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 Professor Finbarr MARTIN : the need for an extensive and redesigned training for practitioners

7/9/2016

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Ageing and Health:
A challenge to public health and social cohesion
Council of Europe, Strasbourg, June 23 2016

Professor Finbarr MARTIN, President-elect of the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society  ,is a clinician and academic working with frail older people in the English National Health Service.

Professoir MARTIN drew attention to 3 key areas for action in the WHO report and the work planned for its implementation.
  • make the places we live in much more friendly to older people. (Good examples can be found in WHO’s Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities)
  • Realigning health systems to the needs of older people  which means a shift from systems that are designed around curing acute disease, to systems for the chronic conditions
  • Develop long-term care systems so as to reduce inappropriate use of acute health services and ensure people live their last years with dignity.

This has to be done considering older people frailty which requires a holistic response at every stage of the lifespan

Health of older people is a result of genetics and experience from even before conception to old age.  Although we are now recognizing that evolution has enabled us to develop plenty of reserve capacity, our repair mechanisms are finite. Cells, tissues and physiological systems lose reserve as we age so that in old age, many are at a stage when small additional stresses (falls etc) may produce disproportionate  failure, particularly in functional abilities. . So we need a holistic response, he insists : diagnosis, treatment and enablement. Every stage of the lifespan is important.

Make healthcare systems suitable for older people from any socio economic background

Differences in socioeconomic factors lead to large differences in health and disability by the time people reach old age. Our challenge is to make healthcare systems suitable for modern older people. This involves society, policy, patients, most staff and most medical specialties says Pr MARTIN.

He raises the issue of cases of abuse revealed in the UK press, showing poor quality care for older people in hospitals. and  care homes providing some research findings in the UK which explains some of this and the response in the hospital Professor MARTIN is working in





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Lord Georges FOULKES : the most important thing of all is political will ! 

7/8/2016

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"Ageing and Health : a challenge to public health and social cohesion - a strong need for common action"
23 June 2016 -  Council of Europe, Strasbourg (France)

dNo empathy or compassion, just the right to human rights for people, particularty for older people.

Of course, we provide health care for older people out of sympathy, out of compassion but I believe not in terms of sympathy and compassion but in the rights of people and in this case of older people !

And the Council of Europe is the right body to deal with it !We are the human rights body and therefore thet is our prominent purpose. And we should be looking at the older people situation in those terms.

How more can be done at the Council of Europe ?

The challenge is great. A lot has already been done at the Council of Europe but the important is to know what can be done. According to WHO, 4 millions of elderly people are abused each year. It is not acceptable ! We also read that older people are being exploited by commercial organisations, particularly insurance companies. We know of the growing constraints on health care budget We know of the lack of clinical guidelines whereas older people contributed to build up the wealth of our society

The report we are drafting aims to produce a recommendation of what we are describing as a garantee of rights for oder people in care

There is a principal respponsibility of statutoriy bodies
Both health care and social care bodies must provide the basic needs and probably work more closely together as in Scotland.

A call to NGOS to
  • make sure that Council of Europe recommendations are implemented
  • raise good practices to be recommended  to other countries
  • give information about negligence or other abuse on older people
  • put the pressure on governments of the Member States to address the challenge

"The need for common action has never been greater as it is now !" stresses Lord Foulkes


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Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe : the States who are party to the Social Charter are required to combat age discrimination in heathcare, in law

7/1/2016

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"Ageing and Health : a challenge to public health and social cohesion - a strong need for common action"
23 June 2016 -  Council of Europe, Strasbourg (France)
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Gabriella BATTAINI-DRAGONI, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We are getting older.

You will hear it many times today; you have probably heard it many times before: across the world, human beings are living longer than ever. And here in Europe the demographic shift is particularly pronounced. In 2014 it is estimated that nearly one in five Western Europeans was 65 years old or older. By 2030, this will have risen to one in four.

What does this mean for our continent?

First, let me say that I do not accept the simplistic caricatures which sometimes present aging populations as nothing but burdensome to younger generations.

