09/07/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Theodoros Rousopoulos, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), today made the following statement: “On the eve of the eleventh anniversary of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a judgment attributing...
22/06/2025 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“The release of Siarhii Tsikhanouskiy and 13 other political prisoners in Belarus is excellent news in today’s uncertain world,” said three general rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in a joint statement. “These releases are the result of unstinting efforts...
23/05/2025 | Standing Committee
PACE has welcomed finalising the draft Third Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. Stressing the need for rapid and effective cross-border co-operation in the fight against transnational crime, the Assembly also underlined that such efforts...
22/05/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The PACE General Rapporteur for political prisoners, Azadeh Rojhan (Sweden, SOC), made the following statement regarding the conviction of Igbal Abilov, a Talysh historian and ethnographer, on charges of high treason in Azerbaijan: “I am deeply concerned by the verdict of the Lankaran Serious...
15/05/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting on 13 May in Paris, categorically reaffirmed indisputable legal and human rights considerations related to the Russian Federation's war of aggression against Ukraine. It stated that certain fundamental principles of international law, such...
14/04/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Steve Cohen, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on Political Prisoners, and Azadeh Rojhan, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) General Rapporteur on Political Prisoners in Europe, today made the following statement: “We strongly condemn the continued detention of three...
04/03/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Recalling the “unequivocal obligation” to implement judgments of the Strasbourg Court in a “timely and effective manner”, the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights today expressed concern at the failure of some States Parties to the European Convention on Human Rights to remedy the...
03/03/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Gala Veldhoen (Netherlands, SOC), General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the abolition of the death penalty, has expressed her dismay at the announcement of a firing squad execution in the United States. “Brad Sigmon, on death row since his conviction...
03/03/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
A PACE hearing on ‘Proceeds of the crime denounced by Sergei Magnitsky found in Switzerland must not be returned to the presumed perpetrators’ was organised by the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Paris today, in the context of the report being prepared by Lesia Vasylenko (Ukraine...
03/03/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In the framework of the preparation of a follow-up report on the PACE resolution on Pegasus and similar spyware and secret state surveillance, the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights organised a hearing on the subject in Paris today. Participants in the hearing included Iain Cameron...
16/01/2025 | Monitoring
PACE's co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Lise Christoffersen (Norway, SOC), and the General Rapporteur for political prisoners, Thórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC), have expressed deep concern at the recent sentencing of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, a well-known Azerbaijani civil...
13/12/2024 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
A PACE committee is calling for robust international and national laws and regulations to ensure that the activities of private military and security companies – described as mercenaries in some contexts – “align with democratic principles and respect for human rights”, including on issues such...