24/06/2025 | Women@PACE
During the 2025 Summer Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Women@PACE group met in Strasbourg to address the increasing pushback on women’s rights across Europe and beyond. The special guest was Neil Datta, Executive Director of the European Parliamentary...
24/06/2025 | Election of Judges
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today elected Hugh Mercer as judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of the United Kingdom. Mr Mercer, having obtained a majority of votes cast, is elected judge of the European Court of Human Rights for a term of office of...
24/06/2025 | Session
PACE today expressed concern about the dire situation of Ukrainian prisoners of war, “subjected to summary executions, widespread and systematic torture, and inhuman and degrading treatment, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity”. Unanimously adopting a resolution based on the...
24/06/2025 | Session
“Certain fundamental principles of international law must not and cannot be set aside or undermined in any ongoing or future negotiations,” said PACE today. The Assembly condemned the “illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine” and warned...
23/06/2025 | Election observation
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) ratified today revised guidelines for its election observation missions, aimed at strengthening integrity and transparency. Building on a PACE resolution adopted in April 2025 and focused on upholding the rule of law and combating...
23/06/2025 | Session
The 2025 Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment has been awarded to the Women of the Sun organisation from Palestine*, which seeks to create pathways and opportunities for Palestinian women to enter fields traditionally dominated by men, including in politics, business and technology. The 60,000...
23/06/2025 | Monitoring
Following a fact-finding visit to Ankara and Istanbul on 10-13 June 2025, the PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Türkiye, Lord David Blencathra (United Kingdom, ECPA) and Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC), have made the following statement: “We are very grateful to the Turkish authorities...
23/06/2025 | Session
PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos, opening the Assembly’s summer session in Strasbourg today, announced an address later in the week by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during his first visit to the Council of Europe, and urged “the final steps” towards the establishment of an...
23/06/2025 | Session
PACE today called on the Albanian authorities to demonstrate strong political will to address the shortcomings identified during the observation of the recent parliamentary elections (11 May 2025) “in order to ensure the alignment with European standards in electoral processes”. It called on the...
23/06/2025 | Session
The list of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights submitted by the United Kingdom; the observation of the recent elections in Albania and Poland, and of the upcoming elections in Republic of Moldova; the adoption of guidelines for the observation of elections by...
23/06/2025 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Welcoming the finalisation of the draft Council of Europe Convention on the Co-production of Audiovisual Works in the form of Series, the PACE Committee on Culture said it “commends its ambition to promote cross-border collaboration and cultural diversity”. However, adopting a preliminary draft...
22/06/2025 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“The release of Siarhii Tsikhanouskiy and 13 other political prisoners in Belarus is excellent news in today’s uncertain world,” said three general rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in a joint statement. “These releases are the result of unstinting efforts...