21/06/2022 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
PACE’s Migration Committee is encouraging the development of “new and up-to-date criteria” at the Council of Europe level for states to assess the safety of third countries when transferring asylum seekers. Approving a draft resolution based on a report by Stephanie Krisper (Austria, ALDE), the...
21/06/2022 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Pushbacks have taken on worrying proportions, taking place routinely on land, but also in the more deadly environment of the sea. Pushbacks render the plight of migrants and refugees even harsher, heightening the risk to lose one’s life in an extremely perilous journey. PACE Committee on...
21/06/2022 | Session
In a new security context fraught with risks, where Russian aggression against Ukraine has done “grievous harm” to the international order, Council of Europe member States should “renew their commitment to the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law”, PACE has said. Approving a...
21/06/2022 | Session
The Assembly has deplored the "dismal human rights situation” in the North Caucasus, where widespread fear and impunity of agents of the regional and federal authorities for serious human rights violations continue to prevail. None of the recommendations contained in the Assembly's latest...
21/06/2022 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development has expressed concern about the shortages of medical supplies that increased dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic, due to stockpiling, restrictions on exports, closed borders, and lockdowns. This phenomenon has tended to...
20/06/2022 | Session
Addresses by the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands are among highlights of the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which takes place in Strasbourg from 20-24 June 2022. There will...
20/06/2022 | Session
The Assembly today elected, at the opening of its Summer 2022 Session, two new Vice-Presidents: Naomi Cachia (Malta, SOC) and Edite Estrela (Portugal, SOC). Twenty Vice-Presidents are elected annually at the beginning of an ordinary session and remain in office until the opening of the next...
20/06/2022 | President
In his opening speech of the PACE summer session, President Tiny Kox invited members to hold a minute of silence for all the victims of the war in Ukraine, urging them to help end the suffering of the Ukrainian people and to continue showing solidarity. “This horrible war should never become a...
20/06/2022 | Session
The activities of the Standing Committee in Dublin; the list of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights submitted by Iceland; the lists of candidates to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in respect of several countries; the Assembly...
20/06/2022 | Session
At a time when racism and intolerance are rife in Europe, political parties are best placed to combat racism, intolerance and hate speech, the Assembly said today. The parliamentarians consider that the Charter of European Political Parties for a Non-Racist Society, opened for signature in 1998...
20/06/2022 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“Today the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted by an overwhelming majority to deposit the instrument of ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against women and domestic violence, the Istanbul Convention,” said PACE President Tiny Kox. “This is a...
17/06/2022 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Petra Bayr (Austria, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur on combating racism and intolerance, made the following statement to mark the International Day for countering hate speech (18 June 2022): “Today we mark the first ever International day for countering hate speech. I warmly welcome this UN...