Council of Europe

Council of Europe is the inter-governmental organization, established May 5, 1949 and currently uniting 47 European countries. its headquarters is located in Strasbourg (France).

The governing bodies of the Council of Europe are the Committee of Ministers, Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.

On September 16, 1992 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) granted the Special Guest status to the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Belarus.

On March 12, 1993 Belarus applied for membership in the Council of Europe. However, in January 1997, the PACE Bureau decided to suspend the Special Guest status for the Belarusian Parliament. The consideration of the application of the Republic of Belarus to join the Council of Europe was also suspended, and bilateral cooperation was frozen.

From 2010 Belarus takes part in the meetings of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) as an associated member.

Belarus is a member of 11 Steering and Ad Hoc Committees (in the spheres of culture, heritage and landscape; on educational policy and practice; on youth; on World Antidoping Agency; on sports; on combat human trafficking, on the Bern Convention, еtс). It has also an observer status in a number of other Council of Europe Steering Committees.

Belarus is a state-party to twelve Council of Europe legal instruments (in the fields of culture, education, law, fight against corruption and human trafficking, sports, etc.).

In particular, from 1993 Belarus is a state-party to the European Cultural Convention. In 2014 Belarus joined the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, in 2015 – the Additional Protocol to the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption. On November 17, 2017 the Republic of Belarus ratified the Additional Protocol to the Anti-Doping Convention. In 2019 Belarus has joined the Council of Europe Convention on the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health (MEDICRIME convention). 

The dialogue between the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) continues. Belarusian parliamentarians take part in exchange of views on the situation in Belarus of the PACE Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, as well as in the PACE thematic conferences.

In December 2008, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe granted observer status to the Council for Cooperation of Local Self-Governance Bodies (CCLSGB) under the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus.

The participation of CCLSGB representatives in the activities of the Congress contributes to obtaining information about the development of local government in the Council of Europe member-states, as well as acquainting foreign partners with the best practices of Belarus in this sphere.

In 2021 Belarusian experts took part in meetings of the intergovernmental committees and conventions of the Council of Europe, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the Venice Commission.

In September 2020, Belarus ratified the Council of Europe Convention on the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health.

The National Parks "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" and "Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve" possess the European Diplomas of Protected Areas of the Council of Europe.

Laboratory of pharmaceutical analysis “Center of Expertise and Examinations in Healthcare” of the Ministry of Health of Belarus has the status of an associate member of the European network of the Official Medicines Control Laboratories (OMCL).

The Republic of Belarus is interested in the development of pragmatic cooperation with the Council of Europe and its statutory bodies, including the further accession to the legal instruments of the Council of Europe and reestablishment of full-fledged project interaction.