15/09/2020 | President
The PACE President announced today that the October 2020 part-session of the Assembly will be replaced by a meeting of the Standing Committee – which acts in the name of the Assembly - on 12-13 October, to be continued on 22-23 October. “This meeting will be ‘enlarged’ to allow all PACE members...
15/09/2020 | Standing Committee
PACE is asking election experts to assess the fairness of different electoral systems in the light of certain anomalies which mean that parliaments do not necessarily reflect the political choices made by constituents at the ballot-box. “Not all electoral systems provide an equal degree of...
15/09/2020 | Standing Committee
“Since our last digital meeting in June, we have still been facing many of the questions and the concerns raised by the pandemic regarding respect for democracy, the rule of law and human rights in this extraordinary situation,” said Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, the Greek Alternate Minister of Foreign...
15/09/2020 | Standing Committee
In a resolution adopted today on the basis of a report by Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC), the Assembly called on member States to “develop a new culture of public dialogue” on advances in science and technology, so that progress in these fields respect fundamental values and human dignity...
14/09/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Even if the most spectacular applications of new neurotechnology – in particular the brain-computer interface (BCI) – remain speculative, the advances already made and the resources being devoted to research imply “an urgent need for anticipation and precautionary regulation now”, ensuring that...
14/09/2020 | President
“Strong and healthy democratic societies rely and thrive on equality, freedom, good governance, dignity, inclusiveness,” said Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), speaking on the eve of the International Day of Democracy (15 September). “We are...
11/09/2020 | Standing Committee
The Standing Committee (*) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will meet by videoconference on Tuesday 15 September 2020. After the opening of the meeting by PACE President Rik Daems, the parliamentarians will hold an exchange of views with Miltiadis Varvitsiotis...
11/09/2020 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“The fires that have now burnt out the Moria camp for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Lesbos is a chronicle of a disaster foretold,” said Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC), Chairperson of the PACE Migration Committee. “We know what happens when thousands of persons are confined in...
11/09/2020 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Many uses of artificial intelligence (AI) can have a direct impact on equality of access to fundamental rights, including the right to private life and access to justice, employment, health and public services. Considering that such uses of AI may cause or exacerbate discrimination in these...
11/09/2020 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Meeting by videoconference today, the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination reaffirmed its support for the Istanbul Convention by adopting the following statement: “The Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence...
10/09/2020 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“Against a Europe-wide backdrop of increasing intolerance against Muslims, Nordic countries have in recent weeks experienced a wave of Islamophobic incidents organised by far-right supporters and groups,” said Momodou Malcolm Jallow (Sweden, UEL), General Rapporteur on Combating Racism and...
09/09/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee is calling for national legal frameworks to regulate the use of Artificial Intelligence in police and criminal justice work, based on core principles of transparency, fairness, safety, privacy, and the clear attribution of human responsibility for all decisions in...