04/09/2020 | Monitoring
Three PACE rapporteurs have urged the Azerbaijan authorities to review the case of opposition politician Tofig Yagublu, who has just been sentenced to four years and three months in prison on charges of “hooliganism”. Mr Yagublu, one of Azerbaijan’s leading opposition politicians and a member of...
02/09/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE General Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in Council of Europe member states, Alexandra Louis (France, ALDE), together with the co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Turkey, Thomas Hammarberg (Sweden, SOC) and John Howell (United Kingdom, CE/DA), have reacted to the death...
02/09/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
André Gattolin (France, ALDE), the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s (PACE) rapporteur on “Ending enforced disappearances on the territory of the Council of Europe” has today expressed outrage that Dmitry Pavlichenko is still out in the streets of Minsk threatening demonstrators instead...
03/08/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In August 2014, Daesh committed genocide against the Yazidi community in region of Sinjar in northern Iraq. Reportedly, Daesh killed 5000 Yazidi civilians and sold thousands more into slavery. Hundreds of thousands of Yazidis had to flee their homes. In its Resolution 2091 (2016) on “Foreign...
31/07/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC), rapporteur of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on reported cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, and Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC) and Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom, EC/DA), co-rapporteurs on monitoring of Azerbaijan, have today...
15/07/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Titus Corlatean (Romania, SOC), PACE general rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, expressed his deep regret at the decision of the United States of America Federal Government to resume executions in the week of 13 July. “Whilst I have every sympathy for all those affected by the...
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...