17/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
At its meeting in Paris yesterday, PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights decided to declassify an information document on "Ad hoc judges at the European Court of Human Rights: an overview".
17/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In a report on ‘an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights on national minorities’, presented to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Paris today, rapporteur György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD) regrets that the main Council of Europe instruments for the protection of the rights of national minorities have not been ratified by all member states and underlines the numerous shortcomings in their implementation, already referred to in previous PACE Resolutions.
17/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“The continuing suffering of relatives and friends of no less than 14,000 mission persons in the Western Balkans, 2,300 in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation and close to 2,000 in Cyprus as well as countless missing persons left behind by the conflicts in the South Caucasus region remain a major obstacle to lasting peace and reconciliation,” Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD) stressed at a meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Paris today.
16/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“The authority and effectiveness of the European Convention on Human Rights system is contingent on the political will and commitment of member states to provide the Council of Europe with appropriate financial means to implement its human rights mandate,” PACE rapporteur Marie-Louise Bemelmans-Videc (Netherlands, EPP/CD) said at a meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Paris today.
14/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Marie-Louise Bemelmans-Videc (Netherlands, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on guaranteeing the authority and effectiveness of the ECHR, will address a conference held in the context of the UK Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers entitled "2020 Vision for the European Court of Human Rights".
04/10/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In a resolution adopted today, PACE calls on member states not to recognise or support in any way the de facto authorities of territories resulting from unlawful secessions, in particular those supported by foreign military interventions.
21/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Following the decision of the Georgia parole board to deny Troy Davis clemency, I appeal to the Georgian authorities, even at this late hour, not to carry out his execution,” said Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on abolition of the death penalty. “To carry out this irrevocable act now would be a terrible mistake which could lead to a tragic injustice,” she said.
21/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Effective parliamentary supervision at the national level is important to ensure the implementation of Strasbourg Court judgments,” today said in Kyiv PACE Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), in a conference on “The prevention of human rights violations” organised by Ukraine’s Justice Ministry.
07/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Secret services and intelligence agencies must be held accountable for human rights violations such as torture, abduction or renditions and not shielded from scrutiny by unjustified resort to the doctrine of “state secrets”, according to PACE Legal Affairs Committee.
07/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
There is no need for a "trade-off" between protecting human rights and effective counter-terrorist action, according to PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs, as safeguards exist in human rights law itself. Adopting a draft resolution based on a report by Lord John E. Tomlinson (United Kingdom, SOC), the committee reminded States Parties to the European Convention on Human Rights that they are duty-bound to secure within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms guaranteed therein.
05/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights will be meeting in Paris on 7 September. Its agenda will include adoption of the report by Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) on the abuse of state secrecy and national security, which places obstacles in the path of parliamentary and judicial scrutiny of human rights violations.
08/07/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Contrary to the announcements issued by certain press agencies, Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), who is a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the PACE, will not be attending the debate to be held in Belgrade tomorrow by the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, at which an OSCE resolution on combat against illicit trade in human organs is to be discussed. Mr Marty, who wrote the report on the "inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo*", has stated that the invitation from the OSCE reached him belatedly, and that, as he had prior commitments, he would be unable to contribute to this debate.