Logo Assembly Logo Hemicycle

News

‘Decent work: building a sustainable future’ – a Council of Europe side-event at the UN in New York

11/07/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

“Decent work, building a sustainable future” will be the theme of a side-event on Friday 14th July 2023, taking place on the margins of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the UN Headquarters in New York. Organised by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe...

Justice for Nahel, street clashes in France, July 2023
©Shutterstock

PACE Social Committee Chairperson on rioting in France: ‘No social peace without social justice, and no...

05/07/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

Selin Sayek Böke (Türkiye, SOC), the Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, has issued the following statement today: “The death of a 17-year-old boy in France, shot by a policeman at a routine traffic stop, is both profoundly shocking and heart...

Illegal workers
©Shutterstock

Ensuring social support and health protection for ‘invisible workers’

22/05/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

The Social Affairs Committee estimates that there are around 4 to 5 million undocumented people in Europe, many of whom de facto participate in the labour market as “invisible workers” but remain very fragile socio-economically – with poor or no access to socio-economic rights. By accepting the...

Geraint DAVIES (United Kingdom, SOC)

PACE calls for sustainable development and protection of fundamental rights in trade agreements

27/04/2023 | Session

According to PACE, trade should be greener and fairer: all trade and investment agreements should contain “comprehensive provisions on sustainable development and protection of fundamental rights”, with strong enforcement which is commensurate with protecting investors. Unanimously approving a...

Covid-19 - Woman
©Shutterstock

Public health emergency: the need for a holistic approach to multilateralism and health care

27/04/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, "new public health emergencies linked to the climate crisis, coupled with dwindling biodiversity, are waiting to unfold, and will likely hit the world unexpectedly", the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable underlined.  Unanimously adopting a draft...

2023 Europe Prize awarded to Bolesławiec

2023 Europe Prize awarded to Bolesławiec (Poland)

26/04/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

The 2023 Europe Prize has been awarded to Bolesławiec in Poland. This award is given annually by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to the town most actively promoting the European ideal. Bolesławiec is a city of 90 000 inhabitants in western Poland, at the crossroads of...

Network of Contact Parliamentarians for a healthy environment

#RoadToReykjavik: towards an ambitious summit for protecting the environment

26/04/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

The Assembly’s Parliamentary Network for a Healthy Environment has urged Council of Europe leaders – meeting at the Reykjavik Summit in three weeks – to place the protection of the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment high on their agenda. “Governments should seize this...

Simon Moutquin (Belgium, SOC), visit to Türkiye

PACE rapporteur urges European leaders to increase solidarity with earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria

11/04/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

Ending a three-day visit to Türkiye, Simon Moutquin (Belgium, SOC), PACE’s rapporteur on political strategies to prevent, prepare for, and face the consequences of natural disasters, has urged European political leaders to intensify solidarity with the victims: “We must stand by the people of...

Trade agreements should also be used to protect the environment and human rights, says PACE committee

17/03/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

New trade and investment agreements should contain comprehensive provisions on sustainable development and the protection of fundamental rights, with strong enforcement which is commensurate with protecting investors, PACE’s Social Affairs Committee has said. Approving a report by Geraint Davies...

Climate change crisis global warming environment wind hurricane tornado tropical storm weather

Preventing, anticipating and dealing with natural disasters

17/03/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

At a time when major hazards are becoming more numerous and more violent because of the Anthropocene, the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development called on States to be aware of the need to prevent, anticipate, take into account and monitor natural disasters, and to...

Health / AI
©Shutterstock

Combating the commodification of and trafficking in tissues of human origin

26/01/2023 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

In a declaration unanimously adopted today, the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development expressed its concern about the potential commodification of substances of human origin in the context of the development and production of new therapeutic options, and their...

John Howell (United Kingdom, EC/DA)

The Council of Europe should pave the way towards international recognition of the crime of ecocide

02/12/2022 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

The severe destruction or deterioration of nature “that could be qualified as ecocide” may occur in times of peace or war. It is therefore “necessary to codify this notion in both national legislations, as appropriate, and international law” the PACE Committee on Social Affairs said today, while...