06/10/2005 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE today deplored the fact that most countries are unprepared to face bird flu as well as “the flagrant lack of medicines”, both vaccines and anti-viral medicines, which are one of the most effective ways of countering this pandemic. Following an urgent debate on ‘Europe and bird flu - preventive measures in the health field’, the parliamentarians underlined that among the 46 European members of the organisation, only a small number have set up an early warning system and taken preventive measures against the new virus.
16/09/2005 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Committee on Social, Health and Family Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), is due to approve the report on ‘Surrogacy as an alternative to sterility’, by Michael Hancock (United Kingdom, LDR), during its meeting to be held in Paris on Friday 16 September.
16/09/2005 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Meeting today in Paris, the Committee on Social, Health and Family Affairs decided, following a lively debate, to continue work on the report "Surrogacy as an alternative to sterility" drawn up by Michael Hancock (United Kingdom, ALDE). So as to allow its members time to propose amendments, the committee intends to adopt the preliminary draft resolution at its next meeting in Paris on 16 December.
13/09/2005 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Parliamentarians from 46 countries joined senior officials from the OECD, the World Bank and the EBRD as well as European Trade Union representatives to discuss the pros and cons of “outsourcing” – the practice of companies in wealthier countries moving their production to low-wage, less regulated economies – at a public hearing in Paris on 14th September. The conclusions of the hearing, organised by the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development of the PACE, form part of a report being prepared by Neven Mimica (Croatia, SOC).
05/09/2005 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Strasbourg, 05.09.2005 – Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold (Switzerland, SOC), rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), visiting Ukraine from 29 August to 1 September, expressed her extreme concern about the disappearance of new-born babies in the country and allegations of trafficking of babies for adoption and of foetuses for scientific purposes. She called on the office of the principal state prosecutor to shed light on those cases already brought to his attention, to open investigations into any other suspicious incidents and to bring those responsible to justice. Ms Vermot-Mangold said that during her visit she had obtained detailed information on four cases and added that “whatever the number of disappearances, just one case is one too many”.
22/08/2005 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Strasbourg, 24.08.2005 - A rapporteur of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold (Switzerland, SOC), will visit Ukraine from 29 August to 1 September to investigate the alleged disappearance of newborn babies in mysterious circumstances. German media had reported that two babies born in a clinic in Kharkov at the end of 2002 had been taken away from their mothers a few hours after being born.
21/07/2005 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
A PACE rapporteur is to visit Ukraine to investigate claims that newborn babies are disappearing in mysterious circumstances. German media reported that two babies born in a clinic in Kharkov at the end of 2002 were taken away from their mothers a few hours after being born. Medical staff later declared that they had died of complications, but their parents were never given access to their bodies despite repeated requests. Several foetuses and bodies of newborn babies whose organs had been removed were subsequently discovered at the clinic's biological waste site, according to the reports. One Ukrainian NGO believes up to 300 similar disappearances may have occurred between 2001 and 2003. Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold (Switzerland, SOC), who is in Ukraine from 31 August to 1 September, will visit the clinic and speak with staff as well as the NGO concerned and Ukraine's health minister and ombudsman.
11/03/2005 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE’s rapporteur on European deltas Leo Platvoet (Netherlands, UEL) has just returned from a fact-finding visit to the Ebro Delta in Spain (3-4 March 2005), where he saw at first hand how the construction of upstream barrages has reduced natural sedimentation, contributing to major erosion of the delta, which is a protected area and home to many rare bird species. “Some 50,000 people live in the delta region, however, and this must also be taken into account in any plan to preserve this ecosystem,” pointed out Mr Platvoet, who met local mayors, farmers and hunters as well as environmental campaigners. He has also visited the Po and Danube Deltas for his report, which is due before the summer.
16/12/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Committee on Social Affairs, mmeting today in Paris, adopted draft resolution on "Assistance to patients at end of life". The text, prepared by Dick Marty (Switzerland, LDR), propose that Council of Europe member States define and implement "a genuine policy of assistance to patients at end of life which does not cause them to want to die". It therefore propose measures such as the promotion of palliative treatment, bearing in mind that the aim is to alleviate the patient’s suffering, while also realising that it may shorten his or her life in certain cases, and the development of codes of medical ethics to avoid superfluous treatments which can be regarded as over-zealous prolongation of life. The text underlines the right of any patient "capable of discernment, being fully aware of the facts, to decline the treatment proposed".
29/10/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
An expert from Russian oil company Lukoil and a representative of the Council of Baltic Sea States discuss the environmental impact of this planned oil extraction operation in the Baltic, close to a UNESCO world heritage site at a meeting of the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs in Paris on 4 November. An outline report by Daniel Goulet (France, LDR) explains the background.
21/09/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Local authorities from the countries around the Adriatic basin could work together for the sustainable development of their common sea using Council of Europe expertise and EU finance, according to the head of the Italian delegation to PACE Claudio Azzolini. He was speaking at a colloquy held at Chioggia in the Venice Lagoon, attended by representatives from Albania, Croatia, Italy, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovenia.
21/09/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE’s Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, together with the Sub-Committee on Population of its Migration Committee, are jointly organising in Bratislava on 23-24 September a parliamentary seminar to prepare the European Population Conference 2005. This conference, co-hosted by the Assembly in Strasbourg from 7-8 April 2005, will provide a forum for dialogue between demographers and policy-makers Europe-wide on the theme “Demographic challenges for social cohesion”. This preparatory seminar, which focuses on the problems of central and eastern Europe, will discuss in turn changing family formations, ageing, the impact of migration and vulnerable population groups.