Morocco and the Council of Europe

All though Morocco is not a member state of the Council of Europe, it is connected to Europe’s chief organisation for the promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in a number of ways: Morocco was the first country to be accepted by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly as „Partner for…

Octopus against Cybercrime

Typewriting? Sending telegrams? Developing pictures? All of these belong to the past. Today, thanks to computers and the internet, things have become easier and life more comfortable for all of us. There are, however, always people who spoil the fun for us regular citizens: Criminals, who use IT to forge, lie and cheat without regard…

Death penalty, torture, slavery…

… forced labour, rule of force, discrimination and lawlessness don’t have to bother you, dear citizen. You just need to get out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and with it the Council of Europe and its European Court of Human Rights as quickly as you can! This stronghold of human rights is…

“Bullshit Bingo”

Bullshit Bingo can be played, whenever a speaker – for cheap sensationalism or simply in order to mask a lack of actual knowledge – uses buzzwords and catchphrases instead of giving real information. How it works: Supply yourself and your friends with copies of the bingo card before you go to an event, where someone…

The real Book of Potions

50 years of monitoring “hairy caterpillars, leeches and rat spleen”. Although Harry Potter and his fellow students had magical ingredients at their disposal, they were warned: Some potions, like the otherwise useful Shrinking Solution, would turn poisonous, if they were not correctly brewed! Unfortunately, this risk is not restricted to potions prepared in the magical…

Murdered, tortured, raped…

… beaten, trafficked, confined, exploited, oppressed, discriminated. Violence against women knows no bounds and is ever-present: At least a dozen women solely die through gender-related violence in Europe every day – dark figure of crime unknown… Thanks to the latest Council of Europe convention, for the first time in it’s history our continent now disposes…