24/06/2019 | 17:30:17 Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that today we really must put all our intelligence to work because this is a delicate step. I have great respect for the emotions that are brought to this House. Indeed, I believe that we must never leave emotions outside the door. But we must try to really understand what our role is and what the meaning of this institution is. I don't think anyone can give lessons in democracy here, using words like "traitors" to those who think differently... 12/04/2019 | 12:22:35 Our group pays considerable attention to and is very committed to the issue of freedom of information and the quality of information when it comes to the freedom of the media. I am speaking out today about a written declaration that we tabled. A number of colleagues have put their names to it. It concerns a radio station called Radio Radicale in Italy. Like many free radio stations in Italy, it was established in the 1970s, and it provides direct broadcasts from the Italian Parliament across... 12/04/2019 | 11:26:55 I thank the rapporteur and the committee for this excellent report. We are entering into a new world, and we should not be afraid, but nor should we abandon our role. I was struck by the fact that last week, for the first time, Mark Zuckerberg called on countries to ensure a better regulatory system for the Internet. That is important, because it reflects what has happened and what we need to concentrate on. Social media is not just an instrument; it is a new part of the world. Rather like... 10/04/2019 | 10:51:32 The connection that has been made between hate speech in sport and hate speech in politics is interesting. Politics has been using sporting terminology for a long time, but instead of taking the positive aspects – health, fair play and so on – it takes the more antagonistic ones. The word “victory” tends to dominate in political discourse, but in parliamentary culture there is never a winner and a loser; it is a question of thrashing things out in a debate and reaching a consensus. I very... 24/01/2019 | 17:29:28 The periodic review of monitoring is an important exercise for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. If I had more time, I would speak about other parts of the report, but it is important that we have an opportunity to look at the situation in our own countries. We need to have the courage to look at the extent to which we are promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to what extent these can be invoked in our own countries. This is a very useful and beneficial... 22/01/2019 | 17:00:21 First, I commend Lord Donald ANDERSON for the quality of his report, to which I wholly subscribe. It is worth us all reflecting on the report as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of this Organisation. A Magnitsky Act would constitute a new season for human rights. We have tried to tackle these issues in this Chamber and sanctions have been used to try to clamp down on certain human rights violations, but ultimately they tend to end up affecting the population at large, and they are the...