Norway was one of the ten founding members of the Council of Europe, which was created on 5 May 1949. The Council of Europe is the oldest of all the European cooperation organisations. The aim was to achieve greater unity between its members, facilitate social and economic progress and promote adherence to the fundamental principals of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.
Norway attaches great importance to cooperation in the Council of Europe and will continue to support its further development. In Norway’s view, the Council of Europe plays a crucial role, particularly in the core areas of human rights, the rule of law and good governance. The institution is of great importance in creating stability, preventing conflict and building democracy in our part of the world. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is cooperating with a number of other ministries in Norway and other member states on activities aimed at strengthening the work the Council of Europe is doing in these fields.
Today the Council of Europe has 47 member states, twice as many as in 1989. The member states of the Council of Europe have a combined population of over 800 million. The scope of cooperation has been considerably extended and now covers foreign policy issues, human rights and legal issues, education, culture, media, social cohesion, health protection, environment and landscape protection, childhood and youth, sport, and cross-border municipal and regional cooperation.
Norway chaired the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers in 1989 and 2004. The chairmanship gave Norway a unique opportunity to influence the Council’s agenda. Reform of the European human rights system was among Norway’s top priorities.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg currently has a backlog of 80 000 pending cases. The number of new applications is forecast to increase to 102 000 in 2010. A major reform process has been launched with a view to increasing the efficiency of the Court in order to enable it to continue fulfilling its important function.
Protocol 14 of the European Human Rights Convention is intended to streamline the application procedure and increase the case-processing capacity of the Court. Norway has underlined the importance of the rapid entry into force of Protocol 14 and of a strengthening of the Registry of the Court, but also that the states themselves must make serious efforts to reduce the Court’s workload by preventing human rights violations, providing effective national remedies and improving the assistance offered to potential applicants.
The Third Summit of the Council of Europe, which was held in Warsaw in May 2005, reconfirmed the Council’s key role in ensuring human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The summit adopted decisions to bolster the European human rights system, create a democracy forum and establish closer cooperation with the OSCE and the EU. The implementation of the plan of action adopted at the summit was discussed at the 116th session of the Committee of Ministers in May 2006.
At the same session, the Russian Federation assumed the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The Norwegian foreign minister also participated at the session.
By the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs