13/02/2007 | President
On the occasion of the inaugural policy speech of the new President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering, PACE President René van der Linden today met the three leading figures of the EU - Mr Poettering, European Council President Angela Merkel and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso - and again reiterated his desire for close co-operation between the Council of Europe and the EU. With Mr Poettering, he discussed in particular the idea of a joint event with the European Parliament on the theme of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue.
01/02/2007 | President
Speaking at the third World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, PACE President René van der Linden welcomed the highly symbolic step taken by the Assemblée Nationale, to inscribe abolition of the death penalty in the French Constitution. He announced that the PACE Standing Committee, meeting in Paris on 16 March, will hold a debate to support Italy's initiative in the United Nations to abolish the death penalty worldwide.
30/01/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden will give an opening speech at the 3rd World Congress against the Death Penalty (1st February, Paris), which he will attend along with the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg and Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis. PACE’s longstanding rapporteur on the death penalty, Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), will also take part in a Round Table on “From moratorium to abolition” (2 February, 1-3pm).
26/01/2007 | President
On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly, the Secretary General and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe made the following joint statement : “No child is born a racist, and it is the task of all of us to make sure that no child becomes one. The fight against racism and xenophobia must not be limited to one day a year. We have the responsibility to fight hate and prejudice all the time and everywhere, in schools, in the workplace and in the street."
23/01/2007 | President
"I welcome last night’s pledge by the United Kingdom to sign the Council of Europe convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, bringing it into line with most countries in the 46-nation Council of Europe," said PACE President René van der Linden. "Two hundred years after slavery was abolished, we must do everything in our power to stamp out its modern equivalent."
19/01/2007 | President
At the end of a two-day visit to Belarus (18-19 January 2007), PACE President René van der Linden has called for positive steps to start fresh co-operation with Belarus and end its isolation, and proposed a list of practical measures. "I see more willingness on the part of the authorities to move closer to European structures, in particular the Council of Europe and the European Union," he said. But any dialogue with Belarus must be based on respect for Council of Europe values, the President stressed. He also met with members of the opposition, including Alexander Milinkievich and the wife of imprisoned opposition leader Aleksandr Kozulin. They agreed the visit was a positive step for democratic development in the country.
11/01/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden will visit Belarus from 18 to 20 January 2007 to engage in a dialogue with the authorities, the opposition and civil society - including students - with a view to encouraging democratic developments and promoting Council of Europe values in the country. Mr van der Linden will address the main concerns of the Parliamentary Assembly with regard to Belarus, including the functioning of the opposition, imprisonments for allegedly political reasons, freedom of expression and the death penalty. He will also identify areas and methods of possible concrete assistance programmes to Belarus.
09/01/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden will make a working visit to Moscow from 10 to 12 January 2007. During his stay, he will have an audience with His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia (12 January) and will meet Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as the Speakers of the State Duma and the Federation Council, Boris Gryzlov and Sergey Mironov (11 January) and the Russian delegation to PACE. Meetings with NGO representatives and the Director of the “Novaya Gazeta” newspaper are also scheduled on Thursday 11 January.
30/12/2006 | President
In a statement made today, PACE President René van der Linden deplored the execution of Saddam Hussein. "The Council of Europe is completely opposed to the death penalty in all its forms, even for the most appalling criminals of this world. Human rights apply to every one of us, without exception,"he said. "No doubt, Saddam Hussein had to pay for the heinous crimes he committed, but his execution will not help to do justice, as the death penalty denies it. What Iraq needs now is not the taking of lives but the improving of them," René van der Linden stressed.
27/12/2006 | President
"It is with deep regret that I learn - in this season dedicated to human love and understanding - of the execution in Japan, on 25 December 2006, of four people condemned to suffer the death penalty. For the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as for the Council of Europe as a whole, capital punishment marks a deplorable step backwards and is deemed incompatible with the organisation's values, especially our European Convention on Human Rights and its Protocol No. 6 prohibiting the death penalty, he said.
19/12/2006 | President
Reacting to today’s court ruling on the six medics in Libya, PACE President René van der Linden said: "I am deeply shocked at this ruling, which flies in the face of hard evidence presented by neutral experts that these medics are innocent, as the Assembly has long held. The deaths of the infected children are immensely sad, but the execution of further innocents – who came to Libya with the aim of healing the sick – would be a gross injustice. I appeal to the Libyan authorities not to carry out these death sentences, and to release the medics immediately." The six are accused of deliberately infecting children with HIV/AIDS.
18/12/2006 | President
"From the perspective of the Council of Europe – an organisation created to prevent the repetition of such horrors – to call into question the fact or the importance of the Holocaust is deeply offensive," said PACE President René van der Linden. "As President of the Parliamentary Assembly, I must put on record my clear and absolute rejection of this dangerous and profoundly misguided attempt to rewrite the history of one of Europe’s most horrific episodes."