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WHO report on healthy ageing by John Beard, director, Departement on Age and Life Course

7/1/2016

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Video presentation

"Ageing and Health : a challenge to public health and social cohesion - a strong need for common action"
23 Juin 2016 -  Council of Europe, Strasbourg (France)
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Ageing and Health:  A challenge to public health and social cohesion A strong need for common action   

5/28/2016

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23 June 2016 9.00 am – 4.30 pm Agora - Room G03 Council of Europe – Strasbourg

Thursday, June 23, our committee will report on health care and medico-social care for the elderly in Europe. The situation is worrying.
 
Although significant efforts have been made during the past few years, respect for human dignity, ethics and human rights are still largely ignored. The cohorts of baby boomers seem as affected as the over eighty.
 
How to prevent the elderly from becoming either a mere economic market or a healthcare budgetary adjustment variable? What projections can be made for the coming decades and what actions taken to promote ageing well in Europe? How to avoid common mistakes in eldercare? What preventive measures can be taken to preserve the most vulnerable ones’ autonomy? How can we bring together all the relevant actors?
 
These are the questions we wish to address
 
And this is what we will do on that day, with the help of high level representatives of the Council of Europe, the European Union and the Commission, the WHO and the OECD, with highly experienced geriatricians, sociologists and EHPAD (residential establishments for dependent elderly people in France) director engaged in pilot projects with local authorities. We will also hear journalists who have produced reference books and television reports. NGOs will be very present through many of these stakeholders.


Come and join us ! See registration form below

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Ageing and Health:  A challenge to public health and social cohesion A strong need for common action   23 June 2016 9.00 am – 4.30 pm Agora - Room G03 Council of Europe – Strasbourg

5/26/2016

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GREETINGS for 2016

1/6/2016

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Let us hope that  the year 2016  will bring the values of the Council of Europe  to the heart of Member states, their peoples and policies, to reach unity and  peace!
In many countries, each day, we offer words of peace as a greeting, this same peace embedded in all true humanist beliefs and all religions.
We wish fervently that  our humanity is expressed as a brotherhood!
We wish you and each of your NGOSs rewarding activities
and many moments of personal happiness
We wish you a very happy new year!

Anne-Marie Chavanon, Karl Donert and Thierry Mathieu
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JOIN US AT COP 21 IN PARIS ! For a common agenda between citizens and local authorities on Climate !

11/24/2015

 
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 JOIN US !!
on 9 December 2015 at  Paris Le Bourget - Room 1 - Espace Generations Climat !

The committee on Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges is organizing two side-events during the Climate Summit week on 9 and 10 December.

On 9 December 2015
"Citizens and local authorities, a common agenda"
Room 1
Espaces Générations Climat
from 11:00 to 12:30

TO GET THERE : Visitors guide

ALL PROGRAMMES : Conferences/debates program

OUR  EVENT :
SPEAKERS  and AGENDA

Climate, a moral and ethical issue (Round-Table 29 September 20015 - Council of Europe)

11/5/2015

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Gita Parihar: climate, a moral and ethical problem in terms of contributions and responsibilities

PictureGita PARIHAR
Gita Parihar, Legal Officer of Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Delegate of the NGOs Working Group on Climate and Human Rights in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said in a message read by - unusual - a parliamentary member of the House of Lord, Sir Alan Meale, that climate change is increasingly seen as a moral and ethical problem, due to the fact that those contributed least to the problem will be most affected.

A legal framework but rights under threat

The legislation of Human Rights as well as the notion of fairness in international environmental law make it possible to address the human rights dimension of climate change.

The human rights community recognizes that climate change has already violated and threatened further violations of basic human rights such as the right to life, food, water and shelter. Similarly, the lack of action on climate change is recognized as a violation of human rights, in particular those who are already vulnerable or marginalized.

A similar application of rights may increase inequality. Fairness requires diffferent contributions and responsibilities

The International Law of Human Rights recognizes that if equality of rights is applied in a situation of inequality, this will exacerbate inequality.

