I sit as a member of the UK delegation to the Council of Europe.  It is the pan European body attached to the European Court of Human Rights.  There are 47 countries represented to advance three pillars on behalf of the peoples of Europe. These are the Rule of Law, democracy and human rights.  The Council of Europe meets 4 times a year in Strasbourg and the third part session took place at the end of June.  It was my first full plenary meeting in over a year.  I worked on a number of issues but the debates which dominated the session were on refugees, Syria, Turkey, Russia and the Western Balkans.  I spoke during the session on the need to ensure we all stand by the principles of the Council of Europe when it comes to refugees and being a welcoming continent.

You can read more about the Council of Europe here: https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal.