22/06/2026 | Session
PACE President Petra Bayr, opening the summer plenary session of PACE this morning in Strasbourg, has hailed the resilience of the Parliamentary Assembly in pressured times – and pledged its readiness to provide leadership on fundamental issues of human rights and democracy. “There are moments in...
18/06/2026 | President
Petra Bayr, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), made the following statement today: “On the occasion of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s 81st birthday tomorrow, I call once again for her immediate and unconditional release. For decades, Peace Nobel Prize winner Aung...
18/06/2026 | President
“Hate speech dehumanises. It tells a person or a group of people that they are worth less, that they do not belong, that they are a threat. Once that message takes hold, discrimination, and even violence, follow,” said PACE President Petra Bayr today, addressing a conference on “Countering hate...
04/06/2026 | President
“Momentum is growing internationally and across Europe towards recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” said PACE President Petra Bayr in a statement to mark World Environment Day (5 June 2026), urging Council of Europe states to move towards formal recognition...
01/06/2026 | President
During an official visit to Greece, PACE President Petra Bayr held a series of high-level meetings with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Vice-President of the Hellenic Parliament Athanasios Bouras and Foreign Minister Georgios Gerapetritis, as well as with representatives of...
21/05/2026 | President
The adoption yesterday by the UN General Assembly of a resolution on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on climate change sends a strong and timely message: climate action and human rights are inseparable. The resolution reaffirms that states have obligations under...
15/05/2026 | President
PACE President Petra Bayr has welcomed the political declaration on the European Convention on Human Rights which was adopted today by the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers – and urged member states to “talk about us” to their citizens so that the Convention’s role in protecting them...
28/04/2026 | President
For more than thirty years, “the Assembly together with the Venice Commission and the Congress has not only monitored elections. We have helped shape electoral legislation, guided democratic reforms, and strengthened public trust in democratic institutions,” said PACE President Petra Bayr today...
20/04/2026 | President
PACE President Petra Bayr, opening the spring plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, has called on Europe and its parliamentarians to show determined and principled leadership in the face of the pattern of crises on the international scene...
17/04/2026 | President
At a Forum of Women Parliamentarians during the 152nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Istanbul, PACE President Petra Bayr evoked the current situation faced by women in conflict across the globe. “This is not collateral damage, but strategy - a war against women and girls,” she...
31/03/2026 | President
“I am deeply disappointed by last night’s vote in the Knesset, which seriously jeopardises Israel’s observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,” said PACE President Petra Bayr, reacting to the Israeli parliament’s approval of a new law expanding the death penalty in...
23/03/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
PACE’s Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination has welcomed the Assembly’s landmark achievement of gender parity – for the first time since its creation in 1949 – while issuing a strong call to action on the multiple threats facing women and girls worldwide. In a statement adopted following...