05/10/2011 | Session
PACE has declared that images of child abuse on the internet should be rapidly removed where possible, but if this is not possible then they should – as a complementary measure, and following transparent procedures that respect human rights principles – be blocked. Unanimously approving a report by Agustín Conde Bajén (Spain, EPP/CD), the Assembly said Council of Europe member states should, in the long term, criminalise the intentional viewing of child abuse images.
04/10/2011 | Session
PACE today voted to grant “Partner for democracy” status to the Palestinian National Council – only the second time such status has been accorded. Presenting the report at today’s debate, Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL) said the status “created new opportunities for the Palestinian people” and could be seen as part of the Arab Spring.
04/10/2011 | Session
The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan has formally submitted its request for “Partner for democracy” status with the Assembly, PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced today during PACE’s autumn session. The Moroccan Parliament and the Palestinian National Council already hold this status, which allows parliaments from neighbouring regions to take part in the Assembly’s work in return for commitments to uphold the values of the Council of Europe.
04/10/2011 | Session
At the end of a debate on co-operation between the Council of Europe and the emerging democracies in the Arab world, PACE invited members of the UN Security Council – in particular France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany and Portugal, member states of the Council of Europe – to support the Palestinian formal request to join the United Nations as a full member state.
03/10/2011 | Session
“Terrorism remains the greatest threat to the universal values of human rights. It must be considered a crime against humanity," the PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu said today in his opening speech of the PACE October session in Strasbourg, recalling the the massacre at Utoeya island youth camp, the bombing in Oslo and a recent bomb explosion in Ankara.
03/10/2011 | Session
When adopting the agenda of its plenary Autumn Session (3-7 October), the Assembly decided to hold an urgent debate on the political situation in the Balkans as well as a current affairs debate on the aid for countries touched by humanitarian catastrophes in East Africa. The debate on prenatal sex selection will take place this afternoon and the one on national sovereignty and statehood in contemporary international law, tomorrow evening. The President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, will address the Assembly on Thursday 6 October.
03/10/2011 | Session
At the opening of its Autumn plenary Session (3-7 October 2011), the Assembly today elected its Vice-Presidents with respect to Finland (Susanna Huovinen), Ireland (Joe O'Reilly), Portugal (João Bosco Mota Amaral) and Turkey (Nursuna Memecan).
03/10/2011 | Session
“The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is gravely concerned at the recent country-wide eruption of racist hatred and threats directed against the Roma in Bulgaria. Many Roma fear for their children's and their own safety. The committee calls on the Bulgarian authorities at all levels to do their utmost to protect this vulnerable minority from attack and urges them to strongly condemn and prosecute acts of anti-Gypsyism."
03/10/2011 | Session
The reception centres in Lampedusa are not suitable holding facilities for irregular migrants, in particular Tunisians. In practice, they are imprisoned there without access to a judge, according to the PACE Ad Hoc Sub-Committee on the large-scale arrival of irregular migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees on Europe’s southern shores, in its report on its visit to Lampedusa, which was declassified today. “The reception centres should remain just that and not be turned into holding centres,” said Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG).
03/10/2011 | Session
Emphasising that prenatal sex selection has reached "worrying proportions" in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, PACE today asked those countries' authorities to "investigate the causes and reasons behind skewed sex ratios at birth".
03/10/2011 | Session
Addressing the Assembly for the last time as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko welcomed democratic movements in the southern Mediterranean and stressed the Council of Europe’s readiness to help the region in its transition to democracy. "I hope that action plans with those countries where discussions are most advanced will be finalised soon so that these countries can rapidly benefit from the Organisation's expertise," he said.
21/09/2011 | Session
An address by the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, on Thursday 6 October 2011 will be one of the highlights of PACE's Autumn session, which will be taking place in Strasbourg from 3 to 7 October. On Tuesday 4 October the Assembly will consider the request for Partner for Democracy status submitted by the Palestinian National Council, whose President, Salim Za'noun, will address the Assembly the same day.