24/11/2009 | Monitoring
PACE’s Monitoring Committee should have a greater focus on the rights of vulnerable groups, such as children, the elderly, the disabled, migrants and minorities, according to its Chairperson. “The financial crisis will continue to have detrimental effects on how these groups are treated,” pointed out Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE) at a recent hearing. The Committee decided to make greater use of these bodies’ work when assessing how vulnerable groups in monitored countries are faring in the justice system, employment, housing and education, and whether they face discrimination or racism.
19/11/2009 | Monitoring
PACE Monitoring Committee yesterday appointed Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC) as new co-rapporteur for Azerbaijan. He is replacing Evguenia Jivkova (Bulgaria, SOC).
18/11/2009 | Monitoring
The two co-rapporteurs of PACE for the war between Georgia and Russia today called on the de facto authorities in Tskhinvali to release without delay the four Georgian teenagers arrested on 4 November 2009. “The arrest and prolonged detention of these young people will only increase the tensions and bad blood between the people in this bitterly divided region,” said the co-rapporteurs, Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE) and Luc Van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD).
12/11/2009 | Monitoring
Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, and Christoph Strässer (Germany, SOC), rapporteur on the follow-up to the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan by PACE, today expressed their dismay at the conviction of two satirical bloggers, Adnan Hadjizadeh, 26, and Emin Milli, 30, accused of hooliganism. “This case is yet another blow to freedom of expression in Azerbaijan and a serious setback on the country’s path to democratisation,” the two rapporteurs said.
30/10/2009 | Monitoring
Jaakko Laakso (Finland, UEL) and David Wilshire (United Kingdom, EDG), co-rapporteurs for Albania of the PACE Monitoring Committee, will be conducting a fact-finding visit to the country from 3 to 5 November to take stock of the honouring of obligations and commitments by Albania vis-à-vis the Council of Europe. Interviews are scheduled with the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Justice, and the President of the Constitutional Court.
09/10/2009 | Monitoring
The prospects of adopting a new constitution for Bosnia and Herzegovina before the next parliamentary elections, expected to be held in Autumn 2010, look “rather gloomy”, say PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs in their latest assessment. “The positions of various stakeholders are extremely polarised and an agreement on a comprehensive package of constituional amendments is almost impossible to reach,” said Mevlüt Çavusoglu (Turkey, EDG) and Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD) in an information note declassified this week by the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee.
06/10/2009 | Monitoring
The co-rapporteurs with respect of Ukraine of the PACE Monitoring Committee, Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) and Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Germany, ALDE), today expressed their concern about the ruling of the Court of the Pecherskyi district in Kyiv that forbids the publication or distribution by “any individual or legal entity” of any “unfair advertising” concerning the Prime Minister of Ukraine.
10/09/2009 | Monitoring
In a draft resolution adopted yesterday in Paris, PACE Monitoring Committee strongly urges the Russian authorities, before the end of the year, to give unrestricted access to EU Monitors to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, grant freedom of movement for Georgian civilians and international and humanitarian organisations over the administrative boundaries, recognise the right of return of all IDPs of this conflict and to initiate a credible investigation into alleged ethnic cleansing in South Ossetia.
10/09/2009 | Monitoring
In a draft resolution adopted yesterday at a meeting in Paris, the Monitoring Committee calls upon the new dominant coalition and the opposition in Moldova to enter into meaningful negotiations to break the deadlock and bring about the election of the President. Once the new state institutions are put in place, they should straightaway work on a far-reaching reform, including constitutional amendments if relevant, in order to establish genuine democratic safeguards against similar institutional and political deadlock situations, the co-rapporteurs on the functioning of democratic institutions in Moldova, Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) and Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania, EPP/CD) stressed.
09/09/2009 | Monitoring
In a vote in Paris today on a draft resolution on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Monaco, PACE Monitoring Committee said it was in favour of closing the monitoring procedure having regard to the progress achieved since 2004. The committee said it was confident that the Monegasque authorities will continue the reforms commenced. Remaining commitments will be closely monitored within the so-called post-monitoring dialogue.
01/09/2009 | Monitoring
Mevlüt Çavusoglu (Turkey, EDG) and Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee on Bosnia and Herzegovina, will start today a four-day fact-finding visit to Banja Luka, Mostar and Sarajevo to take stock of the implementation of Resolution 1626 (2008) on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the Council of Europe, and of progress with regard to the constitutional reform.
18/08/2009 | Monitoring
Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD) and Evguenia Jivkova (Bulgaria, SOC), PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs for Azerbaijan, said today they were saddened to learn of the death in prison of Novruzali Mammadov, a prominent member of the Talysh ethnic community who is considered a political prisoner by the Federation of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan. PACE had made numerous calls for his release, including on humanitarian grounds, given his age and state of health, which "fell on deaf ears", they said.