Keir Starmer's Labour Party seems determined to ignore it.
A few examples in 🧵:
theconversation.com/how-should-l...
Fifty-one of the 85 Federalist papers were written by a guy born in Nevis.
An historical reflection with Phillipe Sands on the emergence of different concepts of genocide and human rights before and after WW2.
History doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme. A terrible irony that the Israeli state is now carrying out genocide on Palestinians, who played no role in the Holocaust
Latvian #HumanRights defender Ieva Raubiško was sentenced to 200 hours of community service today for providing urgent humanitarian assistance to asylum seekers. I reiterate my concern about the criminalisation of life-saving work. See: rm.coe.int/third-party-...
Istanbul Convention Saves Lives Council of Europe
Celebrating 11 years of the #IstanbulConvention! 🧡
#OnThisDay in 2014, this vital treaty protecting women from violence came into force.
The Istanbul Convention is not just a treaty; it is a lifeline for women and girls.
www.coe.int/en/web/istan...
The situation in #Gaza "has long since surpassed our worst nightmares" says @coe.int Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur Dora #Bakoyannis, demanding an end to the suffering.
Read her full statement:
pace.coe.int/en/news/9974...
Freedom of the press is not a privilege granted by power — it is a cornerstone of democracy. When political leaders threaten to revoke media licences for daring to criticise them, they reveal a dangerous drift towards authoritarianism. 1/2
Domestic violence is a major threat to women around the world but it is also a warning sign for political violence. And yet, it rarely gets the political attention it deserves and requires.
Preserving Europe’s natural heritage means standing up for human rights.
Discover Oostvaardersplassen Nature Reserve, esteemed holder of the European Diploma for Protected Areas.
United around our values, with nature at heart #BeatingStrong.
@staatsbosbeheer.bsky.social #NaturalHeartOfEurope
