DID YOU KNOW? Learning more about the Global Impact of Zonta – the Council of Europe, Part 1

From the ZI Council of Europe Committee:

Introduction

Repeatedly we hear from our Zontian fellows that they know only little about the Council of Europe (CoE) and what Zonta is doing there. The Council of Europe is Europe’s leading human rights organization. As one of 320 INGOs Zonta has been granted participatory status to the CoE and is represented in the Conference of INGOs by the ZI CoE Committee.

For years it has been the goal of the ZI CoE Committee to enhance members’ knowledge about the CoE. As information and news often don’t find the way to Zonta members in the clubs, the ZI CoE Committee will provide Club Presidents with concise and snappy information on the CoE, its standards on women’s rights and gender equality and on the role Zonta’s representatives are playing there.

In the Zonta Leadership-Update’s special section for Club-Presidents, the ZI CoE Committee will continuously publish basic knowledge under the header “Zonta Essentials”. Here Club-Presidents will find brief explanations and information they can bring forward to their club-members in their monthly meetings or newsletters.

If you have any questions please turn to the ZI CoE Committee. Thank you very much for helping to empower Zonta members.

The Council of Europe is Europe’s leading human rights organization, an intergovernmental organization. Founded in 1949, the CoE comprises 46 member states in the geographical boundaries of Europe with the goal to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. 27 member states are also part of the European Union (EU), an economic and political set-up. (Don’t mix up the Council of Europe with the European Council of the EU).

A precondition for the membership in the CoE is the signing of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). All 46 member states have ratified the ECHR and are therefore legally bound by this treaty.

Preventing violence against women and achieving gender equality is central to the CoE’s core values. The Istanbul Convention and the Anti-Trafficking Convention are the prevailing agreements of the member states for combatting violence against women.

16 NOVEMBER 2024