Directorate Council of Europe Book order

Europe has been going through its most serious crisis of values since the fall of communism. In public discourse, economic and social pressures have overshadowed the other dimensions of the crisis, including societal values. However, the crisis of values would appear to be more than simply an effect of the recession. European societies are already changing their traditional characteristics as a result of exposure to the effects of two global the empowerment of the individual and cosmopolitization.

The European Commission adopted its much disputed new-look Cinema Communication in November 2013. This re-vamped legal instrument lays down the rules by which the EU judges whether or not European film funds comply with EU state aid rules. It finally saw the light of day following an uphill consultation process with the industry and decision-makers. Many stakeholders feared that new rules on territorial spending and the so-called subsidy race would scupper public film funding schemes. In its brand new IRIS plus report, the European Audiovisual Observatory looks at the contents of this new 2013 Cinema Communication while re-treading the road which led to its latest re-write. The Related Reporting section offers short articles on recent developments in European cinema legislation. The final Zoom section provides the Observatory's latest facts and figures on the cinema industry in Europe, including digital roll-out data.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe publishes a volume of adopted texts for each of its four part-sessions and Standing Committee meetings. The Assembly, or the Standing Committee on its behalf, can adopt three different types of opinions, recommendations and resolutions.

The Council of Europe, the oldest European organisation, was founded in 1949 with the aim of unifying the continent as a whole. The decision to establish its headquarters in Strasbourg was, moreover, symbolic of the desire for reconciliation between peoples. From the outset the Council of Europe adopted an institutional structure comprising a committee of ministers and a parliamentary assembly - the first in Europe. This book retraces the history of the Organisation. Consisting initially of Western European states, the Council of Europe was destined to embrace all the continent's countries, but the Cold War delayed its enlargement. It is only since 1989 that the Council of Europe has become a truly pan-European organization, now comprising 47 member states.

Mobility is considered to be important for the personal development and employability of young people, as well as for intercultural dialogue, participation and active citizenship. Learning mobility in the youth field focuses on non-formal learning as a relevant part of youth work, with links to informal learning as well as to formal education. Different stakeholders at European level, particularly the Council of Europe and the European Commission, but also individual member states, foster programmes and strategies to enhance the mobility of young people, and particularly the learning dimension in mobility schemes. This book on learning mobility is a joint Council of Europe and European Commission publication, and provides texts of an academic, scientific, political and practical nature for all stakeholders in the youth field - youth leaders and youth workers, policy makers, researchers and so on. It should contribute to dialogue and co-operation between relevant players and to discussion on the further development and purpose of youth mobility schemes and their outcomes for young people.

Must-carry rules date back to the time when space on analogue broadcasting networks was limited and when supply grew due to the introduction of private broadcasters. The major reason for the adoption of these must-carry rules was to guarantee access to public service broadcasting and ensure a diverse choice of programs. Times have changed since and these changes have their impact on the discussion of must-carry rules. In this IRIS plus, insight is provided into today's choices made by various European countries as well as the USA with respect to regulating must-carry obligations and how the general European framework is applicable to national regulations.

The guidelines on child-friendly justice, and their explanatory memorandum, were adopted by the Council of Europe in 2010. Based on existing international and European standards, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Convention on Human Rights, the guidelines are designed to guarantee children's effective access to and adequate treatment in justice. They apply to all the circumstances in which children are likely, on any ground and in any capacity, to be in contact with the criminal, civil or administrative justice system. They recall and promote the principles of the best interests of the child, care and respect, participation, equal treatment and the rule of law. The guidelines address issues such as information, representation and participation rights, protection of privacy, safety, a multidisciplinary approach and training, safeguards at all stages of proceedings and deprivation of liberty. The 47 Council of Europe memb

Traditionally, teachers of majority languages receive less training to teach a language as a second language or to develop the plurilingual repertoire of their learners than, for example, foreign language teachers. Yet, in today's societies, learners bring many different languages to school. This means that the teaching of the majority language has to extend beyond teaching it as a first language and adopt elements of second language teaching. This publication aims to encourage teachers to become agents of reform for the promotion of plurilingualism in majority language teaching. The range of proposed actions includes small-scale activities, such as planning a lesson relating to a specific aspect of grammar which incorporates all languages spoken in the classroom. More comprehensive strategic approaches proposed in the materials involve head teachers or parents.

After the collapse of state socialism at the end of the 1980s, young people in Eastern Europe began to play a dramatically different role in society. Once cast as the vital, reinvigorating protagonists of the communist ideal, they emerged as promoters of democratisation and agents of a now hegemonic market system. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, an event symbolising both the lifting of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War, an international seminar was held in Budapest to discuss how the opening of eastern European societies to western Europe and the world had changed the living conditions and experiences of young people growing up in the region. This collection of essays, based on this seminar, examines the circumstances of young people in eastern Europe before and after 1989 from a variety of angles: their transition to adulthood; their living conditions; the scope they have for social participation; the way in which they construct their identities and constitute and represent current social realities; their cultures and genders; and the interplay of continuities and discontinuities around this historic watershed. This book, which pays particularly close attention to the relationship between research, policy and practice, is an invaluable tool for anyone wishing to achieve a deeper understanding of young people in Eastern Europe today.

What role do the people play in defining and developing human rights? This volume explores the very topical issue of the lack of democratic legitimisation of national and international courts and the question of whether rendering the original process of defining human rights more democratic at the national and international level would improve the degree of protection they afford. The authors venture to raise the crucial question: When can a democratic society be considered to be mature enough so as to be trusted to provide its own definition of human rights obligations?