Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

©European Council

The Forum is an annual event attended by around 150 representatives of NGOs throughout the world, European institutions and the Member States. This year the theme will be "EU Human Rights Instruments and the Lisbon Treaty: state of play and the way forward", four areas of which will be explored: the fight against the death penalty, economic, social and cultural rights, relations with regional mechanisms and consistency between internal and external EU policies.

The Forum is an annual event attended by around 150 delegates, mainly representatives of NGOs throughout the world, European institutions and the Member States.

The aim is to give civil society a chance to express its views on the way in which the EU promotes and protects human rights in the world. The conclusions and recommendations of this Forum will be presented to the Council Working Party on Human Rights (COHOM).

This year the theme of the Forum will be "EU Human Rights Instruments and the Lisbon Treaty: state of play and the way forward". The Lisbon Treaty, which has just entered into force, also strengthens the EU’s commitment to human rights and confirms that promoting and protecting these rights is one of the key objectives of the EU’s external action.

Four specific themes have also been chosen to illustrate and explore this general theme in workshops:

• EU Instruments in the fight against the death penalty
• EU’s role for the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights
• the EU’s relations with regional HR mechanisms, such as the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the African Union, the ASEAN and the OAS
• Lisbon and the EU’s internal/external consistency in human rights policies

Press contacts

• Eugène Crijns

Eugène.Crijns@diplobel.fed.be
+32 (0)2 501 35 81

• Tina Dekeyser

Tina.Dekeyser@diplobel.fed.be
+32 (0)2 501 80 95

Contact for practical information:

• Sandrine Platteau

Sandrine.platteau@diplobel.fed.be
+32 (0)2 501 41 12