ECRL gains participatory status with Council of Europe

The European Council of Religious Leaders – Religions for Peace has been granted “participatory status” with the Council of Europe. The Council will be one of a total of 400 International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) which enjoy this special relationship with the Council of Europe which counts 47 European countries as members and whose main task is to promote democracy and human rights in Europe. The INGOs range from federations of police officers to youth organisations and associations for musicians and artist. “Our new status is an indication that the Council of Europe recognises the value of working with religious groups which are an important part of civil society,” ECRL General Secretary Revd Vebjørn Horsfjord said.

In order for an organisation to gain status as a participatory INGO three of the Council of Europe’s main decision making bodies, the Parliamentary Assembly, the Committee of Ministers, and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities must agree. The organisation then becomes a member of a fourth body integrated into the Council of Europe structure, the Conference of INGOs. The conference works through four annual plenary sessions as well as committees and working groups.The organisations have a special right to be heard and participate in Council of Europe processes.

 

Participating in the Conference of INGOs session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 27 January, Revd Vebjørn Horsfjord remarked : « There is a clear and growing awareness in the Council of Europe of the important role played by religions in European societies today. Sometimes politicians and bueraucrats are uncertain about how to approach religious communities, and the religions can be apprehensive about the Council of Europe. We will help to bridge the divide. » The ECRL general secretary further noted that subgroups under the Conference of INGOs work on issues such as « The religious dimension of intercultural dialogue » and « Religions and human rights ». These are important issues for ECRL. In 2007 ECRL participated in the process to produce the Council of Europe White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue.

 

Participating INGOs are expected to share the Council of Europe’s fundamental values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. « The ECRL Berlin Declaration on Interreligious Dialogue (2008) as well as the Lille Declaration on a Culture of Peace (2009) show very clearly that we build on these values in our promotion of dialogue, peace and reconciliation, » Revd Horsfjord said. « The religions may express themselves differently – and it is indeed important to give room for a variety of types of language used to express these ideas – but our entire constituency agree that these values must prevail if we are to build a peaceful Europe for tomorrow. »   

 

Read more about the Council of Europe Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations here.

 

 

- Receive E-mail Alerts
- Newsarchive
- Back