17/10/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Poverty is a barrier to the enjoyment of human rights, whether civil and political rights or social, economic and cultural rights,” Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD), former PACE rapporteur on combating poverty said today, on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. “Poverty, which singles out the disabled, the elderly, unmarried mothers and many other categories, necessarily curtails the exercise of human rights for its victims,” he added.
10/10/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Council of Europe’s Revised Social Charter – which allows trade unions and NGOs to bring collective complaints against states over social rights – needs to be stronger, more widely applied and better known, a parliamentary hearing on the charter heard this week. The hearing was organised by PACE’s Sub-committee on the European Social Charter and Employment to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Charter.
29/09/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"Children should have the right of access to health care of the highest quality, as well as the right to protection and to participation in decisions concerning them," today said Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE) in Lisbon, where he is representing PACE at the 9th Council of Europe Conference of Health Ministers, on the theme of "Child-Friendly Health Care: Building a Healthy Future for and with Children".
23/09/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Parliamentarians have an important role to play in ensuring that governments take all necessary measures to secure fundamental social rights,” today said Carina Ohlsson (Sweden, SOC), addressing a colloquium marking the 50th anniversary of the European Social Charter in Paris. “Europe’s social achievements must be protected,” she stressed.
16/09/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"Any kind of ‘sexualisation’ of children in the media and elsewhere is to be avoided and combated, for it constitutes a first step towards representing as sexual objects our children, who then find themselves exposed to abuse and exploitation by sex offenders and criminal groups", according to Augustin Conde Bajén (Spain EPP/CD), speaking today when he presented to the Social Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris, his report on child abuse images.
16/09/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Adopting an opinion on the report on prenatal sex selection which is to be debated by the PACE on 4 October, the Social Affairs Committee pointed out that while, in theory, prenatal sex selection could also be used to prevent the birth of boys, it in fact serves essentially to prevent female births. As in the case of domestic violence, it is therefore necessary to address the main cause of prenatal sex selection, the inequality between women and men.
16/09/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"As stereotypes and prejudices against all that is different persist, as well as a desire to control these differences, or at least to control their propagation and reproduction, forced sterilisation and castration continue to this day in our member states," warned Liliane Maury Pasquier (Switzerland, SOC), Chair of the Social Affairs Committee, on the occasion of a hearing on this subject. The practice is reported to be directed mainly against Roma women, convicted sex offenders and transgender persons.
13/09/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
A victim of forced sterilisation is due to testify before a parliamentary hearing on putting an end to coercive sterilisations and castrations on Friday 16 September from 2 to 4 p.m. in Paris. The hearing, organised by PACE Committee on Social, Health and Family Affairs, will focus in particular on coercive sterilisations of Romani women, convicted sex offenders and transgender persons. Czech, Swedish and British experts are due to take part.
15/06/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Sexual violence against children is a complex, sensitive, widespread phenomenon which can only be addressed if all social and political forces join their efforts,” said Gagik Baghdasaryan (Armenia, ALDE) in Yerevan today, representing PACE at a regional seminar on the rights of the most vulnerable children jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and UNICEF.
07/06/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Up to 150 lawmakers and water experts will be meeting in Strasbourg on 10 June 2011 to shape a message on behalf of the world’s parliamentarians to next year’s World Water Forum in Marseille – a global gathering which aims to expand the right of access to water and sanitation, and ensure more sustainable management of water resources.
01/06/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"I welcome yesterday's announcement by the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that mobile phone use should be classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans," today declared Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC), author of the report on the potential dangers of electromagnetic fields and their effect on the environment, which resulted in a Resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) last Friday.
24/05/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“National parliaments should play a key role when it comes to strengthening protection of children and prevention of all forms of violence against them,” Ivan Popescu (Ukraine, SOC), Vice-President of the PACE, said today at the opening of a conference in Kyiv on combating violence against children. He added that it was up to the parliaments to go ahead with reinforcing national legislation and introducing the highest standards of protection.