25/04/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On 28 April the Assembly’s Sub-committee on Crime Problems and the Fight against Terrorism holds a hearing in the Hague (in camera) on the work of the International Criminal Court, with the participation of the Court's President Philippe Kirsch and Prosecutor General Luis Moreno-Ocampo. A day earlier, on 27 April, the parliamentarians make a study visit to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, also based in the Hague, attending a hearing of the Tribunal and meeting its President Judge Fausto Pocar and Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte.
07/04/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“It is imperative that Strasbourg Court judgments are complied with,” said Erik Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC), rapporteur on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, at the end of a visit to Turkey (5-7 April 2006). But he added that he had received assurances from the Turkish authorities that all implementation issues were being addressed “as a matter of priority”. Judgments discussed concerned abuses by members of the security forces, unjustified interference with the freedom of expression and the dissolution of political parties, among others, as well as outstanding issues in the implementation of the Cyprus v. Turkey judgment.
22/03/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Meeting in Paris on 13 March 2006, the Assembly's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights held an exchange of views on the proposed EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, with the participation the European Parliament's rapporteurs, Mrs Kinga Gal and Mr Cem Ozdemir. During this meeting, members of the Committee expressed a number of serious reservations and objections to the proposals made by the European Commission and the amendments being considered by the European Parliament. In the interests of stimulating the wider debate, the Minutes of this exchange of views have been declassified by the Committee and are now publicly available.
21/03/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
"The Venice Commission has issued an excellent legal opinion that provides an important input for my inquiry on alleged secret detentions in Council of Europe member states," said Dick Marty, Rapporteur and Chair of the Assembly's Legal Affairs Committee, which requested the opinion in December 2005. Mr Marty said the 38-page text was "a thorough analysis of member states' international law and human rights obligations, highlighting standards developed by the European Human Rights and Anti-Torture Conventions. Secret detentions, abductions and irregular transport of detainees from or through Europe to countries where persons are at risk of torture are flagrant violations of these human rights standards". Mr Marty also indicated that he intends to present his report in June 2006.
13/03/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
"Members of the armed forces cannot be expected to respect humanitarian law and human rights in their operations unless respect for human rights is guaranteed within the army ranks," PACE's rapporteur on the human rights of members of the armed forces, Alexander Arabadjiev (Bulgaria, SOC), said at today's adoption of his report during a meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee in Paris. In his report Mr Arabadjiev underlines that members of the armed forces are citizens in uniform who must enjoy the same fundamental liberties as other citizens, including those set out in the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter.
10/03/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The first progress report by a human rights committee of the British Parliament into the United Kingdom’s implementation of Strasbourg judgments, published this week, has been hailed by the Assembly’s rapporteur on the subject as “a model to be followed by other parliamentary bodies”. Erik Jurgen (Netherlands, SOC) was speaking at the end of a visit to the United Kingdom to discuss outstanding issues related to the UK’s implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. This was the first of a series of visits that will later take him to Italy, Turkey, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
23/02/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The enquiries being conducted by the Council of Europe and the European Parliament into alleged illegal transport and detention in Europe should not be considered as "enquêtes de condamnation" but should be aimed at defending the fundamental rights, values and freedoms upon which the European institutions are based, PACE rapporteur Dick Marty and EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini have agreed following a meeting in Brussels. In a joint statement, they stressed that the full co-operation of both EU and Council of Europe member states was vital to establish the truth. Later Mr Marty also presented his interim assessment to a temporary committee of MEPs.
25/01/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
While regretting that serious human rights violations still occur on a massive scale in the Chechen Republic, the Assembly today urged the Committee of Ministers (CM) “to confront its responsibilities in the face of one of the most serious human rights issues in any of the Council of Europe’s member states”. According to the parliamentarians, the lack of effective reaction by the Council’s executive body has the capacity to seriously threaten the credibility of the whole Organisation. .
24/01/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
It is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware of the “rendition” of more than a hundred persons affecting Europe, according to Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, whose interim assessment was made public today in an information memorandum. Citing statements made by American officials and others, Mr Marty also said there was “a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of ‘relocation’ or ‘outsourcing’ of torture”. He welcomed the arrival yesterday of detailed information he had requested from Eurocontrol and the EU's Satellite Agency.
16/01/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Rudolf Bindig, who is PACE's rapporteur on human rights violations in the Chechen Republic, has appealed to Said-Emin Ibragimov, a Chechen human rights activist based in Strasbourg who has been on hunger strike for more than a month, to end his fast.
22/12/2005 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE's Legal Affairs Committee this week decided to make public a supplementary introductory memorandum on "The implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights" by Erik Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC). In his memorandum Mr Jurgens updates his assessment of the situation in thirteen member states where Court judgments have still not been fully implemented after five years, or which raise important issues.
15/12/2005 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE's Committee on Legal Affairs adopted, at its meeting in Paris on 13 December, a draft resolution and a draft recommendation prepared by Rudolf Bindig (Germany, SOC) that expresses deep concern that "a fair number of Governments, Member States, and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe have failed to address the ongoing serious human rights violations in a regular, serious and intensive manner, despite the fact that such violations still occur on a massive scale in the Chechen Republic and in somes cases, neighbouring regions, in a climate of impunity." These draft texts are on the order of business of PACE's next plenary session (23-27 January 2005).