24/11/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“We consider that the trial and detention of Mr Bialiatski, held since 4 August 2011, amounts to judicial harassment of a human rights defender for carrying out legitimate human rights activities, protected under all international human rights instruments” stressed Mr Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP) and Ms Marieluise Beck (Germany, ALDE), PACE rapporteurs on Belarus, reacting to the sentence.
16/11/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE rapporteur for Belarus, Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), is deeply concerned about the situation of Andrei Sannikov, former Presidential candidate, who has reportedly disappeared from a Belarusian penitentiary. On 14 May 2011, the Pershamaiski District Court of Minsk sentenced Mr Sannikov to five years in a medium security penal colony. No information on his whereabouts and the circumstances of his disappearance was given to the family or to his lawyers.
15/11/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
In a statement adopted today at its meeting in Paris, the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), calls on the Iraqi authorities to prevent humanitarian disaster and human rights violations at Camp Ashraf: “The Committee is concerned about the situation of the residents of Camp Ashraf (also referred to as Camp New Iraq), who are at risk of facing violent expulsion by the Iraqi security forces..."
15/11/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), meeting in Paris on 14-15 November 2011, today adopted the following statement: “On the first day of 2011 a suicide bombing in a Coptic church in Alexandria killed 21 persons and wounded 79. The Parliamentary Assembly condemned unequivocally such violence. We all hoped that, after the success of the Egyptian revolution, such tragedies would not be repeated..."
15/11/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), reaffirmed the universal nature of human rights, approving today in Paris a report by Denis Badré (France, ALDE) on the subject. According to the rapporteur, human rights can empower because they start with the individual: notably, the right to life, the principle of non-discrimination, the right to justice, a fair trial, protection against torture, the right to having an opinion, a faith.
04/11/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
A solution to the current stalemate in the North of Kosovo (*) lies in seeking a compromise, with all sides making concessions, said PACE’s rapporteur on the situation in Kosovo Björn von Sydow (Sweden, SOC), speaking at the end of a three-day visit to Kosovo. “A continued stand-off does not serve the medium or long-term interests of anyone involved,” said Mr von Sydow, speaking at a press conference today in Pristina.
29/10/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on the “Request for Partner for Democracy status with PACE by the Parliament of Morocco”, expressed his concern about the announcement last night, by the anti-terrorist court of Salé (Morocco), of the sentencing to death of the main accused in the bombing that killed 17 people late April in Marrakech.
28/10/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Björn von Sydow (Sweden, SOC), Chairman of the PACE Political Affairs Committee and rapporteur on the situation in Kosovo, will make a field visit on 2-4 November 2011 to evaluate the political situation. The rapporteur will have meetings with the authorities of Kosovo and also with representatives of political forces, local government and NGOs.
14/10/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
In his speech at the Forum for the Future of Democracy, held in Limassol from 13 to 14 October, João Bosco Mota Amaral (Portugal, EPP/CD) welcomed the fact that “political apathy or citizens’ disinterest in institutionalised procedures of democracy has now given place to numerous movements of civil society, which have brought people to the streets and ‘woken up’ public or civic conscience.”
12/10/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on abolition of the death penalty, expressed her dismay after a military court in the northern West Bank has sentenced a former member of the Presidential Guard to death.
05/10/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE Political Affairs Committee today backed the intention of the Rapporteur for Belarus, Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), to make a fact-finding visit to Minsk in the coming months in order to have the opportunity to meet not only with the authorities but also with political prisoners, including former Presidential candidates and Ales Bialiatski, President of the Human Rights Centre Viasna, following reports of physical and psychological ill treatment.
28/09/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Representatives of several Egyptian political parties will be in Strasbourg during PACE’s next plenary session, in response to the invitation addressed by Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD), rapporteur on co-operation with the emerging democracies in the Arab world, and Konstantinos Vrettos (Greece, SOC), rapporteur on the situation in the Middle East, at the end of their visit to Cairo from 23 to 27 September 2011.