03/04/2013 President
Strasbourg, 03.04.2013 – “Europe cannot progress unless it invests in young people and unless young people’s voices are heard and heeded in all major decisions affecting society,” said Jean-Claude Mignon, PACE President, speaking today at the end of an official two-day visit to Finland (2 and 3 April 2013). “Europe is an idea that never grows old and one that cannot be achieved without young people,” he stressed.
Jean-Claude Mignon congratulated Finland on being one of the countries to host an annual youth parliament, similar to the Council of Europe’s Youth Assembly. He also expressed keen interest in the Finnish government’s “youth guarantee” scheme, a public-private partnership introduced at the beginning of 2013. At a time of high youth unemployment, this scheme is designed to prevent social exclusion by offering all under-25s and all recent graduates under 30 a job, study place or vocational training within three months of the young person becoming unemployed.
He commended Finland on the tremendous contribution it had made to the Council of Europe since joining in 1989 – whether in terms of the principles and practical aspects of the running of the Organisation, in which it had been instrumental (in particular the PACE’s monitoring procedure, and the creation of the office of European Commissioner for Human Rights), or through its staunch defence of the Council’s values at international level, or as regards good practices in the human rights sphere, practices it applied at home and which had helped to make Finland one of the most developed countries in the world.
Jean-Claude Mignon also said he had made better complementarity between the European Union and the Council of Europe one of the two focal points of his presidency. Welcoming the progress already made, he expressed the hope that we would continue to move down this road in order meet the challenges facing Europe in the field of human rights and the rule of law.
Drawing attention to Finland’s contribution to the advancement of women’s rights in Europe, The President urged the Finnish authorities to once again set an example by ratifying, at the earliest opportunity, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention).
Another major topic of discussion was children’s rights, with everyone agreeing that the interests of the child must be the primary consideration in all decisions affecting them.
During his visit to Finland, Jean-Claude Mignon met the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, the Minister for Culture and Sport, the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and the Chairs of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee and the Constitutional Law Committee. He also held talks with the Finnish delegation to the PACE, the parliamentary Deputy Ombudsperson and the Ombudsperson for Children, the Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, the Director of the Human Rights Centre and representatives of youth organisations.