25/11/2011 | Standing Committee
PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has welcomed “new ideas” to deal with the backlog of thousands of cases clogging up the European Court of Human Rights. Addressing the Assembly’s Standing Committee in Edinburgh, the President said that reform of the Court, and strengthening of the European Convention on Human Rights – which are priorities of the British chairmanship – were of the “utmost importance”.
25/11/2011 | Standing Committee
While promoting a culture of "living together" based on religious pluralism, the PACE Standing Committee, meeting in Edinburgh today, called on European governments “to grant all religious communities the possibility to obtain a legal status” and to abolish outdated legislation and administrative practices causing discrimination against certain religious groups.
25/11/2011 | Standing Committee
The Parliamentary Assembly is to begin assessing the request for ‘Partner for democracy’ status submitted by the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic. PACE’s Political Affairs Committee will now assess the request – submitted by the Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament, Ahmatbek Keldibekov.
25/11/2011 | Standing Committee
States should consider introducing the notion of ‘psychological violence’ into their criminal law, according to PACE Standing Committee. Psychological violence in the context of intimate relationships is widespread, primarily affecting women as victims and the children who witness it, but also men, said the committee, approving a report by Elvira Kovacs (Serbia, EPP/CD).
17/11/2011 | Standing Committee
Reform of the European Court of Human Rights and other priorities of the United Kingdom during its six-month Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe are due to be discussed at a meeting of the PACE Standing Committee in Edinburgh on Friday 25 November 2011. British Minister for Europe David Lidington will hold an exchange of views with the committee, which brings together around 60 parliamentarians from the Council of Europe’s 47 member states. This will be preceded by an opening address from PACE President Mevlüt Cavuşoğlu.
27/05/2011 | Standing Committee
PACE today welcomed the EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative, describing it as a “major opportunity” for the six countries involved (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) to achieve reform and greater prosperity through enhanced links with the European Union.
27/05/2011 | Standing Committee
Microcredit, used to encourage the formation and development of microenterprises, often aids the transition from unemployment to self-employment, and plays an important part in promoting social inclusion, the PACE believes. In a resolution adopted today in Kyiv, on the basis of the report by Márton Braun (Hungary, EPP/CD), the PACE accordingly invited member states to adapt their institutional, legal and commercial frameworks in order to promote microcredit.
27/05/2011 | Standing Committee
The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) currently discriminates against new EU member states and needs a “radical shift” to make it fairer and more sustainable, according to PACE. In a resolution adopted today, based on a report by Juha Korkeaoja (Finland, ALDE), the Assembly said it “deplores that 85 per cent of CAP direct payments go to just 18 per cent of farmers, with the largest farms in the old EU member states benefiting the most.”
27/05/2011 | Standing Committee
In a resolution adopted today in Kyiv, PACE called on member states to eliminate as many heavy metals and other metals as possible from the human environment and to prevent their bioaccumulation in nature, the food chain and the human body. In respect of the most toxic heavy metals, such as mercury, member states should prohibit or limit the use of these substances by industry, agriculture and the medical sector – particularly the use of mercury in dental amalgams.
27/05/2011 | Standing Committee
“The priorities of Ukraine’s Chairmanship – protection of children’s rights, promotion of human rights and the rule of law in the context of democracy and stability in Europe, as well as the strengthening and development of local democracy – fully correspond to the 'core business' and values of our Assembly,” today stressed PACE President at the opening of the PACE Standing Committee in Kyiv.
27/05/2011 | Standing Committee
The Parliamentary Assembly, meeting in Kyiv at Standing Committee level, today called on European governments to “take all reasonable measures” to reduce exposure to electromagnetic fields, especially to radio frequencies from mobile phones, “and particularly the exposure to children and young people who seem to be most at risk from head tumours”.
19/05/2011 | Standing Committee
The potential dangers of electromagnetic fields and their effect on the environment will be a central focus of the meeting of PACE Standing Committee to be held in Kyiv on Friday 27 May 2011 following the transfer of the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers to Ukraine. Assembly members will hold a debate on the basis of the report by Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC) and will adopt a resolution on this issue. The draft text calls for a series of measures to reduce exposure – especially of children and young people – to electromagnetic fields, and in particular radio frequencies emitted by mobile phones.