On Friday and Saturday, Human Rights Ambassadors from 7 EU member states met for talks in the Guest House of the Federal Foreign Minister in Berlin-Tegel at the invitation of Günter Nooke, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office. The talks focussed on laying the foundations for the strategic direction of EU human rights policy, on the future of the Human Rights Council in Geneva and recent developments (for example the Goldstone report). Günter Nooke issued the following statement:

“We need the EU to play a strong role in international human rights policy. After all, human rights are the basis of our co-existence as free people and nations in Europe. The talks we conducted at the weekend in Tegel play an important part in placing human rights even more prominently on the European agenda. The meeting encouraged us to continue along this path.”