27/07/2020 | Parliamentary support
An online video “toolkit” and training resource on the role of national parliaments in upholding the European Convention on Human Rights, and implementing judgments of the Strasbourg Court, is to be made available to parliamentary staff across Europe. The kit has been put together by PACE’s...
27/07/2020 | President
PACE President Rik Daems today made the following statement, jointly with Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo, General Rapporteur on violence against women, and Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD) and Azadeh Rojhan Gustafsson (Sweden, SOC), co-rapporteurs on the monitoring of Poland: “The announcement by...
23/07/2020 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC), General Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on media freedom and the protection of journalists, today expressed his serious concerns about the social media bill that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey...
21/07/2020 | President
Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has urged European governments to do more to crack down on online hate, in a statement to mark the European Day for the Victims of Hate Crime (22 July). “Online hate is getting worse and worse,” said the President...
17/07/2020 | Monitoring
“We are very concerned by the loss of life that the violation of the cease-fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan has caused,” said the PACE monitoring co-rapporteur for Armenia, Kimmo Kiljunen (Finland, SOC), and the co-rapporteurs for Azerbaijan, Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC) and Sir Roger Gale...
15/07/2020 | Monitoring
The PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs for Serbia, Ian Liddell-Grainger (United Kingdom, EC/DA) and Piero Fassino (Italy, SOC), have expressed great concern following the latest demonstrations and last week brutal clashes with police after new lockdown measures were announced in the country. “Any...
15/07/2020 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
"Europe and the world commemorate the genocide in Srebrenica 25 years ago. We parliamentarians must ask essential questions: what have we done and what can we do to bring justice to the victims of these crimes against humanity? And what could prevent future massacres intended to force people to...
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...
15/07/2020 | President
PACE President Rik Daems has appealed to European governments, currently negotiating a 750 billion euro recovery fund in the context of Europe's pandemic crisis, to dedicate part of it to a common vaccination programme. "Such a recovery plan must include a joint vaccination programme, co...
15/07/2020 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
To face new waves of pandemics and other crises, governments will need to take a differentiated approach, and ensure that responses are “comprehensive and inclusive” and take full account of the diversity of our societies, said the Equality Committee, adopting a report by Petra Stienen...
13/07/2020 | Election observation
The Parliamentary Assembly’s election assessment mission visited Warsaw from 10 to 13 July to observe the second round of the presidential election in Poland. During the visit, the PACE mission met the Head and experts of the ODIHR Special Election Assessment Mission (SEAM). The PACE assessment...
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...