Mr Paisley to ask the Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers:
Following the judgment by the Vatican City State Tribunal on 16 December 2023 on Raffaele Mincione, will the Council of Europe take steps to examine the situation of human rights issues in the Vatican?
The Holy See has observer status with the Council of Europe since 1970. As such, it has the right to send observers to the meetings of the Committee of Ministers, its expert committees and subsidiary groups. It is also a State party to several Conventions and partial agreements concluded within the Council of Europe, including the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and its protocols.
In relation to the present question, it should be noted that, in accordance with Resolution CM/Res (2011)5, the Holy See participates in the mutual evaluation processes of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL). In that context, the Holy See has committed itself to observe the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations to prevent and contrast money laundering and its predicate offences, as well as to comply with the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the UN Convention against Corruption. The most recent Mutual Evaluation Report of the Holy See was adopted in April 2021.