17/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
While noting that current national systems for dealing with sex offenders vary greatly between member states, the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, convinced that the management of sex offenders requires international co-operation, called on European governments to introduce a sex offenders register containing information on persons convicted of such offences in order to produce a central file "allowing an exchange of information between entitled authorities, as strictly defined by law".
16/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting this morning in Paris, again called on European governments to guarantee "legal recognition of same-sex partnerships" and provide for the possibility of "joint parental responsibility" for each partner's children.
15/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
During its meeting on 16 March in Paris, PACE's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is due to adopt the report by Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Also scheduled for adoption are the reports by Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE) on the necessity to take additional international legal steps to deal with sea piracy, and by Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD) entitled "For a Europe-wide sex offenders register".
08/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD), rapporteur of PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on the protection of witnesses as the cornerstone for justice and reconciliation in the Balkans, will make a fact-finding visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 9 to 11 March. During his visit, Mr Gardetto will meet representatives of the Ministries of Justice and Security and representatives of the judiciary, the police, and the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA).
25/02/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
"The World Congress in Geneva sends out a powerful message: the death penalty is on its way out, world-wide", said Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein/EPP), PACE Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, addressing the World Congress against the Death Penalty in Geneva today. "Europe has shown the way, and more and more countries are joining the consensus: capital punishment violates the right to life and human dignity, and it is counter-productive from a law enforcement perspective. I warmly invite the Council of Europe's observer states, Japan and the United States of America, to join in the movement towards abolition of this barbaric punishment."
10/02/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, has just ended a visit to Moscow (7-10 February 2010) with a call to the Russian authorities to make a renewed effort to speedily implement Strasbourg Court judgments, notably those relating to repetitive and structural violations, as well as grave human right violations.
05/02/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), rapporteur of PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, will make a fact-finding visit to Moscow on 8 and 9 February as part of the preparation of his report on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The cases considered by Mr Pourgourides cover those which raise serious implementation issues.
20/01/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, has ended a two-day visit to Athens (18-19 January 2010) with a call for a number of problems in the execution of these judgments to be solved. Mr Pourgourides called on the representatives of the Greek authorities to co-ordinate more effectively the different state bodies which are responsible for the execution of the European Court's judgments. He also invited Greek parliamentarians to monitor the implementation of these judgments within the Parliament, and has been assured that they will do so.
15/01/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), rapporteur of PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, will make a fact-finding visit to Athens on 18 and 19 January as part of the preparation of his report on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The judgments considered by Mr Pourgourides cover those not fully implemented more than five years after final delivery, or raising important implementation issues, particularly where they concern human rights violations of extreme gravity.
29/12/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
"I am deeply disappointed to learn that Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen condemned to capital punishment, has been executed in China this morning. To inflict death is not to do justice," said Mrs Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), rapporteur on the death penalty in Council of Europe member and observer states. "The application of the death penalty is a violation of the most fundamental of human rights, the right to life. Capital punishment has a brutalising effect in society. It must be totally removed once and for all from the legislation of all countries which strive to uphold democracy, the rule of law and human rights."
09/12/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Wisdom resides in the people – this is a truth lying at the heart of the democratic culture which has kept Europe secure for the last sixty years. But democracy can be practised in many ways. National referenda have a valuable role to play, yet we have seen how they can also be misused for political ends. I believe there are fundamental values that should never be put to a popular vote,” pointed out Lluís Maria de Puig, on the eve of Human Rights Day.
25/11/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, has ended a two-day visit to Rome (23-24 November 2009) by calling for a solution to the structural problem of excessive length of judicial proceedings in Italy. Mr Pourgourides called upon members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, representing both the ruling party and the opposition, to act together to adopt all the necessary measures to speed up criminal and civil proceedings.