13/12/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In a draft resolution adopted today at a meeting in Paris, PACE Legal Affairs Committee condemns any form of enforced population transfer in Europe and elsewhere as a human rights violation and invites all Council of Europe member states to do so, including in their international relations with states outside Europe.
08/12/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Five years ago we put forward substantial elements of proof of a secret CIA prison in Romania," former PACE rapporteur Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) said today, reacting to news reports. "There have been years of official denials since then. But the dynamic of truth has run its course and we are at last beginning to learn what really happened in Bucharest. I am pleased that the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly made its contribution by jump-starting this dynamic. Those responsible for the crimes committed – and their cover-up – should now be held to account in a court of law."
23/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE rapporteur Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) today warmly welcomed Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s decision to stop executions during the rest of his term of office and his intention to advocate a ballot to outlaw the death penalty. “It takes courageous men and women like John Kitzhaber to abolish the death penalty,” Mrs Wohlwend stressed.
17/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
At its meeting in Paris yesterday, PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights decided to declassify an information document on "Ad hoc judges at the European Court of Human Rights: an overview".
17/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In a report on ‘an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights on national minorities’, presented to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Paris today, rapporteur György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD) regrets that the main Council of Europe instruments for the protection of the rights of national minorities have not been ratified by all member states and underlines the numerous shortcomings in their implementation, already referred to in previous PACE Resolutions.
17/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“The continuing suffering of relatives and friends of no less than 14,000 mission persons in the Western Balkans, 2,300 in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation and close to 2,000 in Cyprus as well as countless missing persons left behind by the conflicts in the South Caucasus region remain a major obstacle to lasting peace and reconciliation,” Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD) stressed at a meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Paris today.
16/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“The authority and effectiveness of the European Convention on Human Rights system is contingent on the political will and commitment of member states to provide the Council of Europe with appropriate financial means to implement its human rights mandate,” PACE rapporteur Marie-Louise Bemelmans-Videc (Netherlands, EPP/CD) said at a meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Paris today.
14/11/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Marie-Louise Bemelmans-Videc (Netherlands, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on guaranteeing the authority and effectiveness of the ECHR, will address a conference held in the context of the UK Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers entitled "2020 Vision for the European Court of Human Rights".
04/10/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In a resolution adopted today, PACE calls on member states not to recognise or support in any way the de facto authorities of territories resulting from unlawful secessions, in particular those supported by foreign military interventions.
21/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Following the decision of the Georgia parole board to deny Troy Davis clemency, I appeal to the Georgian authorities, even at this late hour, not to carry out his execution,” said Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on abolition of the death penalty. “To carry out this irrevocable act now would be a terrible mistake which could lead to a tragic injustice,” she said.
21/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Effective parliamentary supervision at the national level is important to ensure the implementation of Strasbourg Court judgments,” today said in Kyiv PACE Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), in a conference on “The prevention of human rights violations” organised by Ukraine’s Justice Ministry.
07/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Secret services and intelligence agencies must be held accountable for human rights violations such as torture, abduction or renditions and not shielded from scrutiny by unjustified resort to the doctrine of “state secrets”, according to PACE Legal Affairs Committee.