We are happy to welcome the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić at Riga Graduate School of Law (RGSL) on 17 March at 10:00 – 11:00 with a lecture to our Law & Diplomacy programme students "Europe at a crossroads: Council of Europe and key challenges to democracy, human rights and rule of law". The Secretary General visits Latvia on 16-17 March as the country takes over the presidency of the Council of Europe on 17 May 2023 for six months. Latvian ambassador to the Council of Europe Jānis Kārkliņš will address the priorities of Latvia during that period, followed by the questions and answers.
Marija Pejčinović Burić, a Croatian politician who served as Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and First Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia from 2017 to 2019, was elected as the 14th Secretary General of the Council of Europe in 2019. The Secretary General has the overall responsibility for the strategic management of the Organisation.
The Council of Europe is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe, it oversees the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which functions on the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights.