14/10/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Strong social rights strengthen democracy,” said Sibel Arslan (Switzerland, SOC), Vice-Chairperson of the PACE Sub-Committee on the European Social Charter, speaking at a roundtable at the Swiss Parliament in Bern on 14 October, emphasising the long-standing commitment of Switzerland to social...
08/10/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Saskia Kluit (Netherlands, SOC), Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, made the following statement today: “The wave of protests and school blockages led by high school students in France who are demanding a better school education system has...
28/09/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development made the following statement today: “Almost one year after the ceasefire of 10 October 2025, the committee deplores the ongoing Israeli attacks that continue to target civilians, women and children, in Gaza. Over the past...
14/09/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The demographic change in Europe, marked by low birth rates, population ageing, shrinking cohorts of working-age people and depopulation of rural areas, requires adaptation and mitigation measures “that focus on people’s rights, choices and empowerment”, the Committee on Social Affairs said...
11/09/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Europe is facing its “largest cohort of veterans since the Second World War”, mainly as a result of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, which has created more than two million veterans, PACE’s Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development has said. The...
25/06/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE’s General Rapporteur on the situation of women and children in the Palestinian territories, Joseph O'Reilly (Ireland, EPP/CD), made the following statement today: “I am deeply shocked by the latest findings and analysis of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied...
10/06/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The unprecedented increase in the number of soldiers and civilians with disabilities is one of “the most dramatic and long-term consequences” of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, a PACE committee has said – while urging all European countries to be engaged in the challenge of...
05/06/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, meeting in Athens on 4 June, expressed concern that overlapping crises are severely undermining food security, food systems and nutrition worldwide. It strongly condemned “the use of starvation as a method of warfare”, the...
05/06/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Joseph O’Reilly (EPP/CD), General Rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the situation of women and children in the Palestinian territories, made the following statement today:“I am most alarmed by the ongoing detention and mistreatment of Palestinian...
10/04/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Saskia Kluit (Netherlands, SOC), PACE rapporteur on “Analysis and guidelines for a sustainable and socially fair energy transition”, made the following statement today: “War in the Middle East is sending shock waves across the energy sector in Europe and worldwide. Large swathes of national...
08/04/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Statement by Joseph O’Reilly (Ireland, EPP/CD), PACE General Rapporteur on the situation of women and children in the Palestinian territories: “As the situation in many parts of the Middle East places more and more civilians, particularly women and children, in an extremely vulnerable situation...
18/03/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Social dumping and labour exploitation, which at its worst includes forced labour and trafficking in human beings, “represents a grave violation of human dignity and fundamental rights,” warns a draft resolution adopted by PACE's Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development...