15/04/2024 | 13:04:51 Yes, there have not been any contradictions, I can make it briefly, I think. Just outline that, of course, we see a lot of challenges when it comes to our democratic system and I think that we really should focus on the issues that we can do or improve within our organisation and for instance, the Venice Commission is one of the really important institutions of the Council of Europe, of course, has to be equipped with enough resources to give opinions in due time so that we really can work on... 15/04/2024 | 12:38:37 Thank you very much, Mister President. In my introduction to the progress report, I would like to highlight three different issues. The first of all is the Middle East conflict. We had it on the Agenda in January. We will have it on the agenda this week in this session. Of course, the escalation in the night from Saturday to Sunday via the frightening attacks by Iran really risk a wildfire in the region. The Middle East is already very fragile and whatever increases hostilities doesn't help... 25/01/2024 | 17:17:39 Mister President, There are hundreds of political prisoners in Belarus and Mr Viktar Barushka is one of these hundreds of political prisoners. He is a businessman in his 30s and he was convicted to seven years in prison. What was his crime? His crime was that he went home after a Sunday protest. He walked home after a Sunday protest and after his detention he was beaten really badly by riot police and after that he had to spend 12 days in a special intensive care unit in a hospital. There are... 24/01/2024 | 18:52:24 Thank you very much, Madam Chairwoman. Before I was elected to the Austrian National Council, I was a member of the State Parliament of the Federal State of Vienna. From there I was sent to the so-called Vienna Prison Commission, and we visited a prison in Vienna or around Vienna once a month unannounced. I was always interested in taking a look there, too. What is the human rights situation of those people who have been legally deprived of their human right to freedom by a court of law... 22/01/2024 | 17:08:06 Thank you very much, Mr President. Distinguished Ms Commissioner for Human Rights, dear Ms Dunja MIJATOVIĆ. On behalf of my political group I would really want to thank you for the work you have done for human rights during the last years. You always have been –and you will be– a loud voice for human rights. You often acted outside the comfort zone, and I think that's an appropriate place for a Human Rights Commissioner. Your term will end by March, and we will decide about your successor in... 13/10/2023 | 12:51:07 Thank you very much, Mr President, For more than two years, when the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, women have been almost completely banished and disappeared from the public sphere. They are excluded from the labour market, they have no right to education, and in some areas of Afghanistan the education of girls over the age of ten is completely forbidden. This also leads to the fact that girls hardly have any perspectives, that the existence of girls and women has become extremely... 12/10/2023 | 20:01:45 Thank you, Mister President. I promise to be briefer than 3 minutes. So I'll try my best. Just let me express the thanks for the support of your statements and also express thanks to the Secretariat for their swift and profound work. I would like to reply to three speakers. First of all, Mr Caspar van den BERG. Thank you very much for reminding us that the there must be fair conditions for the detention. It's really important, even if you want him to be released as soon as as possible, of... 12/10/2023 | 19:22:17 Dear President, Dear colleagues, The topic of this urgent debate Report is “Call for the immediate release of Osman Kavala”. I was appointed as rapporteur on Monday, the same day that our Assembly awarded Mr Osman Kavala with the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize. Mr Osman Kavala has been detained in Türkiye since 18 October 2017 on the basis of evidence that does not even give rise to a reasonable suspicion that he committed any offence, let alone sufficient to prosecute or convict him to... 11/10/2023 | 19:12:14 Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, thank you very much, Ms. Béatrice FRESKO-ROLFO, for this wonderful report. I would like to talk about one specific issue, and that is the issue of sexual violence. And we know that usually in Europe, one in five women is affected by sexual violence. Among women with disabilities, it is one in three, even more. This means that women who live with a disability are much more exposed to sexual violence and the social impact of that violence. Either in the... 23/06/2023 | 12:07:11 Thank you very much, Madam President. Access to the internet, to the global network, has become so essential that some people are even talking about a human right to the internet. I also take note of the fact that others smell a world conspiracy behind this, where the World Trade Organization (WTO) or the World Health Organization WHO are pulling some strings and alternatives are to be sought. Perhaps you should try it once with carrier pigeons. It could be quite an alternative, which could...