12th EU-NGO Forum on Human Rights, Brussels - Main contents
| date | July 12, 2010 - July 13, 2010 |
|---|---|
| city | Brussels, Belgium |
| organisation | European Commission (EC) i |
Belgium and the European Commission will host the 12th Annual EU-NGO Forum on Human Rights in Brussels. It will be centred on the topic, “EU Human Rights instruments and the Lisbon Treaty: State of play and way forward”.
Four specific topics have been chosen to illustrate in a concrete manner the general theme of the Forum in workshops:
-The EU Human Rights instruments in the fight against the death penalty;
-The role of the EU in the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights;
-The EU's relation with regional human rights mechanisms, including the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the African Union, the ASEAN or the OAS;
-The consistency between the EU's internal and external Human Rights policies in the context of the Lisbon Treaty.
The EU-NGO Forums are organised annually, and usually bring together around 150 delegates, mainly from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from all over the world, international experts and representatives of EU institutions and member states.
The purpose of the EU-NGO forum is to provide opportunities for civil society representatives from the global South to meet and exchange experiences with EU representatives and human rights experts.
The European Commission is the executive body of the EU and runs its day-to-day business. It is made up of the College of Commissioners, 27 European Commissioners, one for each member state, who are each responsible for one or several policy areas. In addition, the 'Commission' also refers to the entire administrative body that supports the Commissioners, consisting of the Directorates-General and the Services.
The European Commission is the sole EU body capable of proposing new legislation. The Commission also performs an oversight function, monitoring whether European legislation is properly implemented in the member states. In the event of non-compliance, the Commission can coerce a member state to comply by starting a legal procedure at the European Court of Justice.