Thank you, Mr Chair.
Minister, welcome to the Permanent Council. Thank you for your presentation and for your commitment to the Council of Europe, which remains central to the UK’s human rights and foreign policy agenda.
We welcome Monaco’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers and its focus on protecting the rights of women and children, promoting inclusive societies, and strengthening the effectiveness of the Council of Europe’s human rights system. We particularly support efforts to combat violence against women and safeguard young people in the digital environment. At a time of growing challenges to democratic values, these priorities make an important contribution to protecting human rights, democracy and the rule of law across Europe.
We meet at a time of serious challenge to European multilateralism, with Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine presenting a challenge to the rules by which we all agreed to abide. We urge all OSCE participating States to uphold our shared commitments. We must not allow aggression to undermine the international rules-based order.
The UK strongly supports Ukraine’s accountability efforts. We were proud to Chair the Conference of Participants for the Register of Damage until last month, which now includes over 160,000 claims. We commend the Council of Europe’s leadership on the Claims Commission Convention, which was opened for signature in December, and welcome the adoption in Chisinau last month of the resolution establishing the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine by 34 Council of Europe member States including the UK, as well as the EU, Australia and Costa Rica.
The Council of Europe and the OSCE have complementary roles in promoting democratic values, including media freedom, gender equality, and free elections. Our memberships are not the same, but both organisations face similar challenges such as democratic backsliding. It is therefore more important than ever to coordinate effectively and focus on the respective mandates and comparative strengths to maximise impact, particularly in a time of constrained resources.
Minister, the UK remains a steadfast supporter of both organisations. We wish you and your team every success over the coming months.
Thank you.