07/10/2005 | News
PACE today called on the European Union to ensure that the current and any future reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) brings “a more efficient and fair system” which remunerates the non-economic services supplied by farmers. As examples of these services, the parliamentarians noted the protection of the environment and of animals, the maintenance of landscape and their contribution to the social and economic life of outlying regions. They also called for the setting up of a system of subsidies according to land area which also takes account of farmers’ assets and income so that small farms are given better protection.
07/10/2005 | News
The application of “accelerated asylum procedures” -the rapid processing of asylum claims- in Europe brings to light, according to PACE, many refugee and human rights concerns. At the end of a debate on the subject, the Assembly called on European governments to draw up overall guidelines that bring together best practices on accelerated asylum procedures. The parliamentarians said attention should be paid to particularly vulnerable groups, such as children or victims of torture or sexual violence or trafficking, who should not, a priori, be subjected to accelerated procedures.
07/10/2005 | News
PACE today called on the political representatives of the language communities in the Brussels-Capital region to give attention to ensuring effective bilingualism in emergency services in the region, bilingual staff in hospital receptions and a better welcome for Dutch-speaking patients. Adopting a report on language problems in access to health care in the Brussels-Capital region, following petitions from both Dutch and French-speakers, PACE said: "It is indispensable that there is satisfactory understanding between the patient and medical and nursing staff to avoid compromising the efficacy of medical care."
07/10/2005 | News
PACE President René van der Linden will be visiting London from 9 to 11 October 2005, where he will meet Foreign Office Minister Ian Pearson and officials to discuss issues related to the United Kingdom’s Presidency of the EU, including the European Commission's proposals for an EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, the European Neighbourhood Policy and an envisaged Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the EU. He will also meet the Secretary General of the Muslim Council Sir Iqbal Sacranie and the Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality Sir Trevor Phillips to discuss recent initiatives in the United Kingdom, as well as the Assembly's forthcoming report on European Muslim communities confronted with extremism.
06/10/2005 | News
The democratic changes in Ukraine have demonstrated its commitment to European values, Ukraine’s parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told PACE today. "At the end of 2004, Ukraine was on the brink of disintegration – our country could have been divided into East and West parts – yet today we have civil peace," he told parliamentarians. PACE resolutions on Ukraine were "an impartial mirror" of the situation there, he said, and were the basis of efforts to bring Ukraine fully into line with European democratic standards.
06/10/2005 | News
While appreciating and supporting the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) launched by the EU in order to strengthen democratic stability, security and well-being in several EU neighbouring countries, PACE called on the “25” to make sure that there is no duplication ofboth Organisations’ actions. According to the parliamentarians, the ultimate economic and political objectives of the ENP fall within the Council of Europe's areas of expertise: the rule of law, good governance, respect for human rights and promotion of good neighbourly relations. Following the proposals by the rapporteur (Luc Van den Brande, EPP/CD), PACE stressed its readiness to become a forum for an inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue with those countries covered by the ENP which are not Council of Europe member states.
06/10/2005 | News
PACE's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights today adopted the following statement: “PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is alarmed about alleged ill-treatment in prison of Platon Lebedev, Khodorkovsky’s Yukos associate. The Committee launches an urgent appeal to the Russian authorities to grant Platon Lebedev, one of the leading former Yukos executives in prison, access to urgently needed medical treatment, including the exercise of his right to be examined by a doctor he trusts, and to receive the medicines he needs...
06/10/2005 | News
PACE today called on the Libyan authorities to release or grant a fair trial to the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor found guilty of deliberately infecting with HIV/AIDS some 426 children in a Benghazi hospital. In a resolution, the Assembly said the medical team should be regarded as completely innocent and said they were "being used as scapegoats for a dilapidated Libyan health system".
05/10/2005 | News
Thomas Hammarberg, currently Secretary General of the Olof Palme International Centre in Sweden and a former Secretary General of Amnesty International, was today elected as Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights by the Organisation’s Parliamentary Assembly. Mr Hammarberg received 104 of the votes cast in the second round of the election, which took place during the Parliamentary Assembly’s Autumn plenary session in Strasbourg. Marek Antoni Nowicki (Poland) received 93 votes and Marc Verwilghen (Belgium) received 33 votes.
05/10/2005 | News
PACE today welcomed the “positive evolution” in Ukraine under President Yushchenko and the first achievements of the new authorities, but recognised that they have encountered numerous difficulties in the first nine post-revolution months, originating from the years of rule of the previous regime as well as internal conflicts within the new administration. The Assembly urged the Ukrainian authorities to carry on with the reform process and not to let political competition jeopardise the country’s development.
05/10/2005 | News
In an enlarged debate on the activities of the OECD this afternoon, PACE welcomed overall solid growth in the world economy and noted well-contained inflation in the OECD area, but worried about the huge and steadily rising US deficit as well as timid growth in the eurozone. High and volatile oil prices pose a further risk, said the parliamentarians, calling on OECD countries to do more to increase energy efficiency and diversify sources. PACE also welcomed extensive ongoing co-operation with Russia, and growing links with China.
05/10/2005 | News
All Council of Europe member states should fix at eighteen years the minimum statutory marriage age and make it easier to prevent, detect and annul forced marriages – those where at least one person has not given their full and free consent – PACE said today. "It is an outrage that, under the cloak of respect for the culture and traditions of certain communities, there are authorities which tolerate forced marriages and child marriages even though they violate the fundamental rights of each victim," the parliamentarians said in a resolution.