21/09/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The right to ‘live in a healthy and viable environment’ should be enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights, according to PACE Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs. PACE’s Rapporteur on Climate Change, former UK Deputy Prime Minister and Kyoto Protocol negotiator John Prescott is backing the call as part of its New Earth Deal campaign to secure a fairer deal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
04/09/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Expressing great concern about growing marine pollution, the Environment Committee believes a legal and institutional framework for a new ocean governance needs to be worked out and proposes establishing an integrated maritime policy based on the European Union’s “Blue Book”. According to PACE’s rapporteur Manuela de Melo (Potuglal, SOC), as the Council of Europe includes non-EU European countries and has some major coastal countries from other continents as observers, it “has a key part to play in implementing an integrated maritime policy”.
04/09/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
In a report adopted today in Paris by the PACE Committee on the Environment, Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE) stresses the importance of recognising access to water and sanitation as a fundamental human right. According to the rapporteur, who describes in particular the worrying situation of the Maghreb, a real water culture should become widespread, founded on integrated management that accommodates the economic, ecological and social aspects. The rapporteur also calls for inter-regional and transfrontier co-operation on water issues.
04/09/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
An additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, which would recognise the right to a healthy, sustainable environment, has become necessary according to José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), the author of a report on this issue adopted today by the Environment Committee. The inclusion of this right in the Convention would in fact enable the Court to rule directly on violations of that fundamental right, and is a natural extension of the Council of Europe’s role in environmental protection.
04/09/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“If the continuity of the Kyoto Protocol is to be ensured, an ambitious, binding new agreement will have to be concluded at the UN Climate Change conference this December in Copenhagen,” according to John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) in a report adopted today by the PACE Committee on the Environment. Developed countries must accept their historical responsibility for CO2 emissions since the dawn of the industrial age, the Rapporteur believes, and initiate deep and early cuts in their emissions according to the “polluter pays” principle.
26/08/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
A campaign called the ‘New Earth Deal’ is being launched today in London, with the support of PACE’s Environment Committee, to push for a global climate change deal at Copenhagen in which richer countries should do more. PACE’s rapporteur on climate change John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), a former Deputy Prime Minister who took part in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations, said developed countries must “carry a greater share of the burden of reducing emissions” because of their historic responsibility for past emissions: “They must now recognise the central principle that the polluter pays.”
22/06/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, meeting in Paris at the OECD headquarters on 19 June 2009, unanimously adopted a preliminary draft report on the activities of the OECD in 2008-2009. The committee had invited Corinne Lepage, former French Minister of the Environment, and Enrico Giovannini, chief statistician of OECD, to discuss the report "Wealth, welfare and wellbeing: how to reconcile them in a changing Europe?" (Konstantinos Vrettos, Greece, SOC), and raised the major economic challenges, but also the environmental, social and democratic challenges, that western societies would face in the near future.
18/06/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE's Committee on Economic Affairs and Development will meet on Friday 19 June 2009 at the OECD headquarters in Paris. As part of the preparation of the report by Konstantinos Vrettos (Greece, SOC), "Wealth, welfare and wellbeing: how to reconcile them in a changing Europe?", the committee members will hear the address of Corinne Lepage, EMP and former French Minister for the Environment, coinciding with the publication of her book Vivre Autrement (alternative living). Enrico Giovannini, head statistician of the OECD and member of the Stiglitz Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, will also attend the meeting.
16/06/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“The family should be seen as one of the essential resources for kick-starting the economic system. In that respect, legislators are able to steer social and family policies towards strengthening family cohesion while enabling families to face the challenges raised by the crisis,” Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD) emphasised today at the opening of a Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Family Affairs, organised in conjunction with the Austrian Ministry of the Economy, Family and Youth.
28/04/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
According to PACE, despite the fact that the number of women in prison in Europe is growing, women are still only a minority of the prison population, with the consequence that prisons are mainly designed for men and often do not address the specific needs of women. Moreover, as there are very few prisons for women, and even fewer places for women in pre-trial detention, women are held further away from their home, which means cutting family ties.
30/03/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE's Sub-Committee on Tourism Development discussed the tourism situation and prospects in Cyprus and the wider Europe at its meeting in Limassol, Cyprus, on 27-28 March 2009 with Elvira Cortajarena Spain, SOC) in the Chair. The discussion showed among other things that diversifying the traditional tourist product and tourist markets may help to counter the effects of the financial and economic crisis in this sector – illustrated by a dramatic 19,3% drop in tourist arrivals in Cyprus in February 2009 over the same month in the previous year.
20/03/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Access to water should be recognised as a fundamental human right. A rights-based approach to water would be a very important means for civil society to hold their governments accountable for ensuring access to an adequate quantity of good quality water as well as sanitation,” said PACE President, Lluís Maria de Puig, speaking today ahead of World Water Day on 22 March. “The challenges to be tackled are numerous: chronic water shortages in the south, floods in the north and problems with water management and quality in central Europe," said Mr de Puig.