The concept of fairness in international environmental law recognizes that countries have different contributions to environmental problems and therefore different responsibilities in taking action. Article 3.1 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change states: "The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations on the basis of equity and according to their responsibilities and common but differentiated capabilities "
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Climate change and Human Rights : tools exist at the Council of Europe

10/10/2015

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Merete BJERREGARD : the tools exist at th Council of Europe


Expert of the Division of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Merete BJEREGAARD recalled the growing awareness of a link between environment and human rights in major international texts, particularly those of the Council of Europe in recent years.

The concept of the right to a healthy environment goes back to the Stockholm Conference in 1972, the first UN conference on the environment, she said, followed by a reference to climate in the European Declaration of Human Rights 2009.

However, she adds, any undertaking requires, to be implemented, a "monitoring". But the Council of Europe has a unique monitoring tool, that of the European Court of Human Rights. Despite the lack of explicit reference to the right to a healthy and sustainable environment, the Court uses the clauses relating to environmental causes

In addition, the European Court of Human Rights considers that the European Convention on Human Rights is a "living" tool to be adapted to the times we are in. The case law on the environment is, therefore, constantly changing.

Useful guiding principles for the implementation of environmental policies

It would be possible to highlight the guiding principles for all levels of governance, civil society and all citizens, from
  • the Social Charter implementation by the European Committee of Social Rights which deals with the climate in Article 11 ,
  • the recommendation of PACE 2003 and 2009 on the right to a healthy environment,
  • the Manual on Environment and Human Rights of 2003 revised in 2010 by the Steering Committee of Human Rights. Such a tool could provide guidance to States in the drafting of policies and environmental measures including climate. It provides relevant principles from case law and requests made under the Social Charter. It refers to good national practice

It is urgent to take action on climate Mrs BJERREGAARD ​​said: the Council of Europe has unique tools for this. They can be developed and brought to the attention of all stakeholders, the Manual is one of them!
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Migration: can we speak of climate refugees?How many will they be? What to expect from COP21?

10/9/2015

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INGOs and Parliamentarians Round-Table on Climate change and Human Rights at the Council of Europe - 29 September 2015

PictureDina IONESCO

"Migrants should be taken neither as heroes nor victims but for committed and responsible actors who can contribute to the fight against climate change!" (Dina Ionesco)

Dina IONESCO, director of the Migration Environment and Climate Charge Division, newly created at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) presented the commitments and expectations of the Organization to the Paris Summit during the Round Table on Human Rights and Climate Change.

IOM currently brings together 158 member-states around programs both political and field. The Organization is marked, according to Mrs IONESCO by a "culture of doing"

Who are the environmental migrants?
The equation "Migration, Environment and Climate Change" is complex because any migration is multicausal. It is therefore difficult to isolate the environmental factor from other causes of migration (economic, social, demographic or personal). It appears as well that  Mediterranean migrants suffered environmental and climate stress. Such important dimension cannot be ignored any longer

Furthermore, the multi causality accompanying environmental migration has legal and social repercussions because if everyone understands migration due to sudden disaster, it is much more difficult to identify those due to slow degradation of the environment as salinization land or ocean acidification

Can we speak of environmental migrants?
The data that legitimize political action are difficult to obtain.
Between 2008 and 2014, 196 million people were displaced by sudden disasters. In 2013, 22 million people, out of drought, have been identified, a number greater than that of people fleeing the conflict. It is also known, she said, that 93% of these trips were caused by floods in 2013, particularly in Asia.

According to the IDMC (International Displacement Monitoring Center) migration observatory with which IOM works, IPCC and UNCCD

In 2025,
    2.4 billion people will be in repeated drought area
    50 million people will be in areas subject to desertification
    75 to 120 000 people will be subject to water stress
    50 of the largest cities in the world located in coastal areas will experience rising seas and coastal erosion

However that migration will be mainly internal to the countries or regional

Climate migrants can not access the status of "refugee".... ...

Although we speak of migration in discussions on climate, (which is a change of era and paradigm), climate migration fall into two types of situations:

First, internal migration, national or regional, the most common one, which is the responsibility of States. In such case, the Kampala Principles apply, for prevention as well as evacuation or return.

