21/04/2026 | 18:38:38 Religious freedom and the principle of non-discrimination arise from the same matrix: human dignity, which we are the custodians of. Yet, religious freedom and human rights are experiencing a period of crisis today: restriction of freedom, violence, persecution for reasons of faith are more numerous, certainly in Africa and Asia, but they do not spare the West either. Authoritarianism, religious nationalism, identity ideologies and, of course, the new terrorism have also brought to the West... 26/06/2025 | 12:02:44 Thank you President, and to those who have spoken. The debate has been very interesting. I take advantage of this rebuttal to thank the NGOs, associations, and civil society that are mobilising and collaborating to manage migration flows. There is an African fable about a big forest fire and the animals fleeing. Only the hummingbirds stay and run back and forth to fetch water with their beaks and carry the water, fill their beaks, and spill it on the fire. And a rhinoceros says to the... 26/06/2025 | 11:25:36 Thank you Mr President. Dear colleagues, We are all aware of the challenge posed by the management of migratory flows and how complex it is to address this issue while respecting international Conventions, insulating it from attempts to instrumentalise it in the public debate for political confrontation. Precisely from this, I wanted to address a specific and very concrete aspect of the migratory sphere: analysing and understanding the role and needs of all the public and private actors, who... 26/06/2025 | 10:55:55 In October 2013, there were 368 migrant deaths. That was how the Mare Nostrum humanitarian mission found impetus, 368 dead, drowned just a stone's throw from Lampedusa. The extraordinary commitment to which the Italian armed forces and volunteers gave life prevented the repetition of that enormous drama and snatched hundreds of lives from drowning. Lampedusa was the tipping point from which Pope Francis began his magisterium: he chose it to send a message to the whole world. But then, after... 25/06/2025 | 18:51:21 Thank you. [in English]. Thank you, Chairman. Mr FRIDEZ's report poses for all of us a theme for reflection that goes far beyond, as Mr FRIDEZ himself mentioned, geographical limits, – France in this case – and focused on France because of the topicality of certain demonstrations, episodes that have opened the discussion in so much of the rest of Europe. The theme brings to our reflection the very close nexus of what a society is and what a social contract is today and points us to a number... 24/06/2025 | 11:20:38 Thank you, President. To avoid an election debacle, the former Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr Rishi SUNAK, had latched onto the migration issue and challenged the European Court of Rights, which had prevented him from implementing his deportation plan. We all know how that turned out. Today that spirit is back, in the letter published by the nine countries, evidently aimed at public opinion, to attack the Court, accusing it, in some way, of impeding the exercise of... 08/04/2025 | 19:09:38 Thank you, Chairman. Thank you very much to my colleague Mr Pierre-Alain FRIDEZ for this nice report and the recommendations. If borders, if borders are worth more than people, it clearly follows that there is the possibility of collective rejection, and it follows that crossing those borders, those forbidden borders, constitutes for those who do it, regardless of the reasons why they do it, which are mostly dramatic, regardless of the age with which these young people cross eventually those... 29/01/2025 | 18:38:24 Thank you, President. Two things first of all. The first. I want to thank my colleague Kate OSAMOR for her very valuable and very thorough work. This report and the resolution turn the spotlight on two issues that are central and both pose extraordinary challenges to policy. And what more important is there? What is the point of politics if not to address the challenges we face in the future? This is the question we must ask ourselves in this Assembly. The population of Europe is aging. We... 01/10/2024 | 16:19:53 Thank you, President. First of all, I would like to express my appreciation for the excellent work done by my colleagues Mr Julian PAHLKE and Lord Simon RUSSELL on such dramatic issues as the disappearance of migrants and the need for a shared approach to address migrant trafficking. We need to multiply the efforts already underway to ascertain the fate of those who go missing by putting in place a properly funded plan of action, respecting human rights and humanitarian law, beginning with... 27/06/2024 | 19:30:43 Thank you, President. The title of this debate poses a question for us, whether the Council of Europe should, and can, counter the growing threats to freedom of expression. Unfortunately, we can only answer in the affirmative in light of the facts that objectively are affecting a great many countries where freedom of expression is continually being challenged, even countries where one would not expect to see this phenomenon. It seems paradoxical to have to recall the reasons for this clear...