10/09/2013 President
Strasbourg, 10.09.2013 – "During my meetings today with senior UN officials, we discussed various possibilities for reinforcing co-operation between our institutions and fostering complementarity in our activities. We are particularly interested in the United Nations' experience of reforming the monitoring bodies established by its human rights treaties," announced Jean-Claude Mignon, President of PACE, addressing members of the Diplomatic Club of Geneva on the theme "Challenges and opportunities for human rights in Europe: role of the Council of Europe".
Referring to the priority action taken within the Council of Europe, Jean-Claude Mignon underlined the need to reinforce the effectiveness of the mechanisms for monitoring member States' compliance with their obligations, the importance of co-operation programmes to support States in implementing the monitoring bodies' recommendations and the role of parliamentary diplomacy as "an essential complement to the monitoring and co-operation activity".
In the context of his official visit to Switzerland the PACE President will have meetings tomorrow in Bern with the Presidents of both houses of Parliament (the National Council and the Council of States), the Vice-President of the Federal Council and the Head of the Foreign Affairs Department, as well as the Swiss delegation to PACE.