18/03/2005 | News
At the start of today's meeting of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Paris, the leader of the French delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly, Bernard Schreiner, delivered a message from the Minister with responsibility for European Affairs, Claudie Haigneré, in which she set out three objectives for the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe to be held in Warsaw on 16 and 17 May: to strengthen the Council of Europe in the fields in which it excelled: human rights, democracy and the rule of law; to establish closer relations with the European Union and step up co-operation with the OSCE; and finally to open up further to civil society, NGOs, academic networks and the media.
18/03/2005 | News
Stressing the pre-eminence of the Council of Europe as regards the protection of human rights in Europe, PACE's Standing Committee called for closer co-ordination and co-operation with the "46" in setting up a Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU, decided by the European Council in 2003. "There is no point in re-inventing the wheel by giving the Agency a role which is already performed by existing human rights institutions and mechanisms in Europe", parliamentarians said. The Standing Committee called on the European Union and its member states, before setting up the Agency, "to a careful reflection about the aims, content, scope, limits, and instruments of the EU’s own internal human rights policy, taking into account the role played by the Council of Europe in the promotion and protection of human rights".
17/03/2005 | News
The Chair of PACE's Culture Committee Jacques Legendre (France EPP/CD), speaking today at a hearing on the media and terrorism organised by the committee, sent a message of support and hope to the journalist Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi assistant Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi. "I pay tribute to the courage of these professionals who carry out their jobs with determination and devotion in extremely dangerous situations and, on the committee’s behalf, I call for their release," he said.
14/03/2005 | News
PACE's Committee on Culture will be holding a hearing on the media and terrorism in Paris on 17 March. Participants will be looking at the role played by media coverage in terrorist strategy, the potential for media self-regulation, existing legal measures and the political steps that could be taken to strengthen them. Among journalists attending will be the editor of "Chechen Society" Timur Aliyev, leader-writer for "El País" Francisco Gor, "Le Figaro" journalist Georges Malbrunot, the Secretary General of Reporters sans frontières Robert Ménard, Czech Radio journalist Vit Pohanka, TV presenter and member of the editorial board of Al-Jazeera Muhammad Krishan, and controller of editorial policy at the BBC Stephen Whittle.
11/03/2005 | News
"In recent weeks, a number of persons indicted for war crimes from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and, most recently, from Kosovo, have agreed to give themselves up voluntarily to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia," said PACE President René van der Linden in a statement today. "This is a welcome development because it reinforces the chances that justice will finally be done for the terrible crimes committed during the wars in the Balkans."
09/03/2005 | News
On the eve of his departure for a working visit to Moscow from 10 to 11 March, PACE President René van der Linden said he hoped that the death of Aslan Maskhadov would not trigger more violence and lead to a deterioration of the situation in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation. "PACE is committed to building a broader basis for dialogue aimed at achieving a political solution in Chechnya," he said. "This is why our Political Affairs Committee is organising a Round Table in Strasbourg on 21 March which should bring together the broadest possible spectrum of representatives of the Chechen Republic and the Russian Federal authorities." The President said he regretted it had not been possible to bring Aslan Maskhadov to trial in accordance with Council of Europe principles.
04/03/2005 | News
PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting in Paris on 3 March, adopted the following declaration: “The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe notes with grave concern the recent trial and imprisonment of Mr Mikhail Marynich. Mr Marynich is an opposition politician in Belarus, who had stood against the current President in the 2001 presidential elections, and a former ambassador of Belarus to various European countries. Mr Marynich was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment on charges relating to the theft of computer equipment from the US embassy in Belarus, despite the fact that the US State Department itself made clear that it had no complaints against him ..."
01/03/2005 | News
"There is something which all migrant women have in common: the two-fold discrimination to which they may be subjected in their host countries, on the grounds of both gender and origin, increasing their vulnerability, especially in the labour market". Minodora Cliveti (Romania, SOC) was speaking this morning at the opening of the hearing. Jointly organised in Paris by two PACE committees, the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men and the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, the hearing should afford an opportunity to look at three main themes: access to rights, obstacles to integration and participation in public and political life.
01/03/2005 | News
“The European Court of Human Rights has 11 female and 33 male judges – which means that only about a quarter of the judges are women. There’s still a glaring imbalance between women and men, even though the PACE, which elects the judges, made it a rule in 2004 that lists of candidates must have at least one candidate of each sex. This discrepancy between women and men is a threat to the Court’s legitimacy and authority”, declared Vera OSKINA (Russia, EDG) at a meeting of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in Paris on 28 February.
01/03/2005 | News
In his intervention at the opening of the hearing, John Wilkinson (United Kingdom,EDG) stressed this morning that migrant women face a host of different challenges in terms of their migration and integration to those of men, and policy must reflect these issues and challenges. "In view of restrictions on immigration in European countries, many women have to resort to clandestine status making it more likely that they become victims of gender-specific forms of abuse, including sexual exploitation", he added.
01/03/2005 | News
"Securing the fundamental rights of migrant women is an inseparable condition of their integration in the Council of Europe member states,” Gülsün Bilgehan (Turkey, SOC), rapporteur for the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, pointed out in her concluding remarks at a hearing on the subject held today in Paris. She also emphasised that national legislation must look after the enforcement of the law of the country of residence and resolute measures to combat all forms of violence undergone by migrant women.
28/01/2005 | News
While noting the lack of progress made in respect of the Lisbon Strategy of 2000, when EU member states pledged to make Europe the most competitive region in the world by 2010, the Assembly today put forward several measures intended to give new impetus to Europe's labour market: more stimulation of research, greater reward for initiative and entrepreneurship and increased labour market flexibility. Taking up the proposals made by rapporteur Anders G Högmark (Sweden, EPP/CD), the Assembly cited as examples a reduction in taxes on labour, a decentralisation of wage bargaining and more opportunities for part-time work. Members of the Assembly, who called for action on the aspects of unemployment specifically affecting women, also adopted a resolution on social cohesion and employment which advocates job quality combined with respect for the right to work within the meaning of the European Social Charter.