19/03/2021 | Standing Committee
The Standing Committee, meeting today by videoconference, held a current affairs debate on “Democracies facing Covid-19: the way forward”. Ian Liddell-Grainger (United Kingdom, EC/DA) opened the debate. Following this current affairs debate, PACE President Rik Daems issued a statement...
19/03/2021 | Standing Committee
Speaking to members of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić emphasised that that since the start of the health crisis in Europe, the Council of Europe has not only advised but also provided material support to its member States. “We have...
19/03/2021 | Standing Committee
In his address to the Standing Committee today, German Minister of State Michael Roth stressed that strengthening the role of the Council of Europe as a guarantor of human rights and the rule of law was one of the top priorities of the German chairmanship of the Council of Europe. “How can we...
19/03/2021 | President
PACE President Rik Daems has again recalled that the rule of law must prevail in the emergency situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic – and stressed that any laws linked to the pandemic should comply with the constitution and international standards. “Today’s debate – held as the crisis...
19/03/2021 | Standing Committee
PACE Standing Committee has said it deplores the complacency of both countries of origin and destination concerning children who are “left behind” when their parents migrate abroad for work, potentially depriving them of support and protection. “Leaving millions of children without parental care...
19/03/2021 | Standing Committee
The Standing Committee, meeting today by videoconference, held a current affairs debate on “Recent developments in Turkey concerning parliamentary democracy”. Frank Schwabe (Germany, SOC) opened the debate.
19/03/2021 | Standing Committee
PACE has again urged Council of Europe member States to do more to confiscate illegal assets, including by reversing the burden of proof as to the illegal nature of the assets, pointing out that national and international efforts to combat money-laundering are still “falling far short of declared...
19/03/2021 | Standing Committee
The PACE Standing Committee, meeting by videoconference, today expressed its deep concern over victims of arbitrary displacement, underlining that nearly 2.8 million Europeans were internally displaced persons (IDPs). “Many Europeans are refugees in other countries, in particular Ukrainians who...
18/03/2021 | Monitoring
“The stripping of Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu’s mandate from the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is another and repeated blow which undermines parliamentary rights and immunity in Turkey,” according to the PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of the country, Thomas Hammarberg (Sweden...
17/03/2021 | President
The need to find common ground and advance co-operation based on shared values and agreed equal standards was the focus of meetings yesterday in Moscow between Rik Daems, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and...
16/03/2021 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
More than a year after the adoption of Resolution 2321 (2020) and Recommendation 2169 (2020) on “International obligations concerning the repatriation of children from war and conflict zones”, the Social Affairs Committee is deeply concerned about the plight of children in Syria whose parents...
16/03/2021 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Council of Europe must help develop “climate resilience” to deal with global warming by promoting the rule of law – meaning the supremacy of law, equality before the law, accountability to the law, separation of powers, participation in decision making, and transparency, according to the...