06/04/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
On the occasion of World Health Day (7 April 2011), whose theme this year is action to combat antimicrobial resistance, Liliane Maury Pasquier (Switzerland, SOC), the Chair of the PACE's Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, has today called on WHO to “continue its action to counter antimicrobial resistance while being as thorough and transparent as possible in its approach to the selection of experts so as to ensure that future decisions by national governments are based on advice entirely devoid of any conflict of interest”...
23/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
With a view to the preparation of a report on the health hazards of heavy metals by Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC), the Social Affairs Committee held an exchange of views on the dangers of using mercury in dental treatments. Mr Huss pointed out that a growing number of illnesses, in particular chronic diseases, are thought to be caused by heavy metals and other chemical substances that are omnipresent in our living environment.
23/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Participants at a hearing in Paris today organised by the Social Affairs Committee looked at the steps Europe could take to help children in the aftermath of natural disasters and crisis situations, with the focus on Haiti. "Children are the most vulnerable at every level in crisis situations", said Françoise Hostalier (France, EPP/CD), the rapporteur on the subject.
22/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"The issue of water encompasses complex realities affecting all the world's regions and populations, especially the most vulnerable, as water is very much the focus of sharp tensions, threatening regional stability and security worldwide". So said Bernard Marquet, member of the PACE Environment Committee and author of the report "Water – a source of conflict", speaking at the Conference on conventions on international water, organised in Monaco by the Monegasque National Council and the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.
22/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
One quarter of European schoolchildren are overweight or obese, the levels of excess weight and obesity being greater in southern Europe than in northern European counterparts, Michael Hancock (United Kingdom, ALDE) underlines in his report on safeguarding children and young people from obesity and type 2 diabetes. The islands of Malta, Sicily, Gibraltar and Crete are particularly concerned, as well as the countries of Spain, Portugal and Italy, with levels exceeding 30 per cent among children aged 7 to 11.
22/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Poverty generates, and leads to, lack of access to human rights, and can only be eliminated if poverty reduction strategies are based on human rights. Leaving people in poverty destroys the social fabric, preventing countries’ growth and prosperity for future generations,” Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD) stresses in his report on combating poverty which is due to be discussed by PACE on Wednesday 13 April during its spring session in Strasbourg.
22/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
In the past, producers and consumers of child abuse images constituted a very small and marginal group. However, the ability to interconnect people and share images and videos through the Internet has resulted in an explosion in the number of worldwide paedophiles, participants said at a hearing on "combating child pornography as part of the campaign to stop sexual violence against children" organised by the Social Affairs Committee in Paris today.
18/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE Committee on Social, Health and Family Affairs is organising a hearing in Paris on Tuesday 22 March on “Combating child pornography as part of the campaign to stop sexual violence against children”. In the framework of a report by Agustín Conde Bajén (Spain, EPP/CD), the hearing will look in particular at combating child pornography.
15/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
What parliamentarians can do to update Europe’s laws and agreements relating to water, waterways and water management will be the focus of a major conference bringing together European parliamentarians and water experts in Monaco on 22 March 2011. The conference is organised by the PACE Sub-Committee on Sustainable Development to mark the UN’s “World Water Day”.
15/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Nuclear energy – considered relatively clean from the emissions viewpoint but more problematic as regards the management of waste, operational safety and protection against terrorist attacks – has polarised opinions across Europe, PACE stressed in numerous texts adopted since 2005. Stricter operational standards, reinforced safety, new technologies and better communication with the public may well render nuclear energy more acceptable, it said.
01/03/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
At a conference organised in Brussels by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE), member of the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, today called on governments to support the principles of the future European Charter of Shared Social Responsibilities, and the innovation which can result from its application, in the interests of maintaining social cohesion.
25/02/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The PACE Environment Committee warned this morning that the risks linked to GMOs in the farming and food sector are numerous and serious and called for the technology to be used responsibly. The draft resolution adopted on the basis of proposals by the rapporteur, Jean-François Le Grand (France, EPP/CD), underlines that many uncertainties remain as to the consequences of the horizontal transfer, by viruses, of genetic materials from GM crops.