The Fourth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (CoE) concluded their two-day summit on Wednesday by voicing their determination to strengthen the free and open international order based on the rule of law and respect for the UN Charter.
“We welcome the Council of Europe’s prominent role in international standard-setting on freedom of expression and related issues such as media freedom, and access to information and combatting hate speech and disinformation,” said the leaders in the final communique.
It expressed “full support to Ukraine” and its people by emphasizing the need for lasting peace as outlined in President Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula,” it underlined.
As we now gather here in 2023, our European democracies are under attack again, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is not just a violation of international law, but an attack on our democracies,” read the statement.
The CoE, founded in 1949 and based in the French city of Strasbourg, aims to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe and should not be confused with the European Council, which is based in Brussels.
It has 46 European member states and is a separate body from the EU.
Source: Kuwait News Agency
