28/09/2021 | Session
The situation in Afghanistan, access to Covid vaccines, national minority rights, the persecution of Christian communities worldwide, and promoting family values online were among topics raised by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó, presenting the Communication from the Committee of...
27/09/2021 | Prizes
The ninth Václav Havel Human Rights Prize – which honours outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights – has been awarded to Belarusian human rights activist Maria Kalesnikava. The 60,000-euro prize was presented at a special ceremony on the opening day of the autumn plenary...
27/09/2021 | Session
In his opening speech, PACE President Rik Daems referred to the emergence of a new generation of rights, such as the right to know the truth, the right to privacy, or the right to be equal, and urged the Assembly to address these extremely important issues in a holistic and thematic way. He...
27/09/2021 | Session
The lists of candidates for the posts of judges to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine; the lists of candidates to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in respect of several...
27/09/2021 | Session
PACE decided today to set clear and objective criteria enabling the privileges and immunities granted to Assembly members to “serve their institutional purpose while preventing the possible misuse of privileges by parliamentarians for personal purposes”. The resolution adopted by PACE, based on a...
23/09/2021 | Session
A series of seven reports for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) are demanding a paradigm shift in international and national law, as well as government policies, to ensure that a healthy environment is recognised as a basic human right. In an unprecedented all-day debate...
23/09/2021 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Little Amal, a 3.5m-tall animated puppet of a nine-year-old Syrian refugee girl who is walking across Europe to raise awareness of the situation of child refugees, is to visit PACE and the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 30th September 2021. Amal’s visit is one of the stops on “The Walk”, an...
23/09/2021 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination expressed concern at the increase in hate speech, violence and hate crimes against LGBTI people in Council of Europe member States. “The scapegoating and violations of LGBTI people’s civil rights come to a large extent from political figures...
21/09/2021 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
On the occasion of the European Action Day against Islamophobia, Momodou Malcolm Jallow (Sweden, UEL), PACE General Rapporteur on combating racism and intolerance, made the following statement: “Already rife in Europe, Islamophobia is on the rise. While all Muslims, and those who are perceived as...
21/09/2021 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination has condemned the fact that many Roma and Travellers in Europe “still live, against their will”, in unsuitable and racially segregated housing on the outskirts of urban areas, often lacking the most basic amenities and vulnerable to forced...
20/09/2021 | Bureau
Upon the decision of the Bureau of the Assembly and at the invitation of the Russian authorities, an ad hoc committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) met in Moscow, on 17-20 September 2021, in the format of an Election Assessment Mission composed of the...
17/09/2021 | President
PACE President Rik Daems has ended a two-day working visit to Finland, during which he received strong support for his proposal of a “paradigm shift” on the environment and human rights, moving from policy to principle. In addition to this priority issue, discussions also focused on relations...