STRASBOURG, France, Dec 10, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - European ministers were thrashing out differences over the continent's human rights treaty at a meeting in Strasbourg on Thursday, with some pushing for greater powers to deport illegal migrants.

At least 24 countries -- more than half the members of the Council of Europe, the organization protecting human rights on the continent -- have called for a rethink of the treaty's interpretation by the European Court of Human Rights, diplomatic sources told AFP ahead of the meeting in Strasbourg.

ECHR rulings on migration issues have irked several European governments in recent years, including emergency injunctions that on occasion blocked deportations at the last minute.

"We are facing real and big challenges and migration issues are one of those concerns," Council of Europe secretary general Alain Berset, who convened the meeting of justice ministers and other key officials, told reporters.

He insisted that the discussion in Strasbourg had not been about "changing" the convention, but described the charter as a "living instrument" that had evolved since it was written up decades ago.

The countries are particularly concerned with the interpretation of the convention's right to a private and family life, and how this risks being used to prevent removal of individuals who these states say have no right to remain.

Writing in Britain's Guardian daily Wednesday, UK premier Keir Starmer and Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said the ministers meeting in Strasbourg would "push for a modernisation of the interpretation" of the convention.

That would allow it to "evolve to reflect the challenges of the 21st century", they said.

The British government, which has long aired concerns over the treaty, has faced calls from the right to quit the convention after London's exit from the European Union.

But Berset pointedly added that all 46 member states had affirmed "their deep and abiding commitment to both the court and the convention".

A "political declaration" would be prepared for a ministerial meeting next year as a "first step" on finding a way forwards.

- 'Contemporary challenges' -

The Council of Europe was set up in the wake of World War II as the guardian of human rights in Europe in a move championed by British wartime premier Winston Churchill, with its member states signing up to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Its implementation is overseen by the European Court of Human Rights, an instance of last resort.

Next year's political declaration would set out the "obligation to ensure the effective enjoyment of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the convention to everyone within the jurisdiction of member states", according to the ministerial conclusions.

But they would have to be "in the context of the contemporary challenges posed both by irregular migration and by the situation of foreigners convicted of serious offences," they continued.

UK Justice Minister David Lammy, who is also Starmer's deputy, said in Strasbourg that it was important the countries "achieve consensus in the coming weeks on the interpretation".

He called migration "a concern right across the European family".

But, striking a different tone, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty urged the ministers to be "assiduously evidence-based".

He expressed concern over "inaccuracies and assumptions currently in circulation", in particular the notion that changing the convention would "impact irregular migratory flows".

"You are embarked on an extremely consequential pathway in terms of the well-being of Europe's human rights protection system," he said.