10/07/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Daphne’s brutal assassination continues to cast a dark shadow over Maltese public life,” said Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the rule of law in Malta, in a statement to mark 12 July 2020, the 1,000th day since her death...
02/07/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Whilst a ‘state of emergency’ may allow for a more effective response to a major health crisis like that of COVID-19, it might also be potentially hazardous from the perspective of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. But according to the Committee on Legal Affairs, “there should and need...
25/06/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On the occasion of World Drug Day and the Global Day of Action for the #SupportDontPunish Campaign, Assembly rapporteur Hannah Bardell (United Kingdom, NR) and rapporteur for opinion Joseph O’Reilly (Ireland, EPP/CD) called for European drug policies to be consistent with human rights standards...
19/06/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the rule of law in Malta, today welcomed the Venice Commission’s opinion on the Maltese government’s reform proposals and expressed his concern at recent revelations about the Maltese police...
05/06/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee has expressed its concern at the “increasing legal and political difficulties” surrounding the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights - and again urged States Parties to the Convention to implement the Court’s binding judgments. Approving...
29/05/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), Rapporteur for follow-up to Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 2293 (2019) on the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the rule of law in Malta, today called on the Maltese authorities to ensure effective investigations into the numerous long-standing...
13/05/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE monitors for Turkey Thomas Hammarberg (Sweden, SOC) and John Howell (United Kingdom, EC/DA), as well as the General rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in Council of Europe member States Alexandra Louis (France, ALDE), have reacted to the decision of the Grand Chamber of...
06/05/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), rapporteur on the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the rule of law in Malta, today responded to developments in the process of institutional reform in Malta. “When I visited Malta in February, I was encouraged to hear from the government that an...
30/04/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In two videos released today on the Assembly’s YouTube channel, Boriss Cilevics (Latvia, SOC), chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, and Vladimir Vardanyan (Armenia, EPP/CD), chairperson of the Sub-committee on Human Rights, discuss the impact of COVID-19 on human rights...
24/04/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Sunna Ævarsdottir (Iceland, SOC), rapporteur for follow-up to Assembly Resolution 2322 (2020) on reported cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, has reacted to the decision of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan to quash the convictions of Ilgar Mammadov, leader of the opposition REAL Party, and...
24/04/2020 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC), General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on media freedom and the protection of journalists, and Frank Schwabe (Germany, SOC), rapporteur on “the continuing need to restore human rights and the rule of law in the North...
08/04/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“It is a fact of society that there will always be whistle-blowers. Times of crisis show that we need them to safeguard our fundamental rights, but we also need them to enable us to prepare for and manage such situations more effectively,” said Sylvain Waserman.