27/05/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), who is preparing a report on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, begins a two-day visit to Bulgaria (28-29 May) tomorrow. He is due to meet the Minister of Justice and the Deputy Minister of the Interior, as well as other officials and the members of the Bulgarian delegation to the Assembly. This is the first in a series of visits aimed at applying parliamentary pressure on states where delays or difficulties in implementing Court judgments have arisen. He will later travel to Greece, Italy, Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine.
18/05/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Jószef Berényi (Slovak Republic, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on the situation of Roma and Chair of the Assembly’s Sub-Committee on Rights of Minorities, made the following statement, speaking after a hearing on the subject in Târgu Mures, Romania: “It is with a feeling of revolt and shame that I note that in recent times the Roma minority has been the victim of attacks of a rare violence in several Council of Europe member states. In Italy, Roma camp sites have been burnt down, in Hungary two members of a Roma family – including one child – were killed in an attack on their home..."
06/05/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The PACE rapporteur on abolition of the death penalty, Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), has welcomed the promise by the Laos authorities not to apply the death penalty against British national Samantha Orobator, who was allegedly caught smuggling drugs. The 20-year-old woman fell pregnant in prison and is due to give birth in September. "The death penalty is a terrible violation of the right to life at all times, but Samantha's case is a demonstration for all to see that death is not justice," said Mrs Wohlwend. PACE would continue to follow the case closely, she said.
14/04/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
A recent hearing in Berlin on “discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity”, organised by PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee, brought together legal experts, NGOs and academics to brief parliamentarians on why – in the words of rapporteur Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) – “some countries are more progressive on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, and some have greater problems”.
09/04/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Witnesses have played, and continue to play, a key role in ending impunity for war crimes, in particular in the Balkans,” said Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD) today, speaking at the end of a visit to The Hague. “They are absolutely indispensable if the Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is to fulfill its mandate. In turn, the Tribunal has a long-term, moral and even legal commitment towards them. If the United Nations, and international justice as a whole, are to remain credible, there must be a residual mechanism for effectively protecting witnesses, one which will continue even after the Tribunal ceases to operate.” Mr Gardetto is currently preparing a PACE report on this topic.
01/04/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Germany, ALDE), rapporteur on behalf of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on "allegations of politically-motivated abuses of the criminal justice system", has carried out a fact-finding visit to Moscow. “Judges who take their independent role seriously deserve our greatest respect. They need support both from Russian and from European institutions, such as the Council of Europe”, she declared today.
01/04/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Germany, ALDE), rapporteur on behalf of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on "allegations of politically-motivated abuses of the criminal justice system" has expressed her shock at the attack on Lev Ponomarev, head of the “All Russia movement for human rights”.
30/03/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Germany, ALDE), rapporteur on behalf of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on "Allegations of politically-motivated abuses of the criminal justice system", will be making a fact-finding visit to Moscow from 31 March to 2 April 2009 to prepare a report on the matter. Her trip will include meetings at the Supreme Court, the Council of Judges, the Qualifying Collegium of Judges and the Prosecutor General's Office, as well as with lawyers and representatives of Civil Society. This is the fourth visit to a Council of Europe member state, coming after similar visits to the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
26/03/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The dilemmas of temporary amnesties, the “turning point” in the fight against global impunity represented by the International Criminal Court, the impunity of Russian soldiers in Chechnya, and what to do when even the UN Security Council violates basic rights were among subjects tackled by parliamentarians, academics and experts during a major conference on impunity in Berlin on 23 March, organised by PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee and hosted by the German Bundestag.
26/03/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), PACE former rapporteur on secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees in Europe, made a statement in Berlin today to the Bundestag Committee of Inquiry responsible for investigating the possible involvement of the German authorities. "The Committee of Inquiry has worked very conscientiously. For a start, it exists, which is more than can be said of other countries against which much more serious criticisms have been levelled." But he added: "I regret, however, that the government authorities have, only too often, refused to respond to requests information from the Committee, on the grounds of state secrecy."
24/03/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Declaring a state of emergency should be “a means of last resort only”, clearly limited in time and subject to legislative oversight, according to PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs, meeting today in Berlin. Approving a report by Holger Haibach (Germany, EPP/CD), the committee said it was “concerned” by recent recourse to declarations of states of emergency in several member states, especially Georgia and Armenia.
24/03/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Both Greece and Turkey should treat all their citizens who are members of religious minorities according to the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights – rather than invoking “reciprocity” under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne as a basis for refusing to implement some rights. Approving a report today on “Freedom of religion and other human rights for non-Muslim minorities in Turkey and for the Muslim minority in Thrace (Eastern Greece)”, the Committee on Legal Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) acknowledged the question was “emotionally very highly charged”.