Second, migration across borders which are not covered by the 1951 Geneva Convention, since it requires evidence of persecution.

This leads IOM and UNHCR to refuse to use the term "climate refugee" who reports to the metaphorical language (as the terms "climate shipwrecked" or "exiles of climate change"). These organizations do not want to "make people believe they can get refugee status on the basis of the Geneva Convention, says Ms IONESCO

... hence the vital importance  of the human rights frame
 The structure of human rights provides a set of rights such as the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning a migrant in his country since the security is not assured.

IOM has been working for over twenty years on this topic. Its areas of work relate to the conceptualization, information, advocacy and research.

A glossary, wanted by the Member States of IOM, aims to find linguistic bridges between the theme of migration and that of environment

IOM addresses the entire migration cycle, from prevention to resettlement (eg. Preparing children at risk, planning of coastal areas under threat but also humanitarian assistance, assistance to nomadic populations, or work with diaspora fund return to develop the original land in state (eg Niger and Senegal)

Other axis, facilitating legal and circular migration (eg between Colombia and Spain). IOM also works with the United Nations Framework Convention to Combat Desertification,

The Organization follows migration issues in the climate debate since COP 14 and integrates the climate talks in programs on migration. Dina Ionesco recalls that migration are included in the statements of Cancun and Doha as part of adaptation but negatively policies
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A legislation for the climate in each country

10/9/2015

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PictureLord PRESCOTT
 John Prescott, former negotiator for the European Union of the Kyoto agreements, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and Energy Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), "the road to Paris is not easy."

First , order of topics such as financing, implementation of the future treaty and the definition of common differentiated responsibilities remain to be addressed
  •     Indeed, climate financing is a difficult question, because of the expectation of developing countries
  •     The enforceability of the Treaty is condemned by the refusal of the US Congress
  •     The definition of differentiated common responsibilities is difficult to achieve, mainly because it is based on assessments in proportion to the population that distort the calculations on actual emissions of greenhouse gas in some countries.

Lord Prescott believes that only legislation to allow each country to implement the Treaty of Paris, and to take effective action on climate. No international body can do it, t he insists. That's why this application is one of the key proposals that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe wishes to share with the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly to be held in Paris in December, during the Summit.
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Towards an ambitious agreement at the Paris Summit

10/8/2015

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INGOs Side-event at the Council of Europe - 29 September 2015

62 days to the Summit in Paris, on behalf of the Conference of INGOs, Anne-Marie Chavanon, Chair of the Social Cohesion and Global Challenges Democracy Committee invites governmental and nongovernmental actors to consider the crucial issue of the future treaty and the impact of climate change on human rights
An ambitious agreement in the final round of climate negotiations was  at the Palais de l'Europe in Strasbourg has been advocated by  Lord Prescott, Chairman of the Committee on Environment and Energy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and former negotiator for Europe of the Kyoto Accords, Sir Alan Meale parliamentarian from UK, former president of the PACE Committee on Sustainable development, personally committed to defending the right to a healthy environment, Edith Wenger, representative of the European Environmental Bureau, who initiated the working group "Climate and Human Rights" within the Conference of INGOs, Yves Hauss climatologist, Merete Bjerregaard, expert from the Directorate of Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Dina Ionesco, Director, Environment and Migration Division of the International Organisation for Migration, and Karl Donert, Vice-President  of the Committee, on Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges and Head of the Working Group on "Climate and Human Rights" of the Conference of INGOs at  the Council of Europe

The COP21 label given by France to this event

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 The impact of the climate accidents : It is the record temperatures that have the greatest impact on daily life

10/8/2015

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Towards an ambitious agreement in Paris
INGOs Side-event at the Council of Europe - 29 September 2015

According to Yves HAUSS, Climatologist, changing temperatures proved, both globally and in Alsace in recent years.

Seasonal averages, calculated over thirty years, increased significantly everywhere. But it is the extreme events that are dangerous for humans and the environment.

