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PACE committee urges national parliaments to be more gender-sensitive, inclusive and accessible

13/05/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

Parliaments across Europe and beyond should declare the goal of achieving “gender parity” in their representation, backed by strategic plans, as one of a series of measures to ensure the balanced participation of women and men in all areas of parliamentary life, according to a PACE committee...

International Roma Day: a celebration of Roma life and culture and a call to step up efforts against anti-gypsyism

International Roma Day: a celebration of Roma life and culture and a call to step up efforts against anti...

07/04/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

On the eve of International Roma Day (8 April), Francesco Verducci (Italy, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur on combating racism and intolerance, made the following statement: “On International Roma Day, we honour the culture, language and history of Roma people, and their contribution to European...

International Day for the elimination of racial discrimination

How the horror of Sharpeville lit a beacon of hope: marking the 60th anniversary of the International...

20/03/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

Francesco Verducci (Italy, SOC), General Rapporteur on combating racism and intolerance made the following statement on the occasion of the International day for the elimination of racial discrimination (21 March): On this International Day for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial...

Women's rights

Catia Polidori: 'It is essential to build collective resistance to the backsliding and obscurantism that...

18/03/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

“It is more than ever essential for world leaders to unite and harness their potential to defend women’s rights and build collective resistance to the backsliding and obscurantism that threaten these rights. Parliaments also should place the rights of women in all their diversity at the forefront...

Béatrice FRESKO-ROLFO (Monaco, ALDE)

PACE General Rapporteur called on the Hungarian President not to endorse a law banning the organisation of...

18/03/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

Today’s adoption by the Hungarian Parliament by accelerated procedure of a law banning the organisation of the Pride march and similar events and prohibiting participation in this type of event, to enter into force at the beginning of April, is an important setback not only for LGBTI rights, but...

PACE General Rapporteur, on Day to Combat Islamophobia: ‘Hatred and prejudice against Muslims across Europe...

14/03/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

Francesco Verducci (Italy, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur on Combating Racism and Intolerance, has made the following statement to mark the International Day to Combat Islamophobia (15 March 2025): “On this day we not only commemorate the victims of the tragic mass shootings in Christchurch, New...

PACE President: ‘There is progress towards equality, but it is much too slow’

11/03/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

“There is progress towards equality, but it is much too slow, and this is partly due to short-sightedness among men who think mistakenly that ‘power-sharing’ means ‘power-loss’,” said PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos at the opening of a side-event on the sidelines of the 69th session of the...

International Women's day, March 8

30 years after the global recognition of women’s rights as human rights, gender equality remains a top...

07/03/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

Joint statement by PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos and the Chair of the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, Catia Polidori (Italy, EPP/CD), on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2025. Today, on International Women’s Day, the United Nations is calling for rights...

International day of zero tolerance for female genital mutilation
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‘Female genital mutilation must be prevented and criminalised in all member states’

05/02/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

On the occasion of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) on 6 February, Etilda Gjonaj (Albania, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Co-ordinator of the Parliamentary Network Women Free from Violence, calls for the universal...

Calling men and boys into Gender Equality – how can parliamentarians be agents of change?

Calling men and boys into gender equality

28/01/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

The crucial role of men and boys in promoting gender equality was the focus of an event on “How parliamentarians can be agents of change” organised jointly by the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination and the Nordic Council of Ministers on 27 January 2025 in the framework of PACE’s...

Statement Holocaust Remembrance Day - General Rapporteur Verducci

‘80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, we must continue to fight discrimination and intolerance’

27/01/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

Francesco Verducci (Italy, SOC), the General Rapporteur on combating racism and intolerance of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), made the following statement to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January 2025: “Today, as we commemorate once again the anniversary of the...

ageism
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Human rights should not be denied or reduced with age, PACE committee says

05/12/2024 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

“The negative narrative around age and ageing in society needs to be challenged and changed in order to counter age-based stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination,” the PACE Committee on Equality said today. Older persons experience “age-based discrimination in all areas of life, especially in...