MOSCOW (Sputnik) — He added that peace in Europe should be built on human rights and human law.
"We all have an obligation to do all we can to uphold standards of the European convention on Human Rights," Jagland said.
According to Jagland, the Council of Europe is playing "a very important role in fighting xenophobia and protecting rights of the refugees," while the rights of minorities and refugees are often violated nowadays.
Jagland is on a working visit in Moscow. Apart from Lavrov, he is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss current issues of Russia’s participation in the Council of Europe’s activities, as well as with some other high-ranking Russian government officials and representatives of the civil society.
Russia became a member of the Council of Europe, an organization seeking to strengthen human rights, democracy and the rule of law, on February 28, 1996.
In 2014, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution, under which the Russian delegation was deprived of the right to vote and the right to be represented in the governing structures of PACE for a year, a measure that was later extended for another year. Such restrictions were meant as a mark of the West's disapproval of Crimea's reunification with Russia, as well as Moscow's alleged involvement in the Ukraine crisis.
In January 2016, Russia decided not to send the documents to PACE to confirm the credentials of the delegation, while the country is still a member of the assembly. In October, reports emerged that Russia may fully return to PACE in early 2017 under certain conditions, in particular, the full restoration of the Russian delegation's rights and credentials.
