22/02/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Abortion and its impact on women and girls in Europe will be the theme of a hearing to be held in Paris on Tuesday 27 February by PACE's Equal Opportunities Committee. In preparation for a report on the subject by Gisela Wurm (Austria, SOC), the participants will look into the situation of women in pregnancy conflicts, access to safe and legal abortions, sex education and access to affordable contraception.
17/01/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
A report aimed at improving the situation of women in the South Caucasus has just been adopted by PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. According to the rapporteur, Vera Oskina (Russia, EDG), the situation is worrying on several counts, the first of these being the participation of women in political life: the parliamentarians deplored the current levels of representation in the parliaments concerned - 4.6% in Armenia, 10.5% in Azerbaijan and 9.4% in Georgia - and recommended an increase in the minimum rate of female representation.
12/01/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
At its meeting in Paris on 15 January, PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men is due to approve a draft text on the situation of women in the South Caucasus (Vera Oskina, Russia, EDG). Committee members will also have an exchange of views with consultant expert Svetlana Polenina (Russia) on respect for the principle of equality in civil law. Draft agenda.
12/01/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
A 93-page handbook published today sets out ways parliamentarians can press for the application of the new Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings by introducing legislation, allocating funding and lobbying their governments. This ground-breaking treaty – not yet in force, and so far ratified by only three countries – sets out ways to prosecute traffickers and protect victims, overseen by a monitoring mechanism. “Parliamentarians have a vital role to play in getting this convention adopted and in fighting this new form of slavery,” said PACE President René van der Linden. “This excellent handbook is full of practical advice to help them do that.”
19/10/2006 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Representatives of national parliaments from across Greater Europe today signalled their support for the “white ribbon” campaign to combat violence against women ahead of a major Europe-wide governmental and parliamentary campaign on this theme to be launched in Madrid on November 27. The Speakers of Parliament of every member state will be sent one of the ribbons – specially produced to focus attention on the coming Council of Europe campaign. Dozens more were worn by parliamentarians from the 46-nation organisation at a preparatory meeting held in Strasbourg today.
20/09/2006 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Female employment rates and the percentage of children being cared for in child-minding facilities from a very young age seem to be closely linked according to a recent study drawn up by the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on the basis of questionnaires to its 46 member states (*). It is part of a report on the need to reconcile work and family life which will be discussed by PACE on 6th October 2006 in Strasbourg. According to this study, the member states are cruelly short of places in collective day nurseries.
13/09/2006 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
"Although its face has changed considerably over the past decade, prostitution is constantly on the increase in Europe. This situation is due to, among other things, the development of new forms of prostitution via the Internet, mobile phones or specialist clubs or agencies and, like it or not, a degree of blurring of moral standards", Sophie Jekeler, who chairs the non-profit association Le Nid (Belgium), today said at the opening of a hearing on prostitution held by the PACE's Committee on Equal Opportunities.
15/05/2006 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, meeting in Paris today, adopted a report on domestic violence against women which suggests that at midday on 24 November 2006 parliaments should all unite symbolically to denounce domestic violence as a serious violation of human rights. "This is an ideal opportunity for MPs from across the European continent to signify their determination to combat this problem, which is once more on the rise in Council of Europe member states," the committee said. The report is due to be discussed during the Assembly's summer session in Strasbourg (26-30 June).
27/03/2006 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Following the decision taken by the Heads of State and Government at their Third Summit last year, the Council of Europe will launch by the end of 2006 a pan-European campaign to combat violence against women, including domestic violence. The PACE will organise the parliamentary dimension of this campaign under the title “Parliaments united combating domestic violence against women”.
10/03/2006 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Parliamentarians, experts and NGO representatives meeting in Paris today for a hearing on the feminisation of poverty, concluded that extreme poverty may lead to every form of violence against women. Participants at the hearing, organised by the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men stressed that women, often belittled, in parlous financial circumstances who want to leave their home countries in search of a better future, become easy victims for people traffickers. “Although the figures for poverty incidence are not broken down according to gender, women irrefutably represent a larger proportion than men of the population in poverty. Being female is a risk in itself,” said rapporteur Gaby Vermot-Mangold (Switzerland, SOC).
09/03/2006 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men meeting today in Paris, decided to submit a request for an urgent debate with the title "stop trafficking in women before the World Cup" to be held during the PACE spring session in Strasbourg (11-14 April).
11/10/2005 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Parliamentarians from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia will join with women’s groups in the three countries, as well as experts from the UN, to discuss gender equality in the South Caucasus at a public hearing in Tbilisi (Georgia) on Friday 14 October 2005. “Not enough attention has been paid to the situation of women in the South Caucasus,” said Rosmarie Zapfl-Helbling (Switzerland, EPP/CD), Vice-Chairperson of the Assembly's Equal Opportunities Committee, which is organising the event in collaboration with the Parliament of Georgia. “This hearing – and the report which will flow from it – aims to highlight the difficult situation many women in the area face, and to push for gender equality to be made a priority.”