Among the examples cited, Strasbourg experienced the temperature of Marseille in August 2003 and that of Algiers in April 2007. In April and July 2010, Moscow experienced temperatures equivalent to those of Cairo and Tunis, which resulted in fires drill and bogs of unusually long and a significant loss of crops which required discontinuation of exports

The air is, for Yves Hauss, a good shared without border. It brings humans together but its degradation affects the entire planet
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United for Climate : 29 September 2015 - Council of Europe - Strasbourg (France)

9/10/2015

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Climate change threatens to undermine the lives of millions of people, causing instability and conflict. And we all know that the Climate Summit to be held in Paris in late December 2015 will be decisive: it will seal - or not - the commitment of States through the signing of a new treaty that will take over from the Kyoto Agreements. It will concern beyond the previous 12 parties, all UN members

The most vulnerable states will be the first affected by the climate change, the rise in temperature and sea level, drought, floods, effects on biodiversity and human health. These effects will impact on the enjoyment of human rights (right to life, food, health, water, travel in particular). Internal, but also regional and transcontinental migration pose difficult problems to solve without anticipation. It is indisputable that crises will occur to meet the needs of people as well as potential risks of denial of democracy in difficult times

This background and perspective prompted the Committee on Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges of the Conference of INGOs, in collaboration with the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Parliamentary Assembly, to settle a debate in which will be discussed European and global challenges linked to climate change from the perspective of human rights.

The event received the French Label

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Towards  COP21 : a step forward through the mobilisation of smart territories

9/9/2015

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More than a thousand people attended a three day conference on Smart cities and Smart Countries (S3C), last week,  in Paris. This important event intended to get together public and private actors involved in smart technologies.

A need for a citizen centric approach

PhotoAnne-Marie CHAVANON
"To be successful, a smart city must be citizen centric" This is one of the very first declarations supported by Anne-Marie Chavanon, Chair of the Committee on Democracy, at the  S3C Conference  where she was asked to see smart cities in the light of democracy and participation.

The real issue, today, in our countries, she said, is the return of confidence brought by citizens to politicians. Many stakeholders and many applications define users as "first sensor" : Is therefore the user, to be a subject or a connected object ? What guarantee do we offer to respect  private life ? How far to go in protecting the personal data? What about, for instance, the profiling of users in order to anticipate their behaviour? She asked.

According to her, smart technologies are undoubtedly prominent and revolutionary simplification tools of daily life, offering new interaction possibilities with the governants, particularly mayors and municipal services. Yet, she pointed out three prerequisites:
  1. a need for transparency about tools and content
  2. a deep concern for inclusiveness of those who do not want or cannot use digital tools, due to language, disability or age reasons. 
  3. the need of a charter of ethics to help countries where freedom  and   Human rights can be at stake

    We are     approaching the COP 21, she concluded : undoubtedly smart technologies will usefully contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases yet  they can only do so with the participation of citizens, not as "sensors" but as "actors". She stressed that in order to be sustainable "a smart governance requires first and foremost a      shared governance"

    The Governants involved in the Conference adopted a declaration quite relevant in the light of the Council of Europe high principles
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From Global challenges to local democracy, creation of eight working groups

7/2/2015

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Global Challenges

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Karl DONERT
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Thierry MATHIEU
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Jean-Claude GONON

Climate change and human Rights

Health Economics
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Europe Mediterranean
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Human and Territorial Cohesion

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Gerhard ERMISCHER

Social Cohesion and Shared Territories
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Emmanuel MICHEL
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Anne-marie CHAVANON
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Helene PICHON

Inclusive societies,
from living together to doing together
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Intercultural European Alliances
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Governance and participatory democracy

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Antonella VALMORBIDA

Code of Good Practice

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Anje WIERSINGA

Gender Perspectives in political and democratic processes
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  1. WG  Climate and Human Rights committed to the defense of the human rights dimension in the climate negotiations to be held in Paris next December 2015. Coordination by Karl DONERT, Vice President of the committee and President of the NGO EUROGEO

  2. WG  Health Economics. This group will discuss the consequences of the economic crisis in key areas of public health in Europe. Coordination by Thierry Mathieu, Vice President of the committee and President of the AIRH

