Strengthening relations between the Council of Europe and Latin America

Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 16289 | 23 October 2025

Author(s):

Committee of Ministers

Origin

Adopted at the 1541st meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (22 October 2025). 2025 - November Standing Committee (Republic of Moldova)

Reply to Recommendation

: Recommendation 2296 (2025)

1. The Committee of Ministers has carefully examined Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2296 (2025) “Strengthening relations between the Council of Europe and Latin America”.

2. The Committee of Ministers recalls that, at the 4th Summit in Reykjavík, in 2023, the Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe committed to strengthening the role of the Council of Europe in the European multilateral architecture and in global governance by enhancing its external dimension. The Reykjavík Declaration called, inter alia, for more political dialogue with other international organisations. It also committed to strengthening the dialogue with observer States, with which the Council of Europe and its member States share a set of fundamental values and common principles, and to promote increased ratification of Council of Europe conventions that are open to non-member States through targeted universalisation campaigns, to advance compliance with the Organisation’s ambitious standards beyond European borders.

3. More recently, the Committee of Ministers at its 134th Ministerial Session (Luxembourg,13-14 May 2025) encouraged intensified efforts to develop further the external dimension of the Organisation.

4. The Committee of Ministers underlines how the Reykjavík Declaration has given new impetus to the Council of Europe’s external dimension, enhancing its outreach through an engagement based on its core values with democracies across the world, and through the active contribution of observer States, in particular Mexico with regard to Latin America. The Declaration was also crucial in strengthening the Council of Europe’s relations with other international organisations, including the Organization of American States and the Ibero-American System. Two years after the Reykjavík Declaration, this dimension continues to gain traction.

5. The Committee of Ministers welcomes the importance attached by the Assembly to strengthening relations between the Council of Europe and Latin America, both through partnerships with multilateral organisations and through dialogue with States of the region. This aligns with the Council of Europe’s increased activity in the region, both across its bodies and in specific sectors.

6. The Committee appreciates the long-standing co-operation between the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) and Latin American countries, which has intensified over the past five years. Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru are full members of the Venice Commission, while Argentina and Uruguay are observer States. This co-operation is carried out through the Sub-Commission on Latin America and covers areas such as democratic transition, constitution-building, constitutional justice, democratic institutions, and electoral legislation and practice. As a result of the growing interest in co-operation with Latin America, the Venice Commission has adopted several opinions on draft legislation in Bolivia, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

7. The Venice Commission has also developed active exchanges with regional organisations such as the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Union of Electoral Bodies (UNIORE) and the Ibero-American Conference of Constitutional Justice (CIJC). Close  co-operation between the Venice Commission and the OAS led to a co-operation agreement on technical assistance for the further development of the principles of the rule of law and the separation of powers in Latin America (2020), as well as to an agreement that strengthens the Commission’s interaction with the OAS Department of Electoral Co-operation and Observation (DECO). Several opinions and study requests have been made or facilitated through that agreement. At its 143rd plenary session (13-14 June 2025), the Commission adopted an Amicus curiae brief for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on democracy as a human right, as a means for social, political and economic development and the effective exercise of human rights, or as both, prepared following a request of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Finally, through joint EU–CoE programmes, the Commission can co-operate with other countries in the region (for example, Bolivia, Haiti) and is involved in, or organises, regional events in co-operation with partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the OAS, the Federation of Ombudsmen (FIO), UNIORE, the World Network of Electoral Justice and others.

8. The Committee of Ministers also notes that the Venice Commission continues to be engaged in the region through the drafting of opinions, for instance on reform of the Prosecutor’s Office in Peru, and through the organisation of events, in particular an upcoming International Conference on Democracy and the Rule of Law with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies of Spain (November 2025).

9. With regard to sectoral co-operation, the Committee of Minsters observes that, for instance, the Istanbul Convention and its independent monitoring body GREVIO (Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence) provide an entry point for enhanced co-operation with the OAS. This is due to the status of the Istanbul Convention as a regional treaty on violence against women that compares to the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará adopted in 1994), which lays the ground for co-operation. A joint publication developed in 2014 highlights the complementary nature of these two regional treaties and their respective monitoring mechanisms (GREVIO and MESECVI, the follow-up mechanism to Belem do Para).

10. Both monitoring mechanisms are members of the End Discrimination and Violence against Women Platform (EDVAW Platform), which regularly meets to exchange on common themes and set joint policy agendas. This Platform of independent women’s rights mechanisms, set up around to world, aims to evaluate and promote policies and programmes to end discrimination and violence against women.

11. Finally, the Committee of Ministers notes that the prospect of establishing a Council of Europe Liaison Office in New York would contribute to enhancing the Council of Europe’s external dimension in the region. Such an office would play a key role in co-operation dynamics, promote Council of Europe standards, increase the visibility of the Organisation’s international legal instruments that are open to non-member States (notably in Latin American countries), and facilitate interaction with regional organisations.