Adapt or Die? The Council of Europe seeks new ideas to address ‘seismic change’

The year 2022 will be remembered as one of ‘terrible violence and seismic change in Europe’, in the words of the High Level Reflection Group (HLRG) established by the Council of Europe to consider the organisation’s future and how best to protect its ‘common heritage’ of respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Will 2023 be the year that the Council of Europe reinvents itself to meet the challenges posed not only by Russia’s barbarous invasion of Ukraine but also systemic threats such as creeping authoritarianism and the climate emergency?
This is the organisation’s ambition in calling a summit of heads of state and government on 16-17 May in Reykjavik. Unlike previous reform initiatives, the agenda for the summit focuses not on the European Court of Human Rights alone, but on the entire Council of Europe, and conveys a level of urgency and openness to change not seen for the past 25 years.
The Council of Europe has issued a public call for ideas, inviting input from international organisations, national human rights institutions, civil society organisations, academics, human rights defenders and others. Below, we outline how the Council of Europe reached this point and the likely agenda for the summit. The deadline for submissions is imminent – 20 February – and the need for radical thinking has never been greater.