  3. WG  Europe-Mediterranean.  Its main objectives are the identification of specific situations and actions taken by the INGOs in different countries (countries of emigration and host countries).
    A repository of replicable practices proposed by OING
    Preparation of     a seminar on "Immigration, a democratic challenge for Europe and the world" (Coordinationby  Jean-Claude GONON AEDE

  4. WG on Social cohesion and shared Territories. This panel will aim to strengthen the participation of citizens in decision-making on their own territory and to call the attention of the authorities on the benefits of conventions and agreements of the Council of Europe for reaching sustainable development and cohesion
    Coordination:by  Gerhard ERMISCHER ,, President CIVILSCAPE

  5. WG Inclusive societies and active coexistence, from living together to doing together
    Coordination by Anne-Marie CHAVANON, Chair of the Committee, delegate of IFHP and Emmanuel MICHEL, Secretary General of Coexister NGO

  6. WG for studying the development of a network of European intercultural alliances.  Coordination by  Hélène PICHON Delegate CEPS

  7. WG on the Code of Good practice for civil participation in decision making
    Coordinationby  Antonella VALMORBIDA (ALDA)

  8. WG on Gender Perspectives in political and democratic processes
    Coordination Anje Wiersinga
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Working groups ID

6/18/2015

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WG on inclusive societies.pdf
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WG Europ Mediterranean area.pdf
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WG Gender.pdf
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 Collaboration with the European Committee on Democracy and Good Governance on inclusive democratic participation

4/17/2015

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Anne-Marie Chavanon, Chair of the Committee presented recent initiatives and efforts being deployed  by  civil  society  groups  and  NGOs  in  cooperation  with  public  authorities especially at local level, that aimed at increasing inclusive democratic participation, witha  view  to  counteracting  disengagement  and  segregation  as  well  as  combatting radicalisation and extremism.

In the exchange which followed, participants outlined recently adopted measures aimed at developing local authorities’ awareness of and responsiveness to radicalism, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, local development and the prevention of racist and extremism language on-line. The CDDG would welcome additional information on the “interculturalcities” programme and the “No Hate Speech Campaign” of the Council of Europe.

The  chair of the CDDG, Paul-Henri Phillips supported by the committee,  invited  all  participants,  delegations,  NGOs,  the  Congress  and  observers  to provide  the  Secretariat  with  an  overview  of  initiatives  being  implemented  or  under consideration  with  a  view  to  promoting  inclusive  societies  and  preventing  extremism activities especially in cities and towns.This overview will constitute the basis for an exchange of views and sharing of experiences at the next CDDG meeting.
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Building together to deconstruct religious, ethnic and cultural prejudices

4/2/2015

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Abdel BELMOKADEM, Samuel GRZYBOWSKI, François BECKER

Active coexistence, the ability to be with someone

The Coexist association, founded by Samuel GRZYBOWSKI, brings together young people from 15 to 35, from all walks of life, all conviction and religions (Christians, Jews, Muslims, agnostics and atheists). It has 1,800 members in France and 600 active people. It aims to enable young people to live an "experience of unity on something other than their identity, that question so present in the march " I am Charlie, I am .. "

Diversity in their affiliations and unity in action
The association offers each young person the possibility to live its difference as a way of singularity so as to live more strongly common shares (dialogue elements,  visit of worship places, organizing debates, roundtables, actions of solidarity with the poor, the elderly, the sick, the children).
They are in contact with other young people in schools, colleges, universities to deconstruct with them by conducting a work on religious but also ethnic and cultural prejudice .

In 7 years, CO-EXIST has enabled 27,000 young people to meet.

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Create the conditions for dialogue for those who fail to meet

4/2/2015

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A French citizen, secular, republican and muslim: a mediator

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Dominique Jung, Anne-Marie Chavanon, Abdel Belmokadem, Samuel Grzybowski
"I am a French, secular and republican citizen, a Muslim," said Abdel Belmokadem from the outset.

Born in Vaux-en-Velin, Abdel is now a reference in the field of mediation and living together.

