23/05/2025 | Standing Committee
Malta’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers “will be a voice for dialogue, but not at the expense of justice. A host to all, but never neutral in the face of suffering. A builder of bridges, but never an observer of the erosion of human rights,” said Angelo Farrugia, Speaker of the Maltese...
22/05/2025 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
A delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) visited FIFA Headquarters in Zurich on 21 May for high-level discussions on the promotion and protection of human rights in and through sport, with FIFA leadership and experts, including Mattias Grafström, Secretary...
22/05/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The PACE General Rapporteur for political prisoners, Azadeh Rojhan (Sweden, SOC), made the following statement regarding the conviction of Igbal Abilov, a Talysh historian and ethnographer, on charges of high treason in Azerbaijan: “I am deeply concerned by the verdict of the Lankaran Serious...
21/05/2025 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
A PACE committee has called on member states to strengthen their national strategies for transitioning to clean, safe and affordable energy — a move seen as critical not only for environmental sustainability but also for social justice and human rights. The committee further underlined that...
21/05/2025 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Committee on Social Affairs, meeting on 16 May in Helsinki, emphasised the importance of rethinking policing strategies in the face of social mobilisation and rebuilding a lasting bond between institutions and citizens, including young people in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Analysing several...
20/05/2025 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, meeting in Paris on 19 May, called on member states to strengthen the co-operation between public and private actors involved in migration management, whether in terms of first assistance, reception, or inclusion of migrants, refugees...
19/05/2025 | Elections
The first round of Poland’s presidential election offered voters a genuine choice between political options, but it took place against a background of deep political polarisation that also impacted some key state institutions involved in the electoral process, international observers said in a...
19/05/2025 | Monitoring
Eerik-Niiles Kross (Estonia, ALDE) and George Papandreou (Greece, SOC), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Hungary, have made the following statement today concerning the draft law in Hungary on “transparency in public life”: “As...
16/05/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
"In recent months, attacks against LGBTI persons have multiplied in a climate of hate. LGBTI persons have been targeted and stigmatised in certain political discourses that accuse them of various evils that have nothing to do with them. As parliamentarians, we have the responsibility to act and...
16/05/2025 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE's rapporteur on the situation in the Middle East, Dora Bakoyannis (Greece, EPP/CD), made the following statement today: "'He who has a why to live can bear almost any how,' wrote Nietzsche. In the case of Gaza, however, that 'how' has become unbearable. For all of us who fervently support a...
15/05/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting on 13 May in Paris, categorically reaffirmed indisputable legal and human rights considerations related to the Russian Federation's war of aggression against Ukraine. It stated that certain fundamental principles of international law, such...
15/05/2025 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"Ukrainian children are non-negotiable. There can be no just and lasting peace without the unconditional return of all deported and forcibly transferred Ukrainian children. The safe and immediate repatriation of these children must form an integral part of any future peace agreement", today said...