25/06/2025 | 11:15:55 Thank you, Chair. Dear colleagues, Sport has the power to inspire, but also the power to harm. That’s why both reports we are discussing today share an essential insight. The responsibility for protecting human rights in sport cannot be left to sport alone. It is a public duty. Too often, we hear the argument of autonomy and neutrality. But let’s be honest: when young athletes are sexually abused, when girls are excluded, when athletes face reprisals for speaking up, neutrality becomes a... 24/06/2025 | 10:57:21 Thank you Mr President. Honourable colleagues, When I first studied the European Convention on Human Rights, it felt like a promise. A promise that dignity, freedom, and justice are not just ideals, but enforceable rights. That promise is still powerful. But it is not self-fulfilling. It depends on us. Human rights are not automatic. They must be defended, especially when they become politically inconvenient. They are the last safeguards. And that is why attacks on the independence of the... 11/04/2025 | 10:09:03 Thank you. Honourable President, dear colleagues, we are living in times when the very foundations of our democratic society are being called into question. Not only from outside, but increasingly from within. Across Europe we are witnessing an alarming trend, far-right parties and authoritarian-leaning governments are attempting to reframe, reinterpret or even restrict human rights. They question their universality, they portray them as Western values or elitist concepts. They spread a... 10/04/2025 | 10:12:17 Thank you, honourable President, distinguished colleagues. Many of us remember when in November 2002 the oil tanker Prestige suffered structural damage off the coast of Galicia. It carried 77 000 tons of heavy fuel oil. As the damaged vessel drifted for days, denied safe harbour by many countries, it broke into two and sank, releasing massive amounts of oil into the sea. The Prestige oil spill contaminated over 2 000 km of coastline, devastated marine life and destroyed local fisheries. And... 30/01/2025 | 10:47:47 Thank you, Mister President. Human rights and the rule of law: that is what this Assembly is all about. Rightly so, because they are the foundation of our free democratic order. But even the best constitutional state does not go to the people and ask them whether their rights have actually been violated anywhere. The link between people and their rights are the lawyers who enforce these rights against the state. As a young lawyer, you are full of enthusiasm. You've just learned what's... 28/06/2024 | 10:33:36 Thank you very much, Mister Chairman. This report, in its brevity, clearly expresses the principle of what we all stand for here, namely that human rights apply universally to everyone and at all times. This clearly means that we must also preserve for the generations of our future everything that we have now and that seems important to us now, because this is the only way we can ensure that they too can lead a life in peace and security. Anyone who, like one of the previous speakers, denies... 22/06/2023 | 16:30:47 Thank you, Mister President. It has now been almost 18 months that the Russian regime started its large-scale invasion on Ukraine. Since the very first day, the Council of Europe member states have been supporting Ukrainians in defending their sovereignty, their independence, and the territorial integrity of their country, because by doing so they're at the same time defending the basic principles and values of the Council of Europe, they are defending the principles of democracy and rule of...