11/10/2023 | Session
Citing “mounting evidence” that spyware has been used for illegitimate purposes by several Council of Europe member states, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has urged five governments to provide information on their use of such spyware within three months, and fully...
11/10/2023 | Session
PACE today emphasised that violence against women with disabilities, whether physical, sexual, psychological or economic, remained a taboo subject. The parliamentarians believe that society infantilises women with disabilities by not allowing them to make informed choices about their lives...
10/10/2023 | Session
Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić has responded to parliamentarians’ questions at the PACE Autumn plenary session. During a lively Q & A session, the Secretary General underlined the follow-up to the Fourth Summit of the Heads of State and Government Reykjavik agenda, focusing on the...
10/10/2023 | Session
PACE today expressed its concern about the increase in recent years of far-right violence, driven by xenophobia, racism and other forms of intolerance, stressing that a number of member States consider forms of far-right terrorism “the fastest growing or most prominent domestic security threat...
10/10/2023 | Session
The Assembly today took stock of the honouring of membership obligations to the Council of Europe by France. Recalling France’s longstanding democratic tradition and its commitment to respect for human rights, the Assembly said it was following “with interest” the experiments with participatory...
09/10/2023 | President
“While we are gathering here representing people of our member States and associate States, the peoples in our area are confronted with the harsh reality of natural and man-made disasters, earthquakes, floods, fires and tensions, confrontations and open violence. This includes the suffering of...
09/10/2023 | Prizes
The eleventh Václav Havel Human Rights Prize – which honours outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights – has been awarded to imprisoned Turkish human rights defender, philanthropist and civil society activist Osman Kavala. The 60,000-euro prize was presented at a special...
09/10/2023 | Session
PACE today elected, at the opening of its Autumn 2023 Session, Yıldırım Tuğrul Türkeş as a new Vice-President of the Assembly in respect of Türkiye. Nineteen Vice-Presidents are elected annually at the beginning of an ordinary session and remain in office until the opening of the next session...
09/10/2023 | Session
The Parliamentary Assembly, during its autumn plenary session, held a current affairs debate on “the situation in the North of Kosovo* following the recent attack and the need for de-escalation”. Lord David Blencathra (United Kingdom, EC/DA) opened the debate. 28 speakers took the floor during...
09/10/2023 | Session
The follow-up to the Reykjavik Summit; the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Dublin; the list of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights submitted by Serbia; the lists of candidates to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in...
23/06/2023 | Session
Digital technologies have become increasingly present in all aspects of our lives, offering tremendous progress and opportunities. However, for those who do not have access to such technologies or who are unable to use them, the digital divide has emerged as a major barrier to equality...
23/06/2023 | Session
PACE has condemned all forms of transnational repression – the assassination, intimidation or harassment by a state of its perceived enemies living abroad – as a growing threat to the rule of law and human rights. Approving a report on the topic by Sir Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EC/DA...