11/05/2010 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The veiling of women is often perceived as “a symbol of the subjugation of women to men” and could be a threat to womens’ dignity and freedom, but there should be no general prohibition on wearing the burqa and the niquab, a PACE committee has declared. In a draft resolution adopted yesterday at a meeting in Istanbul, PACE’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education said legal restrictions may be justified “for security purposes, or where the public or professional functions of individuals require their religious neutrality, or that their face can be seen”.
30/04/2010 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
“International Press Freedom Day reminds us that journalists and the media are a vital cornerstone of democracy,” Andrew McIntosh, the standing rapporteur on media of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) said today. “It is therefore an alarming sign that at least 20 journalists have been killed in Europe since 2007, several of whom had worked on shedding light on corruption and organised crime,” he added.
10/03/2010 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
PACE Committee on Culture, Science and Education voted unanimously this morning in favour of a Europe-wide ban on the marketing, sale and use of "Mosquito" acoustic youth dispersal devices in all public places. The text adopted, drafted by Piotr Wach (Poland, EPP/CD), states that the use of these devices constitutes a "disproportionate interference with the right to respect for one’s private life, including the right to respect for one’s physical integrity" and contravenes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular regarding health and safety.
08/12/2009 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
“We cannot continue to offer exclusive protection for copyright in an open and global society, where the new opportunities afforded by the Internet have led to the wide dissemination of creative works,” said today José Luis Arnaut (Portugal, EPP/CD), rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Culture. “We now have to strike a balance between an adequate level of remuneration for the creative effort, the right to privacy, freedom of expression and access to information,” he added.
08/12/2009 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Andrew McIntosh (United Kingdom, SOC), rapporteur of PACE Committee on Culture, on respect for media freedom, said he was shocked by the increase in attacks on journalists and media – at least twenty journalists have been killed since 2007 in Europe, including thirteen in Russia.“It is important to collate information on violations of media freedom on a continuing basis, to analyse this information systematically country by country and disseminate it to the governments of member states and to the media,” said Andrew McIntosh. "We need to draw as much attention as possible to these violations," he added.
26/10/2009 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Council of Europe area has suffered a “marked setback” in the overall level of media freedom in the past three years, according to a background report by an independent expert presented today to PACE’s Sub-committee on the Media. The country-by-country report, by the academic and former BBC senior correspondent William Horsley, was commissioned as a contribution to a PACE report on media freedom being prepared by the sub-committee’s Chair Andrew McIntosh (United Kingdom, SOC), and presented at a PACE hearing today in Luxembourg.
23/10/2009 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Ways to protect journalists from electronic eavesdropping and government searches, the protection of sources and the growing number of threats facing investigative reporters across Europe are among topics to be discussed at a parliamentary hearing on media freedom in Luxembourg on Monday 26 October 2009. Organised by PACE Sub-committee on the Media, at the invitation of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies, the event will bring together journalists, leading NGOs such as Reporters sans frontières and parliamentarians. The President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies Laurent Mosar will open the event.
28/09/2009 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
In a recommendation adopted today, the Assembly calls on the member states to increase protection for minors who use Internet and online media services, particularly through the use of parental filter systems. PACE also urges the member states to support the creation of secure, restricted-access networks which filter content harmful to minors and comply with codes of conduct, as recommended by József Kozma (Hungary, SOC) in his report.
17/04/2009 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Andrew McIntosh (United Kingdom, SOC), Chair of PACE Sub-Committee on the Media, today expressed concern at reports of restrictions on the work of journalists in Moldova following the recent elections. "Especially in times of crisis and public controversies over the functioning of democratic institutions in a country, media freedom is essential for the public's right to information under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights," he said.
20/02/2009 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Commenting on the end of the trial against a few suspects in Moscow yesterday, Andrew McIntosh (United Kingdom, SOC), Chairman of PACE Sub-Committee on the Media and Rapporteur on media freedom, expressed his deep frustration at the lack of progress in investigating the murder of Anna Politkovskaya on 7 October 2006 and the inability of the Russian authorities to find her killers. “Two years ago, in its Resolution 1535 (2007), the Assembly called on the Russian Parliament to closely monitor the progress in the criminal investigations regarding the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and hold the authorities accountable for any failures to investigate or prosecute. The closure of the trial yesterday can only be regarded as a blatant failure".
09/12/2008 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
“Technological progress in the field of electronic media, notably the internet, which is now widely used for disseminating audiovisual content, means that it is time for a revision of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television,” said Andrew McIntosh (United Kingdom, SOC), author of a report on the regulation of audiovisual media services, approved today by PACE’s Culture Committee. He made a number of recommendations for revising the Convention.
09/12/2008 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
“The protection and adaptation of copyright in an information society where the growth of the internet offers everyone the opportunity to share written documents, music and films and to access electronic libraries remains a controversial issue, especially given the inadequate regulation of this sector,” said José Luis Arnaut, rapporteur of the PACE Committee on Culture, Science and Education, at a hearing on copyright in Europe held in Paris today.