After a professional boxing career that led him to the top step of the podium, Abdel, long illiterate, has gone back to school. He wanted a job. To be in solidarity with others. He was deputy mayor at Vaux en Velin for 10 years before leaving politics and creating  the  Nés &cités (pronounced necessity) which aims to mediation in popular neighborhoods, to establish contact between sensitive areas and the economic, institutional and polical world.

Extend our hand

His profession of faith: "going towards the others, helping them as I was helped myself, and move forward with them."

A priority: jobs

 Abdel puts in daily contact companies and city youth. We have, he said, developed concepts that are aiming at bringing closer young people and recruiting companies who  have trouble finding specific profiles in times of crisis.

Due to  20,000 contact proposals from employers, 7,000 young people have found jobs, thanks to this direct contact.

We're lucky he said, the economic world follows us (my first sponsors in sports, and now many companies look for talents coming from our neighbourhoods to strengthen their activities and their development. "They can no longer afford to do without this human resource. "We love, he said, to work on our similarities but it is with our differences that we are complementary and the most useful.

"Jobs created a dynamic within families and within the territory because, yes, he says, these territories are marked! Yes, there are people who are lost! Yes, the actors that accompany them, are alone! Yes, the government has just forgotten us!,

Against regimentation:
"If there is one single message to fight against the scourge of regimentation, whether religious or criminal, it is employment!"

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WINTER SESSION 

4/2/2015

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Dominique Jung : the success of the demonstration on January 11 has changed the way France looks at itself

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Dominique JUNG, DNA Chief editor, shared with NGOs a very thorough analysis, sometimes incisive, of difficulties which hinder the development of more cohesive societies.

According to Dominique JUNG, France has been aware of  transcending its  individualism, but to the gratitude felt during the immediate mobilization succeeded,  in his mind, a sense of concern about the number of dubious people, skeptics, recalcitrant not to the killing itself, unanimously condemned, but to the emotion it evoked : Is it that we already mobilized all convinced people, he asks? Didn’t we share a sort of collective exorcism rite which was lovely but left indifferent a significant portion of our citizens?

Do not underestimate Semitism
If the fight for the freedom of the press is a noble fight, it must not crush, insists Dominique JUNG, other battles such as the one against anti-Semitism "singled out" by the events of 11 January.

Consider the new information mapping
Dominique JUNG believes that the information map is redrawn today, with a ditch on the credibility of sources: social networks produce the best and the worst, the immediacy of information but also the dissemination and amplification of unverified information, false and dangerous rumors ... a kind of particle bombardment. These rumors are taking credit merely because they exist and circulate, he said giving the example of conspiracy theses appeared on the internet. This is the type of information that explains, in his eyes, the violence of hostility towards France, observed in some countries.

Asking more questions is our journalistic role underlines the editor, columnist of DNA, particularly  on the link between politics and religion, between aesthetics, especially iconoclasm, and the way of thinking society between globalization and the emergence of a new "Terra incognita" where you cannot enter without risking death, he said, hoping that the Japanese journalist held by Daech be spared.

In his eyes, the killing at Charlie Hebdo shows that at the heart of Europe, there are "mentalities that may seem  far from the values ​​which we hope will be universal" ...

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A tremendous hope of humanity

1/22/2015

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Sunday, 11 January, in Paris, a million and a half people carried by a brotherhood momentum we strongly expected brought forth a vibrant hope: that of a renewed and more welded society!

The event  was attended by about sixty heads of state and government joining together against extreme violence. It mobilized nearly 4 million people in France and millions of others worldwide. Thant day will remain in the history of our country and, hopefully, in the history of Europe.

Thank you to all of you who shared with us in your own country, for your support to resist terrorism and express our humanity!

It was a time of grace, a time during which political affiliations, beliefs, religions, cultural and social differences, nationalities, wounds of the past have been forgotten. We all had the same forceful step towards freedom and peace.

All of us were united with waves of applause,  by the anthem, by the flag and the national motto of France : "liberty, Equality, Fraternity" A message that echoes indeed the motto of Europe "Unity in diversity" and the Council of Europe campaign "All different, all equal" !

