25/11/2020 | President
Speaking on the International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women, PACE President Rik Daems has urged the 47 Council of Europe parliaments to translate a key handbook on ending gender-based violence into their official languages. PACE’s handbook for parliamentarians on the Istanbul Convention...
23/11/2020 | President
“I am delighted that the Assembly – in the unanimous vote of the Standing Committee on Friday – has given its full backing to the Athens Declaration of the Committee of Ministers Chairmanship, which sets out how democratic societies deal with health crises such as COVID-19,” said PACE President...
20/11/2020 | President
“I deeply regret the unsubstantiated attacks by certain political representatives in Georgia on the personal integrity of the Chairman of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) that observed elections here,” said PACE President Rik Daems. “His statements...
16/11/2020 | President
As announced, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Rik Daems is in Moscow for a working visit. The President has been informed that he has been in contact with a Russian counterpart who may have tested positive with COVID-19. In line with the Council of...
13/11/2020 | President
Strasbourg, 13.11.2020 – Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will make a working visit to Moscow on 16-17 November, during which he will address the 4th International Conference on “Human rights protection in Eurasia: exchange of best practices of...
04/11/2020 | President
PACE President Rik Daems has hailed the 70th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights with an appeal to Council of Europe member States to “cherish, uphold and treasure” the Convention, and said the Assembly would continue to draw attention to what he called “a new generation of...
04/11/2020 | President
Addressing the Annual Session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Athens today, PACE President Rik Daems commended the Greek presidency for its leadership during tough times and particularly welcomed the ongoing trialogue between the Assembly, the Secretary General and the...
03/11/2020 | President
PACE President Rik Daems strongly condemned yesterday’s terrorist attack in Vienna and on behalf of the Assembly expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the authorities and the people of Austria. “Yesterday’s attack in Austria, as the recent ones in France, are attacks...
13/10/2020 | President
The Greek Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, the President of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Rik Daems, and the Secretary General of the 47-nation Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić...
09/10/2020 | President
On the occasion of the World Day against the Death Penalty (10 October), PACE President Rik Daems made the following statement: “To date more than two-thirds of countries worldwide, 142 countries, have abolished the death penalty in law or no longer apply it, whereas 56 countries continue to use...
06/10/2020 | President
PACE President Rik Daems has again called for the drawing up of a protocol to the European Convention of Human Rights guaranteeing a right to a healthy environment, pointing out this would help push governments and parliaments to “go green”. Speaking at the “Human Rights for the Planet” virtual...
22/09/2020 | President
During a private audience on 21 September with Pope Francis, PACE President Rik Daems shared with His Holiness his conviction that a healthy environment should be considered a human right, and his hope that this could eventually be enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights in the form...