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Police harassment of gay men and transgender women in Azerbaijan must stop

29/09/2017 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

“I am deeply concerned by reports that gay men and transgender women in Azerbaijan have recently been targeted by the police,” said Piet De Bruyn, PACE General Rapporteur on the rights of LGBTI persons, today.

Rapporteur strongly condemns prison sentence for Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis

28/09/2017 | Monitoring

Axel Fischer, the rapporteur for the Monitoring Committee in respect of Ukraine, strongly condemned the sentencing to two years in prison of Ilmi Umerov for "separatism", by Russian appointed judges in Simferopol.

Council of Europe urged to step up its conflict resolution role

28/09/2017 | Monitoring

Nikos Voutsis, Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, opening a hearing in Athens, said the Council of Europe should “not forget about” the conflicts in its geographical area and urged an approach to resolving them based on human rights.

IBAC-COE | GIAC-COE issues new call for witnesses

28/09/2017 | Transparency and Integrity

The Investigation Body set up to look into allegations of corruption made against certain members and/or former members of the Assembly will hold witness hearings on 9-13 and 23-25 October, and 6-8 November.

Pichugin and Navalnyy cases: failings highlighted by ECHR still not remedied by Russian authorities

27/09/2017 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights

Pierre-Yves Le Borgn’, rapporteur on the implementation of judgments of the ECHR, expressed concern over the situation of Alexei Pichugin and Alexei Navalnyy, applicants in two cases lodged with the Court against the Russian Federation.

General Rapporteur calls for the conviction of Crimean journalist Mykola Semena to be annulled

26/09/2017 | Culture, Science, Education and Media

Volodymyr Ariev, General Rapporteur on Media Freedom and the Safety of Journalists, has expressed grave concern at the conviction by a court in occupied Crimea of the Ukrainian journalist Mykola Semena.

PACE to revise its Code of Conduct in response to corruption allegations

25/09/2017 | Transparency and Integrity

The Rules Committee will be putting a revision of the Code of Conduct for Members to a vote of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on Tuesday 10 October during its plenary sitting in Strasbourg.

Ex-FIFA ethics chiefs call for ‘total independence’ of bodies overseeing the association

25/09/2017 | Culture, Science, Education and Media

Two leading officials formerly responsible for ethics at football’s governing body FIFA have made a strong appeal for its supervisory bodies to be “totally independent” of the organisation’s executive.

Lublin: Europe Prize to be presented during ceremony

22/09/2017 | Prizes

Serhii Kiral and Andrzej Wojtyła, members of the Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize of the Parliamentary Assembly will present the Prize to Krzysztof Żuk, Mayor of Lublin (Poland).

Autumn session: Czech and Ukrainian Presidents to address PACE, Václav Havel Prize awarded

21/09/2017 | Session

At its autumn session the Assembly is due to hear addresses by the President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman and the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. It will also debate a call for a Council of Europe Summit.

A new Council of Europe summit to revitalise democracy, the rule of law and human rights in Europe

21/09/2017 | Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs

The Committee on Rules of Procedure welcomed the prospect of a future CoE Summit of Heads of State or Government in order to revitalise democracy, the rule of law and human rights, values which today are severely “under pressure”.

Unaccompanied migrant children: a call for child-friendly age assessment procedures

20/09/2017 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation

UNICEF reports that some 170,000 unaccompanied minors arrived in Europe in 2015-2016, often having no identity documents. In order to offer them protection and assistance, it is necessary to determine their age.