25/01/2022 | Session
In his address to the Assembly today, the Italian Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Benedetto Della Vedova, described the Council of Europe as “an outpost” and "continental emblem of the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms...
24/01/2022 | Session
The credentials of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have been challenged both on procedural grounds (Rule 7 of the Rules of Procedure) and on substantive grounds (Rule 8) on the opening day of the 2022 “hybrid” winter plenary session. The...
24/01/2022 | Session
At the opening of its Winter plenary Session today, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) elected its Vice-Presidents: Jonathan Attard (Malta)José Badia (Monaco)Theodora Bakoyannis (Greece)Marta Grande (Italy)Antonio Gutiérrez (Spain)John Howell (United Kingdom)Darko Kaevski...
24/01/2022 | Session
Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL) has been elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Taking over from Rik Daems (Belgium, ALDE), he is PACE’s 34th President since 1949 and the third Dutch to hold this office. He obtained an absolute majority in the first round of...
24/01/2022 | Session
The discussions at the Standing Committee meeting in Rome (25-26 November 2021); the lists of candidates to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in respect of several countries; the 2022 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize; Assembly expenditure for the 2022 financial year; co...
24/01/2022 | Session
Governments and parliaments should ensure that children’s views are taken into account “whenever decisions affecting their lives are made and put into practice”, the Parliamentary Assembly stated. Adopting a resolution and recommendation based on a report by Baroness Doreen E. Massey (United...
24/01/2022 | Session
According to the PACE, “the lack of effective action to tackle climate change constitutes a violation of children’s rights as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child”, in particular regarding the right to life, development, health and medical care, education, a good standard of...
24/01/2022 | Session
PACE has welcomed the EU’s commitment to integrating European human rights fully into all its policies on migration and asylum, but has said its proposed new Pact on Migration and Asylum is “very complex” and raises concerns that proposed accelerated asylum procedures may reduce their quality and...
30/09/2021 | Session
The Parliamentary Assembly, during its “hybrid” autumn session, held a current affairs debate on 'The Western Balkans between democratic challenges and European aspirations: what role for the Council of Europe?'. George Papandreou (Greece, SOC) opened the debate and five other members took the...
30/09/2021 | Session
Tackling the immediate and future momentous challenges posed by the situation in Afghanistan requires a “coherent, co-ordinated and concerted” response by the international community and Council of Europe member States should “spare no effort” to achieve this objective, the Assembly said today...
30/09/2021 | Session
Addressing the Assembly today, the Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs of North Macedonia remained silent in the hemicycle for sixteen seconds. “This is to illustrate the 16 years my country has been a candidate country to the EU, since 2005, and we are still not able to start the journey...
30/09/2021 | Session
While welcoming the success that the Convention on Cybercrime is enjoying world-wide, with 66 ratifications, the Assembly stressed that since the adoption of the Convention in 2001, the exploitation of information technology for criminal purposes had strongly increased. Adopting an opinion today...