«Current translation pending review – For demonstration only».
The International Conference on the Simulation of Regional International Organizations RhodesMRC 2015 which is organized by the House of Europe in Rhodes in collaboration with the Municipality of Rhodes, the Department of Mediterranean Studies of the University of the Aegean and the European Network for Education and Training – EUNET, following a relevant independent request Organizing Committee, received one of the most important distinctions that an organization could take at European level: the Auspices of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
The Auspices of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland, are non-material support granted to non-profit actions that have a clear European dimension and are in line with the Council of Europe’s objectives. A small number of actions take this honor every year. Discrimination does not have an economic dimension, as the budget of the Council of Europe does not provide for this.
In particular, the Secretary General’s Auspices were given to RhodesMRC 2015 “on its role in promoting regional cooperation and training young people in negotiating, decision-making and simulating the work of the Council of Europe”.
We recall that RhodesMRC 2015, a simulation conference unique in its kind, as it simulates exclusively regional international organizations, will take place October 14-18, 2015, and is expected to bring together over 170 University students and more than 40 Lyceum students from Greece, Europe and the Mediterranean, tripling last year’s membership, five months before its implementation. The European model for cooperation and security in Europe, the Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation, the Council of Europe and for the first time a Middle East peace conference and the Euro-Atlantic Council will be simulated NATO cooperation, while the Lyceum model will simulate the Council of Europe. Both university and lyceum simulation are supervised by a Scientific Committee composed of professors and researchers from the most important university institutes in the country, Study Centers and Institutes from Greece and abroad.
Applications at university level have already begun with organized missions from seven Greek universities and many individual participants, while lyceums in Rhodes and other parts of Greece are already preparing missions to participate in this unique conference. More information about the conference: www.rhodesmrc.org
A few words about the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe was founded in 1948 and is the leading organization in the Old Continent on human rights issues. It has 47 Member States, including the 28 countries of the European Union. All members of the Council of Europe are parties to the European Convention on Human Rights, a treaty designed to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The European Court of Human Rights oversees the implementation of the Convention in the Member States. Even individuals can apply to the Court of Justice in Strasbourg once they have exhausted all of their country’s legal remedies. The European Union is preparing to sign this ECHR, thus creating a common European legal area for 820 million citizens.
The Council of Europe, through coordinated action and its various instruments, is a key factor at the European level in the abolition of the death penalty, the strengthening of human rights, the fight against racism and discrimination, the promotion of freedom of speech, the promotion of gender equality, the protection of children’s rights, the defense of cultural diversity, the monitoring of electoral confrontations, human rights education and democracy, the quality of medicines and health services.
Finally, the Council of Europe first implemented pieces of the common European identity by adopting in 1955 the blue flag with the circle of twelve golden stars as the European Flag and in 1972 the Ode to Beethoven’s Joy as the Anthem of Europe.
A few words about the Secretary-General, Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland
Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland is the 13th Secretary-General of the Council of Europe. The role of the Secretary-General is the strategic management of the Agency. Mr. Jagland was elected for the first time in September 2009 for five years and was re-elected in June 2014 for a second five-year term. He is the first Secretary-General to be re-elected.
Thorbjørn Jagland is former Norwegian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, former President of the Norwegian Parliament and member of the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee, responsible for the Nobel Peace Prize.