Ukraine Takes Over the Chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers

KYIV, Ukraine, May 11, 2011 - Today, Ukraine assumes presidency at the Council of Europe's
Committee of Ministers. For the next six months Ukraine will focus on such
priorities as protection of children's rights, implementation of the European
Court of Human Rights decisions, improvement of local governance and
protection of rights of the disabled people, according to the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of 47 of the Council of
Europe member states meet today in Istanbul, Turkey. At the end of the
session Ukraine will take over the chairmanship of the Committee of
Ministers, from Turkey for the next six months. The Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu presented a report on Turkey's
achievements over the past six months and Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Minister
for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine presented the priorities of Ukraine that
include protection of children's rights, implementation of the European
Court of Human Rights decisions, improvement of local governance and
protection of rights of the disabled people.

Notably, the Ukrainian presidency in the CE Committee of
Ministers, which will last until November 2011, will be the first for nearly
sixteen years since Ukraine has been a member of the organization.

Suffice it to say, that in 2013 Ukraine will assume the OSCE
chairmanship. Such decision was made by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of
the 56 OSCE member countries back in 2010.

The Council of Europe is an international organization founded
in 1949 under the London Agreement with an aim to promote cooperation between
all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights,
democratic development, the rule of law and cultural cooperation. The Council
consists of 47 member states with some 800 million citizens.

The organization seeks to resolve such problems as terrorism,
organized crime, corruption and illicit trafficking. The Council of Europe is
supported by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg - a permanent
court,which was created to defend the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Council of Europe's work has resulted in standards, charters and
conventions to facilitate cooperation between European countries. The
Committee of Ministers is one of the statutory institutions of the CE and
comprises of the foreign ministers of each member states.

For more information, contact Maryna Khorunzha +380443324784 news at wnu-ukraine.com, Project Manager at Worldwide News Ukraine