18/06/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE's Committee on Economic Affairs and Development will meet on Friday 19 June 2009 at the OECD headquarters in Paris. As part of the preparation of the report by Konstantinos Vrettos (Greece, SOC), "Wealth, welfare and wellbeing: how to reconcile them in a changing Europe?", the committee members will hear the address of Corinne Lepage, EMP and former French Minister for the Environment, coinciding with the publication of her book Vivre Autrement (alternative living). Enrico Giovannini, head statistician of the OECD and member of the Stiglitz Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, will also attend the meeting.
16/06/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“The family should be seen as one of the essential resources for kick-starting the economic system. In that respect, legislators are able to steer social and family policies towards strengthening family cohesion while enabling families to face the challenges raised by the crisis,” Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD) emphasised today at the opening of a Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Family Affairs, organised in conjunction with the Austrian Ministry of the Economy, Family and Youth.
28/04/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
According to PACE, despite the fact that the number of women in prison in Europe is growing, women are still only a minority of the prison population, with the consequence that prisons are mainly designed for men and often do not address the specific needs of women. Moreover, as there are very few prisons for women, and even fewer places for women in pre-trial detention, women are held further away from their home, which means cutting family ties.
30/03/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE's Sub-Committee on Tourism Development discussed the tourism situation and prospects in Cyprus and the wider Europe at its meeting in Limassol, Cyprus, on 27-28 March 2009 with Elvira Cortajarena Spain, SOC) in the Chair. The discussion showed among other things that diversifying the traditional tourist product and tourist markets may help to counter the effects of the financial and economic crisis in this sector – illustrated by a dramatic 19,3% drop in tourist arrivals in Cyprus in February 2009 over the same month in the previous year.
20/03/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Access to water should be recognised as a fundamental human right. A rights-based approach to water would be a very important means for civil society to hold their governments accountable for ensuring access to an adequate quantity of good quality water as well as sanitation,” said PACE President, Lluís Maria de Puig, speaking today ahead of World Water Day on 22 March. “The challenges to be tackled are numerous: chronic water shortages in the south, floods in the north and problems with water management and quality in central Europe," said Mr de Puig.
13/03/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC), Chair of PACE Environment Committee, and Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE) will attend the 5th World Water Forum to be held by the World Water Council and the Turkish authorities in Istanbul from 16 to 22 March 2009. As part of the parliamentary contribution to the forum political process, Mr Meale will chair a Session on global change and risk management, on behalf of parliamentarians from the European region on 18 March. Mr Meale and Mr Marquet will also take part on 17 March in a round table on water mediators.
11/03/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
According to a report of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Committee on Social Affairs discussed in Paris today, an ever-increasing number of imprisoned women do not need to be in prison at all. Most are charged with minor and non-violent offences, many are imprisoned due to their inability to pay fines, a large proportion is in need of treatment for mental disabilities or substance addiction rather than isolation from society, the report explains.
18/12/2008 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Council of Europe has a unique opportunity to take up a global challenge, not its usual vocation of maintaining peace, but that of getting humankind to refocus on its environment, according to John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), speaking during a Paris meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Environment Committee. “Throughout the 20th century, human beings have served the economy, but in the 21st, it is the economy’s to serve human beings and the environment,” he said. Mr Prescott proposed that a parliamentary debate be held in 2009 to help generate a political consensus on a fair way of distributing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
18/12/2008 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
In a draft recommendation adopted today, the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs calls for a genuine policy to be devised in member states for preventing chronic diseases associated with environmental pollution – including pollution in the home – and for environmental medicine to be recognised as a new medical discipline.
18/12/2008 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“The large-scale production of plants such as wheat, maize or sugar cane to manufacture agrofuels is not a miracle solution to cope with the alarming reduction in fossil energy. On the contrary, it might even, as has happened in South America, cause a major price increase in agricultural products for human consumption, thus jeopardising access to food,” declared Nigel Evans (United Kingdom, EDG), member of the Committee on the Environment, who wrote a report on “Growing food and fuel.”
05/12/2008 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"More and more scientific studies are proving the links between certain pollutants and certain illnesses, such as allergies, respiratory problems, fertility problems or central nervous system disorders," said Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC), rapporteur of PACE's Environment Committee, at the opening of a conference on the effects of a polluted environment on health, including pollution in our own homes.
28/11/2008 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE Committee on the Environment is to hold a conference in Strasbourg (Palais de l’Europe, Room 1) on 5 December on "Environment and Health - Indoor Pollution and Multi System Illnesses". The conference, which is open to the press, will allow scientific and medical experts to express their views on the effects of a polluted environment on health. The discussions will provide material for a report by Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC) on “Environment and health: better prevention of environment-related health hazards”.