01/05/2020 | Standing Committee
On Thursday 30 April, the Standing Committee of the Assembly held its first meeting by video-conference with a virtual current affairs debate on "The response of Council of Europe member States to the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to human rights, democracy and the rule of law". Twenty-eight...
30/04/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In two videos released today on the Assembly’s YouTube channel, Boriss Cilevics (Latvia, SOC), chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, and Vladimir Vardanyan (Armenia, EPP/CD), chairperson of the Sub-committee on Human Rights, discuss the impact of COVID-19 on human rights...
30/04/2020 | President
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has recalled the vital role of journalists and the media in a democratic society. “In the age of misinformation and propaganda, professional and reliable...
30/04/2020 | Bureau
At its meeting on 30 April, the Bureau decided to postpone its part-session scheduled to be held in Strasbourg on 22-26 June to a later date, but before the October part-session. A decision on the date is expected to be taken by the Bureau at its meeting in June. The Bureau also approved a...
27/04/2020 | Prizes
The deadline for the submission of nominations for the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 2020, has been extended by two months. The new deadline has been fixed on 30 June 2020, instead of the original deadline of 30 April. The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded annually by the...
27/04/2020 | Standing Committee
The Standing Committee (*) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will meet by videoconference on Thursday 30 April 2020. PACE President Rik Daems will make an opening speech. The Chairpersons of the five political groups (SOC, EPP/CD, ALDE, EC/DA, UEL) have tabled a...
24/04/2020 | News
Referring to their previous statements, the monitoring co-rapporteurs for Turkey Thomas Hammarberg and John Howell, as well as Boriss Cilevičs, rapporteur on “Should politicians be prosecuted for statements made in the exercise of their mandates?”, have welcomed the adoption on 14 April of the Criminal Enforcement Law, allowing the early or conditional release of 90 000 prisoners to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in overcrowded prisons, but have regretted its discriminatory approach with regard to certain groups of prisoners.
24/04/2020 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Sunna Ævarsdottir (Iceland, SOC), rapporteur for follow-up to Assembly Resolution 2322 (2020) on reported cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, has reacted to the decision of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan to quash the convictions of Ilgar Mammadov, leader of the opposition REAL Party, and...
24/04/2020 | Monitoring
The co-rapporteurs on the monitoring of Azerbaijan by PACE, Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC) and Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom, EC/DA), have welcomed the Azerbaijan Supreme Court's decision to terminate on acquittal grounds the charges against Ilgar Mammadov, leader of the opposition REAL Party...
24/04/2020 | 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, and Frank Schwabe (Germany, SOC), rapporteur on “the continuing need to restore human rights and the rule of law in the North...
23/04/2020 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The new Handbook for parliamentarians on the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) is now available. The handbook aims to strengthen parliamentary knowledge about the convention and to support parliamentarians...
23/04/2020 | President
Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly, spells out the red lines no democracy should cross, even in a crisis – and warns that the COVID-19 emergency measures fast-tracked by governments around Europe should not become “the new normal”.