ASTRA Network Workshop SRHR Advocacy in the Council of Europe - Together for Better Europe is to be held in Zagreb, Hotel Laguna, 27-29 September, 2009. CESI is an ASTRA member and our Sanja Cesar will participate in workshop.

The workshop will introduce the role and place of the Council of Europe in the today's world and explain the European legal structure including the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights and the European Union. It will also give basics on the structure of the CoE and its functioning. In that respect, the aim of the workshop is to discuss the effectiveness of the Council of Europe's monitoring mechanisms, established to guarantee the protection of democracy and human rights, as stated in its mission.

The Council of Europe's work benefits extensively from contacts and co-operation with the dynamic elements of society, as represented by NGOs. One of its main challenges is to strengthen NGOs and civil society and to develop participatory democracy on a pan-European basis. The workshop will show various possibilities of co-operating with the Council of Europe and increasing the NGO's participation in its activities. 

Finally, the workshop shall address the issue of reproductive rights in Europe. The European Court of Human Rights, which can receive complaints from individuals alleging that a country has violated the Convention, has tremendous potential to advance those rights. How this potential can be assessed? Is it used? The most important Court's case-law related to the issues of abortion and fetal rights and their development is to be discussed in the workshop.