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Geraint DAVIES (United Kingdom, SOC)

PACE calls for sustainable development and protection of fundamental rights in trade agreements

27/04/2023 | Session

According to PACE, trade should be greener and fairer: all trade and investment agreements should contain “comprehensive provisions on sustainable development and protection of fundamental rights”, with strong enforcement which is commensurate with protecting investors. Unanimously approving a...

Covid-19 - Woman
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Public health emergency: the need for a holistic approach to multilateralism and health care

27/04/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, "new public health emergencies linked to the climate crisis, coupled with dwindling biodiversity, are waiting to unfold, and will likely hit the world unexpectedly", the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable underlined.  Unanimously adopting a draft...

2023 Europe Prize awarded to Bolesławiec

2023 Europe Prize awarded to Bolesławiec (Poland)

26/04/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

The 2023 Europe Prize has been awarded to Bolesławiec in Poland. This award is given annually by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to the town most actively promoting the European ideal. Bolesławiec is a city of 90 000 inhabitants in western Poland, at the crossroads of...

Network of Contact Parliamentarians for a healthy environment

#RoadToReykjavik: towards an ambitious summit for protecting the environment

26/04/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

The Assembly’s Parliamentary Network for a Healthy Environment has urged Council of Europe leaders – meeting at the Reykjavik Summit in three weeks – to place the protection of the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment high on their agenda. “Governments should seize this...

Simon Moutquin (Belgium, SOC), visit to Türkiye

PACE rapporteur urges European leaders to increase solidarity with earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria

11/04/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

Ending a three-day visit to Türkiye, Simon Moutquin (Belgium, SOC), PACE’s rapporteur on political strategies to prevent, prepare for, and face the consequences of natural disasters, has urged European political leaders to intensify solidarity with the victims: “We must stand by the people of...

Trade agreements should also be used to protect the environment and human rights, says PACE committee

17/03/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

New trade and investment agreements should contain comprehensive provisions on sustainable development and the protection of fundamental rights, with strong enforcement which is commensurate with protecting investors, PACE’s Social Affairs Committee has said. Approving a report by Geraint Davies...

Climate change crisis global warming environment wind hurricane tornado tropical storm weather

Preventing, anticipating and dealing with natural disasters

17/03/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

At a time when major hazards are becoming more numerous and more violent because of the Anthropocene, the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development called on States to be aware of the need to prevent, anticipate, take into account and monitor natural disasters, and to...

Health / AI
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Combating the commodification of and trafficking in tissues of human origin

26/01/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

In a declaration unanimously adopted today, the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development expressed its concern about the potential commodification of substances of human origin in the context of the development and production of new therapeutic options, and their...

John Howell (United Kingdom, EC/DA)

The Council of Europe should pave the way towards international recognition of the crime of ecocide

02/12/2022 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

The severe destruction or deterioration of nature “that could be qualified as ecocide” may occur in times of peace or war. It is therefore “necessary to codify this notion in both national legislations, as appropriate, and international law” the PACE Committee on Social Affairs said today, while...

Launch of "The Stadium", a film by Roland Edzard to raise awareness of sexual violence against children in sport

"The Stadium" – a new short film from PACE to raise awareness of the sexual abuse ​of children​ in sport

17/11/2022 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

The Stadium, a powerful new short film which aims to raise awareness of sexual violence against children in sport, has been launched by PACE to coincide with the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Launched on the eve of the European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation...

Lord Foulkes moderating a public hearing on workers' rights in Qatar, on the eve of the 2022 World Cup, 13.10.22

PACE hearing on workers’ rights in Qatar on the eve of the World Cup: positive change but work still to do

13/10/2022 | Culture, Science, Education and Media

Participants at a PACE public hearing on workers’ rights in Qatar, held just a month before the 2022 World Cup kicks off, have agreed that reforms introduced as a result of the tournament have resulted in significant improvements for workers in the country – but that much more needs to be done...

Official award ceremony of the 2022 Europe Prize to the city of Izmir

Official award ceremony of the 2022 Europe Prize to the city of Izmir

24/09/2022 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

On 24 September, the city of İzmir (Türkiye) held a ceremony to celebrate the official award of the Europe Prize 2022, in the agora of the ancient city of Smyrna and in the presence of a large public and local, regional and national representatives. On this occasion, Selin Sayek Böke, Chairperson...