25/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Lord Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), PACE rapporteur on climate change, has called on the nations of the world to agree on basic principles for fighting climate change voluntarily – as he believes no legally-binding agreement can emerge from next week’s UN talks in Cancun. “The legal framework is falling apart. Let us be practical, recognise that it has happened, and go for an alternative,” said Mr Prescott, who as British Deputy Prime Minister played a key role in negotiating the 1997 Kyoto Accord on behalf of the EU.
17/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Nuclear energy and its impact on climate change, the economy and society will be the focus of a conference organised by PACE Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs in Strasbourg (Palais de l’Europe, Avenue de l’Europe, Room 1) on 25 and 26 November 2010. Exchanges of views between the hundred or so parliamentarians, experts and non-governmental organisation representatives taking part in the conference will provide material for the preparation of a future report on the subject.
15/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
There is a vicious circle in which extreme poverty equates with the denial of all human rights. Human rights are interdependent and interconnected. The loss of one leads to the loss of others. Conversely access to one human right offers access to others. Poverty leads to social exclusion and vice versa. These are some of the conclusions of a hearing on "combating poverty", organised by the Social Affairs Committee in Paris today. It should culminate in a report by Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD) to the next session of the PACE.
15/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Heavy metals are a major risk factor for human health according to Peter Jennrich, a German toxicologist, and Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC), responsible for drawing up a report on health hazards of heavy metals. Many chronic diseases of civilisation are traceable to them – such as diabetes, allergies, cancers, autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and depression.
15/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The year 2011 will mark the 50th anniversary of the European Social Charter, and will be an occasion to assert the indivisibility of social rights and civil and political rights, the Charter’s importance for upholding this corpus of rights and, in particular, the enhanced role of the PACE in the Charter’s supervisory machinery. This was the view expressed today by the Social Affairs Committee in adopting a report on the subject at its meeting in Paris.
10/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee of the PACE will be holding a hearing in Paris on 15 November on “Combating poverty”, in connection with the preparation of a report on this subject by Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD). The discussion will provide an overview of poverty in Europe and efforts to combat it and will establish a link between poverty and social exclusion. The specific case of child poverty will be considered.
20/10/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“In the current process of reform in the Council of Europe, the protection of the environment and territorial planning should be regarded as part of the Council of Europe’s ‘core business’,” today said Valeriy Sudarenkov (Russian Federation, SOC), speaking at the ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Council of Europe Landscape Convention today in Florence.
30/09/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Nuclear energy and its impact on climate change, the economy and society will be the focus of a conference organised by PACE Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs in Strasbourg (Palais de l’Europe, Avenue de l’Europe, Room 1) on 25 and 26 November 2010. The themes chosen for the five working sessions will cover the nuclear situation in Europe and the rest of the world, its impact on the economy and climate change, education and training in the nuclear field and safety and waste management.
17/09/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
In its draft resolution on preserving the environment in the Mediterranean, the PACE Environment Committee regrets the fact that, despite various initiatives at international level, the Mediterranean “still faces very serious environmental problems”, which are chiefly the result of factors such as overfishing, rampant coastal development and inadequate controls over waste and wastewater disposal.
16/09/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
At its meeting in Paris, PACE's Committee on Environment will be holding on 17 September a hearing in two parts on the potential danger of electromagnetic fields for the environment and the need for independent and credible environmental assessments, in the framework of a preparation of two reports by Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC) and Florin Preda (Romania, EPP/CD)...
06/09/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
In adopting a report on child abuse in institutions, PACE's Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee today called for “more far-reaching measures in the future when it comes to according full justice to victims of past offences”. The Committee believes that “more committed action will be required” when it comes to reinforcing legislation on child abuse and applying it to various institutional contexts.
03/09/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Meeting in Paris on 6 September, PACE Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee is to approve three reports: one by Marlene Rupprecht (Germany, SOC) on the protection of children and teenagers from abuse in institutions, a second by Laurent Béteille (France, EPP/CD) on the prevention of on-line gambling addiction, and a third by Denis Jacquat (France, EPP/CD) on capitalising on older people’s working potential.