01/10/2024 | Session
Propaganda can be used to manipulate public opinion and threaten our common values and human dignity, as well as the proper functioning of our democratic systems, impairing the development of free opinions and informed citizen participation in public debate and decision making, the Assembly said...
01/10/2024 | Session
PACE expressed today its concern about the phenomenon of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers going missing, “a tragedy largely underestimated as a human rights issue,” believing that policy responses are needed across Europe and the world. It marked its solidarity with the families of the...
30/09/2024 | Session
The award ceremony for the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 2024 - which rewards outstanding human rights defenders around the world - was a highlight of the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), held in Strasbourg from 30 September to 4 October 2024. One...
30/09/2024 | Prizes
The twelfth Václav Havel Human Rights Prize – which honours outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights – has been awarded to leading Venezuelan political figure and rights defender María Corina Machado. The 60,000-euro prize was presented at a special ceremony on the opening day...
30/09/2024 | Session
In his statement before the award ceremony for the 2024 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, Vladimir Kara-Murza – the prize winner in 2022 – conveyed his deep respect to this year’s finalists and paid tribute to the past recipients who were still held in captivity “for the only ‘crime’ of expressing...
30/09/2024 | Session
PACE today elected, at the opening of its Autumn 2023 Session, two news Vice-Presidents: Gerardo Giovagnoli (Saint-Marin,SOC) and Andries Gryffroy (Belgique, NI). Nineteen Vice-Presidents are elected annually at the beginning of an ordinary session and remain in office until the opening of the...
30/09/2024 | Session
“Dear Vladimir, let me once again express my utmost relief to see you free, and all the more determined to continue with your fight for the free and democratic Russia which we all long for, and which poses no threat to its neighbours nor to its own citizens”, PACE President said today at the...
30/09/2024 | Session
PACE, meeting today in plenary session in Strasbourg, congratulated the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) for “its flexible and tailored support to its member states” in the context of the pandemic and natural disasters, and for the rapid assistance to Ukrainian refugees. The Parliamentary...
30/09/2024 | Session
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize; the lists of candidates for the posts of judges at the European Court of Human Rights submitted by Cyprus, Poland and Slovenia; the upcoming election observations in the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Bulgaria, as well as the participation of a delegation of...
28/06/2024 | Session
PACE is urging Council of Europe member states to act “rapidly and with determination” on existing environmental standards and practices, from a less anthropocentric perspective and taking into account recent legal developments in environmental matters. The Assembly, approving a resolution based...
27/06/2024 | Session
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today expressed its deep concern at recent developments in Georgia that “raise serious doubts" about the country’s commitment to international democratic norms and Euro-Atlantic integration, and about its willingness to honour its...
27/06/2024 | Session
Emphasising the significance of "a people-centred approach in policy making in times of crisis", PACE today called on EU member States to prolong the duration of the initially agreed temporary protection or to open new avenues "for allowing a regular and legally secure presence of peoples of...