Today,  as governments or governed, we all need the courage of perpetuating this spontaneous impulse, this great hope in humanity, democracy and cohesion so as to give meaning to these demonstrations in the daily life of our democracies. Let us give substance to such a message at the Council of Europe and in each of our countries!

Anne-Marie Chavanon
Chairperson

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Our wishes for fraternity and peace

1/8/2015

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France just experienced dramatic events shared by the whole world.  Let us wish a true capacity of dialogue and understanding among our populations throughout Europe.

Let us wish a true ability for drawing the best from our humanity, from our cultures, our religions in order to fight violence and intolerance.

Let us refuse the escalation of hatred and violence ! Let us reject the amalgam and protect our children from sectarian aberrations ! Let us act with respect for all, regardless of our beliefs and convictions !

Could we join in a huge movement that brings together instead of dividing ! A large uprising for peace, this is my wish   for 2015 !

Anne-Marie Chavanon
President
Paris, January 8, 2015

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The lessons of the Gwangzhou International urban Innovation Award on civil society participation in climate change programmes

12/15/2014

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Photofrom left to right : Yasmin Al RASHEDI, Robin ATTWATER (Abu Dhabi), Jan GERBITZ (Hamburg), Nicholas YOU (Chair), Beverly PINDER MORTIMER, Yvonne LYNCH (Melbourn), Ambassador CHUNG (Korea).
Guangzhou, the third Chinese megalopolis, capital of Guangdong, became, for the second time,at the end of November, the world capital of the diffusion of urban exemplarity. The second edition of the International Award for Urban Innovation created by the city itself, in connection with Metropolis and UCLG and driven by Nicholas YOU, founder of the award, was, in fact, held  in the vibrant metropolis of the Pearl River, China southern gateway located not far from Hong Kong and Macao. She put five finalists in the running after the review, late September, of 209 cases by a technical committee of international experts

During the final selection of 27 November 2014, mayors and project managers came to present their innovations to an audience mainly composed of elected officials, around four themes: the action of local authorities to the crisis, adapting and mitigating to climate change, changing minds for a change of the city and ways to empower actors.

The second series of the presentations, moderated by Anne-Marie CHAVANON, president of the committee, dealt with first order issues with the approach of the COP 21 to be held in Paris in December 2015. It brought together indeed Abu Dhabi, Gwangju, Hamburg and Melbourne with very different answers to three shared issues: how to save energy? How to reduce greenhouse gases? How to lower the temperature in dense urban areas?






















Each project embodies the founding criteria of the Urban Innovation Award, including the pursuit of sustainable development through an integrated ecosystem approach, an absolute priority to social cohesion and well-being of citizens, the generation of a courageous participatory and innovative governance.

The most enlightening lessons of these projects concern the management team of public and private actors, the quality of the training provided as early as possible to a commitment of the communities, based on transparency of communication. Each offered a vision over a period of twenty to a hundred years, always accompanied by actions carried out by a strong political will.

Obviously, the number and quality of applications submitted, the presentation of the fifteen finalists and the selection of award winners (Antioquia, Bristol, Christchurch, Dakar and Hangzhou) showed that the price of Guangzhou had achieved its objectives: mobilizing five continents, making these editions a place of exchange and learning that goes beyond the recognition of good practice.

It shows the relevance of participatory democracy priority  promoted by the Conference of INGOs code of good practice, the involvement of our committee various working groups and CEMAT chart on territorial democracy.

We all wish this award the development it deserves to stimulate innovation and provide vital answers to the challenges of the cities of the future!

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    Radek Maly, Jose Mendes Bota, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Anne-Marie Chavanon, Lord Georges Foulkes, Anna Rurka, Christine de la Maisonneuve, Michel Ballereau
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    Texts on climate by the committee

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    Link to the dedicated website
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    Living together in multicultural societies : respect, dialogue, interaction

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    The European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) is organized, every year, in October in Europe and beyond. It offers an opportunity to joint actions with local and regional authorities and involvement of citizens

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