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PACE launches special web page on the 75th anniversary of the ECHR

04/11/2025 | European Convention on Human Rights

PACE has launched a dedicated web page to mark the 75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights. The new page highlights the Assembly’s contribution to the drafting and adoption of the Convention, its role in strengthening the Convention system, and its continued efforts to ensure...

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Promoting the Romani language - a vibrant piece of Europe’s mosaic of cultures

04/11/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

On the eve of International Romani Language Day (5 November), Georgios Stamatis (Greece, EPP/CD), PACE General Rapporteur on Roma and Travellers, made the following statement: “On 5 November, we mark International Romani Language Day as an opportunity to honour the Romani language and culture, to...

PACE President, in an address to parliament in Skopje, hails North Macedonia’s remarkable progress

PACE President, in an address to parliament in Skopje, hails North Macedonia’s remarkable progress

04/11/2025 | President

PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos has hailed the remarkable progress made by North Macedonia in an address to its parliament in Skopje. “Your country, dear friends, has always stood where histories meet — where languages coexist, and faiths intertwine. You know that coexistence is not theory...

Istanbul Convention

Statement by PACE President on Latvia’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention

31/10/2025 | Women free from violence

“I am deeply alarmed by the decision of the Latvian Parliament to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, just over a year after it entered into force in the country. This is an unprecedented and deeply worrying step backwards for women’s rights and human rights in Europe. By abandoning the first...

Istanbul Convention

PACE Equality Committee Chair deplores the Latvian Parliament’s decision to withdraw from the Istanbul...

31/10/2025 | Women free from violence

“I am dismayed to learn this week’s final vote of the Latvian Parliament to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, which deprives women victims of violence in Latvia of the protection and support mechanisms of this important Convention which is in application in 37 countries in Europe,” said the...

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PACE co-rapporteurs to make monitoring visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina

31/10/2025 | Monitoring

Zsolt Németh (Hungary, ECPA) and Pablo Hispán (Spain, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina, will make a fact-finding visit to Sarajevo from 3 to 5 November. They are due to...

PACE President at the Nordic Council: ‘We must defend post-war achievements against those who bring...

30/10/2025 | President

Speaking at the plenary session of the Nordic Council today, PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos emphasised that although we have lived for almost eight decades in peace in Europe, this period “was only a parenthesis in history, which was rather made of long eras of tension, of wars, of...

International Day of Political Prisoners: joint statement by PACE general rapporteur and OSCE Parliamentary...

30/10/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights

On the occasion of the International Day of Political Prisoners, PACE General Rapporteur for political prisoners, Azadeh Rojhan (Sweden, SOC) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on Political Prisoners, Steve Cohen (United States), made the following statement: “In his...

PACE Georgia monitors deeply concerned by the ruling majority's appeal to the Constitutional Court to ban...

29/10/2025 | Monitoring

The PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs for Georgia, Edite Estrela (Portugal, SOC) and Sabina Ćudić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, ALDE), have expressed their deep concern at the ruling majority's decision to appeal to the Constitutional Court to ban three of the four democratic opposition parties. "As...

PACE publishes toolkit for parliamentarians on preventing and addressing migrant disappearances

PACE publishes toolkit for parliamentarians on preventing and addressing migrant disappearances

28/10/2025 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation

Thousands of people die or disappear during migration journeys each year. Many others remain uncounted due to the lack of available data. How can national parliamentarians help prevent and respond to this human tragedy and serious human rights issue? A new PACE toolkit offers practical and...

Intersex awareness / Day

Intersex persons: end discrimination and serious violations of their physical integrity

24/10/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

“Exclusion, multiple discrimination, stigmatisation and demands to conform to stereotypical gender norms from an early age are part of everyday life for many intersex persons. Their rights are still too often unheeded or overlooked and, as a result, poorly protected,” said Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo...

PACE President calls on the Latvian Parliament to vote against leaving the Istanbul Convention, the gold standard legal instrument to prevent and punish violence against women
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PACE President calls on the Latvian Parliament to vote against leaving the Istanbul Convention, the gold...

23/10/2025 | President

Theodoros Rousopoulos, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), made the following statement today: “I am extremely concerned by the fast-tracking of parliamentary votes to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, scheduled in the Saeima today and next week...