(AGENPARL) – Tue 09 December 2025 Image
PRESS RELEASE
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Ref. CG093(2025)
Human Rights Day 2025: Our Everyday Essentials
Council of Europe Congress Rapporteurs on Human Rights: Defending human rights is inseparable from defending democracy
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is the political assembly representing local and regional governments across the 46 member States, responsible for promoting and monitoring local democracy.
They reiterated that the rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter are non-negotiable, stressing that these rights form the foundation of peace and stability on our continent and are Our everyday essentials.
“Safeguarding “our everyday essentials” requires an unwavering commitment to human rights that define Europe, and a determination to defend these rights wherever they are under threat, particularly at local and regional levels. Freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, equality and non-discrimination, dignity and access to social rights are the red lines of our democratic system. When these rights are weakened, democracy erodes, and when democracy shrinks, people lose their human rights”, stated Congress Standing Rapporteur on Human Rights Gudrun Mosler-Törnström (Austria, SOC/G/PD).
“Across Europe, we also see threats to the independence and safety of locally elected officials, including politically motivated dismissals, violence and harassment. These actions strike at the heart of democratic self-government. Local democracy cannot function where fear replaces legitimacy, preventing us from existing as political beings”, underlined Deputy Standing Rapporteur on Human Rights Mélanie Lepoultier (France, ILDG).
“When Pride events are banned, when human rights defenders, journalists and young people are silenced, and when citizens are prevented from speaking out or gathering freely, our shared values are violated and our societies are weakened at their core”, emphasised Deputy Standing Rapporteur on Human Rights Peter Drenth (Netherlands, EPP/CCE).
“At a time of increasing geopolitical pressure and foreign interference in electoral processes, defending human rights is inseparable from defending democracy. The Council of Europe’s New Democratic Pact for Europe rightly places human rights at the heart of democratic renewal, reminding us that democratic institutions cannot exist without the rights that give them meaning,” stated the Congress Rapporteurs.
Composed of two chambers – the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions – and three committees, the Congress brings together 612 elected officials representing more than 130 000 local and regional authorities.
President of the Congress: Marc Cools (Belgium, ILDG), President of the Chamber of Local Authorities: Bernd Vöhringer (Germany, EPP/CCE), President of the Chamber of Regions: Cecilia Dalman Eek (Sweden, SOC/G/PD).
Political groups: Group of Socialists, Greens and Progressive Democrats (SOC/G/PD), Group of the European Peoples Party (EPP/CCE), Independent Liberal and Democratic Group (ILDG), European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR).
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