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.
25/02/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
While underlining that climate change compounds the problem of malnutrition in the world’s most arid regions, the Environment Committee drew attention to the fact that water shortages also led to acts of violence and conflicts “which may threaten a state’s political and social stability”.
25/02/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Even if exposure to electromagnetic fields should not be harmful, vigilance must be maintained and scientific research on the subject must continue. In short, there is an essential need to respect the precautionary principle, to reinforce prevention measures, to hold a debate involving all those concerned and to provide serious information. This was the starting point proposed by Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC) at the opening of a hearing held this morning in Paris,with a view to preparing a report on the question.
18/02/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs will hold hearings on the dangers of electromagnetic fields as well as on the need for independent and credible assessments, on 25 February in Paris. These hearings will be held as part of the preparations for reports on these two subjects by Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC) and Cezar Florin Preda (Romania, EPP/CD).
27/01/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"Worrying evidence of global climate change continues to mount. According to the World Meteorological Organisation, 2010 was the warmest year on record, and the nine other warmest years have all occurred since 1998, while winter Arctic sea-ice cover reached its lowest level ever", underlines a statement adopted by PACE's Environment Committee.
13/12/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Lord Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), PACE’s rapporteur on climate change, has welcomed the package of decisions agreed at the UN global climate change talks in Cancún, describing them as “a small but important step for mankind”. Mr Prescott, who played a key role in negotiating the 1997 Kyoto Accord on behalf of the EU, attended the talks along with Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC).