27/06/2024 | 18:51:45 Mister President. The brutality of Hamas’s October 7 massacre shocked us all. In one day, more than a thousand Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and massacred more than 1 200 Israelis, mostly civilians. Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israeli cities and towns. 250 hostages were taken, including many children and old people. 120 hostages are still being held in Gaza. It is believed that only 50 of them are alive. The Hamas leaders have stated that they knew very well about the... 18/04/2024 | 18:06:07 Mr President, In a recent statement by Fatah, the Palestinian Authority, Fatah accuses Hamas of being ultimately responsible for the situation in Gaza. Fatah's spokesperson said that the Hamas leadership is disconnected from reality and the Palestinian people, accusing Hamas of not having itself consulted the other Palestinian leaders before attacking Israel. The brutal terrorist attack that led to a declaration of war by Israel, having caused more than 100 000 people killed or injured. We... 17/04/2024 | 19:34:14 Mister President, On behalf of my group, I would like to thank the Monitoring Committee and their rapporteur Mr Ionuț-Marian STROE. The report outlines the excellent progress made by Albania over the last years in honouring its obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe and this Assembly. The draft resolution therefore proposes to end the monitoring procedure and to open a post-monitoring dialogue with Albania. We support this conclusion and want to congratulate all political... 25/01/2024 | 19:50:06 Mr President, Dear colleagues, With the joint debate that we held today, our Assembly is closing a new very important chapter of our work: to safeguard media freedom. The report on SLAPPs by Mr Stefan SCHENNACH points to measures that are needed to uphold journalists, media and civil society organisations in their role of watchdogs and their contribution to inform public participation. Mr Mogens JENSEN's report on guaranteeing media freedom and the safety of journalists is a snapshot of the... 25/01/2024 | 10:29:24 Mister President, We parliamentarians have hopes and dreams for our children, and so do Ukrainians. Russia has stolen the hopes and dreams of thousands of Ukrainian children, boys, and girls, and some of them just babies. They have taken them from their families, taken them from their homes, and stolen their identities. From the start of the invasion, the Russian authorities steadfastly removed children from Ukraine, aiming to turn them against their homeland. Kidnapping children is a... 13/10/2023 | 12:54:40 Thank you, Mister President. Afghans have suffered more than 40 years of conflict, natural disasters, chronic poverty, food insecurity, and most recently the Taliban takeover, which has caused even more human suffering, displacement, and human rights violations against women and girls. I call on the Assembly, I call on all member states not to forget about the Afghan refugees. I hope that the recommendation demonstrated in this report will help member states, help Afghans in need. I strongly... 13/10/2023 | 12:25:56 Madam President, In September 2021, the Parliamentary Assembly called on member states to help neighbouring countries and in a resolution adopted support Afghans fleeing Afghanistan. Two years later, we are seeing a human rights and humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale: severe drought, conflict, Taliban takeover, attacks on women and girls, and earthquakes. Despite all this, Afghanistan has turned into a forgotten crisis. European solidarity has clearly been poor and the number of... 12/10/2023 | 18:15:52 Madam President, Nearly the entire ethnic Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh have been forced to flee their homes, and find refuge in Armenia. The UN mission, lacking neutrality with Türkiye, Russia and Pakistan onboard, came too late. People are confused and don't know what will happen to their homes. Many are traumatised children and elderly. Azerbaijan has failed to ensure the safe and dignified exodus of the people. The right to have a safe return of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh... 10/10/2023 | 19:08:30 On behalf of the Group of the European People's Party (the EPP) I thank the Monitoring Committee and the rapporteurs for this timely and detailed report on the honouring of obligations by France. The report is comprehensive. The time does not permit me here to cover all the points that were raised by our group members. I will, therefore, limit my remarks to those of most concern to the Group of the European People's Party. The Group of the European People's Party remains committed to the... 22/06/2023 | 18:15:46 Mister President, I would like to thank the rapporteur Mr Paul GAVAN for his excellent work under difficult circumstances. He has shown great will in monitoring the grave situation despite the obstructions he met in his work. The rapporteur has emphasised neutrality in all his work and I find that to be of great value. The ongoing blockade by Azerbaijan of the Lachin Corridor, a lifeline to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, has put the entire population in a state of total isolation for the...