The aim of the annual Rule of Law Forum for South East Europe is to promote the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights at the domestic level, to encourage regional cooperation in the continued development of the rule of law and the protection of human rights, and to assist the process of EU integration across the region. The Forum is supported by the UK Government, the Government of Sweden and the Konrad Adenaur Foundation.

The topic of the 2019 Forum is children’s rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. Children are amongst the most vulnerable members of our societies and the protection their rights is of fundamental importance to the rule of law. The topics forming the basis of the Forum’s discussions include domestic violence (with children as victims and witnesses), trafficking, asylum, custody and care of children, and access to justice for children. 

170 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, and Hungary have come together for the Forum. This is an opportunity to bring European Court of Human Rights judges from the region together with presidents and judges of the region’s supreme and constitutional courts, presidents of judicial councils, directors of judicial training institutes, government agents before the Strasbourg Court, representatives of NGOs and prominent legal experts in the field.