The summit starts on Tuesday with an opening session and round tables on democracy, human rights and support for Ukraine. President Karis will be taking part in a high-level round table also involving representatives of Croatia, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine, the United States, the European Commission and the OSCE.
The summit will focus on the role of the Council of Europe in supporting Ukraine both in the face and in the wake of Russia’s aggression, in bringing Russia to justice for its barbarous acts and in safely returning Ukrainian children to their homes as soon as the situation allows.
During a panel on Wednesday the Estonian head of state will be speaking about prosecuting Russia for its crimes of aggression. Member states will be signing the Reykjavik Declaration as part of the summit, one of the key outcomes of which will be an agreement on the creation of a registry of the damage caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
While in Reykjavik, President Karis also plans to meet with his Icelandic counterpart Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson.
The aims of the Council of Europe summit are to support Ukraine, help the victims of Russia’s aggression obtain justice and strengthen the activities of the council in championing democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe.
This is only the fourth summit to be convened since the Council of Europe was established in 1949. Its most recent summit was held in Warsaw in 2005. Invited to attend the event alongside the member states of the council are representatives of the European Union, the United Nations and the OSCE as well as observers from Canada, the Holy See, Japan, Mexico and the United States.
The Council of Europe is an international organisation which aims to promote democracy and defend the principles of human rights and the rule of law in Europe. It has 46 member states. Iceland currently holds the presidency of the Committee of Members of the council, which it will hand over to Latvia at the end of the summit.
President Karis will be returning to Estonia on Thursday.
