29/01/2009 | Session
PACE Monitoring Committee, meeting today in Strasbourg, examined recent developments in Azerbaijan and decided to request the opinion of the Venice Commission – the Council of Europe’s group of experts on constitutional law – on the package of constitutional amendments to be submitted to a nation-wide referendum on 18 March 2009. These amendments, adopted by the Azerbaijani Parliament on 25 December 2008, would abolish the limit on the number of consecutive terms of office for the President of the Republic, extend the term of office of the President and the Parliament in a time of war, as well as grant the right to introduce a legislative initiative if it has the support of 40,000 voters.
29/01/2009 | Session
At the opening of the Assembly 2009 session, on 26 January 2009, the still unratified credentials of the delegation of Albania to the Parliamentary Assembly were contested on procedural grounds. After examining the various objections made, PACE has found that there was no indication that the principles guaranteed by the Assembly’s Rules of Procedures were not respected in the nomination of the members of the parliamentary delegation of Albania and therefore decided, in a resolution unanimously adopted today, to ratify their credentials.
28/01/2009 | Session
“PACE can offer its political know-how to try to ease daily life for the populations of the two parties in conflict,” said Göran Lindblad (Sweden, EPP/CD) in Strasbourg today, opening a current affairs debate on the situation in Gaza. He highlighted the need for a change of attitude by the two parties to try to work out a just and lasting peace, including “recognition of secure borders”. As rapporteur, he said the Parliamentary Assembly’s Sub-Committee on the Middle East would pursue its efforts in support of the peace process.
28/01/2009 | Session
PACE has recommended that member States establish a consistent and comprehensible health-policy approach to palliative care in a resolution unanimously adopted today. The Assembly sees this comprehensive treatment method complementing curative medicine as a model for innovative health and social policies. "Palliative care is not a humanitarian luxury which we can no longer afford in the current difficult economic situation; it must be available not only to the terminally ill but also to seriously ill and chronically ill patients.
28/01/2009 | Session
PACE today called on both Russia and Georgia to allow unhindered and unconditional access for humanitarian organisations and aid to South Ossetia and Abkhazia – and said it was unacceptable that people living there should not be effectively covered by Council of Europe human rights protection mechanisms. It called for a Council of Europe action-plan for these people, which could include the establishment of a field presence and ombudsman in the two break-away regions to investigate and document human rights violations committed during and in the aftermath of the war.
28/01/2009 | Session
Miguel Angel Moratinos, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain and Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, today emphasised the priority the Spanish Chairmanship attaches to the entry into force of Protocol No.14, so the European Court of Human Rights can improve its efficiency. Addressing the Parliamentary Assembly on 28 January, he said the role of the Council of Europe must be strengthened and described it ''as a cornerstone of European architecture and a guarantee of fundamental values''.
27/01/2009 | Session
PACE, which elects judges to the European Court of Human Rights from lists of three candidates designated by the States Parties, stressed the importance of national selection procedures that guarantee and increase the quality, efficiency and authority of the Court. In line with the conclusions of the rapporteur for the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG), PACE asked the governments of the member states to issue public and open calls for candidatures and to describe the manner in which candidates have been selected.
27/01/2009 | Session
The investigation into the murder of Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze cannot be considered solved until the “instigators and organisers” are held to account in addition to the actual perpetrators of the crime, according to the PACE. In a resolution adopted today, the Assembly welcomed the conviction of three former Interior Ministry police officers for the murder, but said Ukrainian prosecutors should now vigorously pursue authentification of the so-called “Melnychenko recordings” so that they can be used as evidence in court.
27/01/2009 | Session
“The new American administration wishes to break with the past and return to the path of the rule of law,” said Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), former PACE rapporteur on the illegal transfer of detainees and secret detentions in Europe, at a press conference today in Strasbourg. “Some European governments would be well advised to tell the truth before the Washington Post or the New York Times reveal it,” he added.
27/01/2009 | Session
At the end of this morning's winter session debate and following the proposals of the monitoring co-rapporteurs for Armenia, Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD) and John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decided not to suspend the voting rights of the members of the Armenian delegation to the Assembly at this stage, viewing the recent initiatives of the Armenian authorities as an indication of their readiness to address the demands made by PACE in its Resolutions 1609 (2008) and 1620 (2008). The Assembly remains dissatisfied and seriously concerned by the situation of persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events of 1 and 2 March 2008.
27/01/2009 | Session
Addressing the Assembly, Philippe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court said there was an urgent need for universal ratification of the Court’s statute which will help to put an end to impunity for serious international crimes. He emphasised that the longstanding support that ICC has received from the Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly helped to bring about the Court’s existence. "The Council of Europe can contribute further to the success and efficiency of the Court by encouraging its member and observer states to provide the practical support, resources and co-operation it needs to do its work," he said.
27/01/2009 | Session
Following the proposals of the rapporteur (Herta Daubler-Gmelin, Germany, SOC), the Assembly today reiterated its firm commitment to the International Criminal Court (ICC). “The universal ratification of the Rome Statute (…), as well as close co-operation by states and non-States Parties in providing practical and judicial assistance to the ICC, are of key importance for the fight against impunity” the adopted text underlines. The parliamentarians urged eight Council of Europe member states (Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Monaco, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine) that have not yet ratified the Rome Statute to do it “without further delay”.