The Council of Europe is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights,democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949,it has 46 member states,with a population of approximately 675 million;it operates with an annual budget of approximately 500 million euros.
António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino is a Portuguese lawyer and politician of the Socialist Party (PS).
Daniel Vern Speckhard is an American diplomat and nonprofit executive. Speckhard is the president and CEO of Corus International,an ensemble of faith-based organizations including Lutheran World Relief and IMA World Health,and is a former United States Ambassador to Greece and Belarus. In addition to his diplomatic and nonprofit service,Speckhard has worked as a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and is currently a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Angela Kane is a German diplomat and was formerly the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and Under-Secretary-General for Management in the United Nations.
Lisa Maria Singh is a former Australian politician. She was a Senator for Tasmania from 2011 to 2019. She had previously been a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly,representing the division of Denison from 2006 to 2010. The granddaughter of an Indo-Fijian member of the Parliament of Fiji,Singh was Australia's first female federal parliamentarian of Indian origin.
Nemat Talaat Shafik,Baroness Shafik,,known as Minouche Shafik,is an Egyptian-born British-American economist who has been serving as the Director of the London School of Economics since September 2017.
Irina Georgieva Bokova is a Bulgarian politician and the former Director-General of UNESCO (2009–2017). During her political and diplomatic career in Bulgaria,she served,among others,two terms as a member of the National parliament,and deputy minister of foreign affairs and minister of foreign affairs ad interim under Prime Minister Zhan Videnov. She also served as Bulgaria's ambassador to France and to Monaco,and was Bulgaria's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO. Bokova was also the personal representative of Bulgaria's President to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (2005–2009).
Dorothee Gisela Renate Maria Bär is a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since 2002. From 2014 to 2021,she served in various capacities in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio is a Dutch jurist and former UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children,child prostitution and child pornography. She served as Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe from 2002 and retired from the post in 2012 and was succeeded by Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni.
Louka Katseli is a Greek economist and politician. Today,she is Professor Emeritus of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,Chair of the National Bank of Greece in Cyprus,CEO of Rightholders Cooperative EDEM,Vice President of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF),member of the Independent Commission for Sustainable Equality,Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats - S&D,and business consultant for enterprises and organizations in Greece and Europe.
Natalia Gherman is a Moldovan politician,who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration and Deputy Prime Minister of Moldova from May 2013 to January 2016. She has served as Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Central Asia (UNRCCA) since 2017.
In the United States,the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs or ASD (ISA) is the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the United States Secretary of Defense on international security strategy and policy on issues of Department of Defense (DoD) interest related to the governments and defense establishments of the nations and international organizations of Europe,the Middle East,Africa,and the Western Hemisphere. The ASD (ISA) also oversees security cooperation programs and foreign military sales programs in these regions. Despite the broad title of the office,the ASD (ISA) does not develop policy related to Asia,the Pacific region,Latin America,or South America.
Margaritis Schinas is a Greek politician and former civil servant. He took office in December 2019 as a vice-president in the Von der Leyen Commission with the portfolio of European Commissioner for Promoting our European Way of Life. A member of the New Democracy party,he previously was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2007 to 2009 and served as chief spokesperson of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019,and as a deputy director-general of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Communication between 2015 and 2019.
The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue,also referred to as "International Dialogue Centre" and globally known by its abbreviation,KAICIID,is an inter-governmental organization that promotes inter-religious and intercultural dialogue to prevent and resolve conflict. It was established in Vienna,Austria,but relocated to Lisbon,Portugal on 1 July 2022. KAICIID was opened in 2012 by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,the Republic of Austria and the Kingdom of Spain,following the initiative of Pope Benedict XVI and King Abdullah of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who met in 2007 to discuss the founding of a new interfaith activity. The Holy See is a founding observer. The centre and its mission have been endorsed by many religious leaders and high-level politicians,including the Viennese Community Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister,the Archbishop of Vienna,Christoph Schönborn,and the former Austrian President Heinz Fischer. In 2021,Austrian media outlets reported that Japan,Argentina,Morocco,Indonesia and Canada were reportedly considering to join the organization as new member states.
The CSIT –International Workers and Amateurs in Sports Confederation is an international multi-sports organization. It was established as the successor to Socialist Workers' Sport International and as such celebrated its centenary in 2013. The core principles of contributing to physical activity and sports have stayed in its action policy:it is a right of men and women to do sports no matter what are their professionalism levels. The key concept of the CSIT's sport policy has always been "Sports for all". The policy stems from the historic ideas of the international worker sport movement.
Oleksii Yuriyovych Reznikov is a Ukrainian lawyer and politician who has served as the Minister of Defence of Ukraine since 4 November 2021. Reznikov previously has served in several other positions in the government of Ukraine;Deputy Prime Minister,Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine,deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration from 2016 to 2018,and deputy mayor-secretary of the Kyiv City Council from June 2014 to December 2015. Reznikov also served as Head of Ukraine's National delegation in Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe from 2015 to 2016,and was chosen by President Volodymyr Zelensky on 5 May 2020 to represent Ukraine in the working political subgroup at the Trilateral Contact Group regarding a settlement to the War in Donbas.
Alena Kupchyna is a Belarusian diplomat,currently serving as Co-ordinator of Activities to Address Transnational Threats at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Previously,she was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Austria and the Republic of Croatia (non-resident),as well as the Permanent Representative of Belarus to the OSCE.
Christine Schraner Burgener is a Swiss diplomat who most recently served as the United Nations Special Envoy on Myanmar during 28 April 2018 to October 2021. She previously served as an ambassador to Germany and Thailand.
Lucija Čok is a Slovene linguist,senior researcher in the field of multilingualism and a professor of multilingualism and intercultural communication. Throughout her career,she has held several important positions,including that of the Minister of Education,Science and Sport (2000-2002) of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. In her role as the Minister,she contributed to the establishment of higher education institutions in the Slovene region of Primorska and in 2003 she was elected as the first rector of the newly established university. She participated in European Commission high expert panels that have shaped linguistic policies and strategies of higher education and research. She has facilitated the preparation of the formal basis for Slovenia’s integration into the European Research Area. She was an expert of the Institutional evaluation program board and member of the Council of the Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. Her research work and publications focus on the formation of models of bilingual education in areas of linguistic and cultural contact,sociolinguistic and didactics of intercultural communication. In 2013,the University of Primorska named her professor emeritus. The same year,she received a lifetime achievement award for her work in the field of Higher Education by the Ministry of Education,Science and Sport.
Armenia has been a member of the Council of Europe,an international organization that focuses on strengthening democracy,human rights,and the rule of law across Europe,since 2001.
