13/06/2013 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
“I was extremely surprised by the closure late on Tuesday of Greece’s three public radio and TV services, ERT,” said Deborah Bergamini (Italy, EPP/CD), Chair of the PACE Sub-Committee on Media.
13/06/2013 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) and Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC), have stressed the need for the creation of conditions which would allow for a fair electoral campaign during the forthcoming presidential election, in compliance with democratic standards.
13/06/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Marina Schuster (Germany, ALDE), PACE General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, and Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), Rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, have expressed deep concern at press reports according to which another death sentence was handed down in Belarus yesterday.
12/06/2013 | President
At the end of his visit to “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon called for co-operation between that country and the Council of Europe to be stepped up, in order to complete the honouring of the commitments entered into on accession, and thus to speed progress along the path to European integration.
11/06/2013 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Tiny Kox, the rapporteur on the Palestinian National Council’s ‘Partnership for democracy’ with Assembly, has called on the relevant Palestinian authorities to “respect their agreement with PACE” and prevent any executions.
11/06/2013 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Improving measures to help children report abuse happening within their “circle of trust” was one of the main challenges to emerge during a conference in Baku on the implementation in Azerbaijan of the ONE in FIVE campaign.
11/06/2013 | President
In his address to the National Assembly of the “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon today welcomed the authorities’ willingness to “move forward along the path of European integration”. In support of this process he proposed that a joint effort be started to consider how to focus better on priorities...
11/06/2013 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
"The Duma has today turned prejudice against LGBTs into law," said Hakon Haugli, rapporteur on ‘Tackling discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity’, commenting on the Duma’s unanimous adoption of a law.
11/06/2013 | Elections
“Albania needs the 23 June elections to meet Council of Europe standards, in order to confirm its genuine commitment to democracy, respect for the rule of law and protection of human rights,” concluded a five-member pre-electoral delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD), in a statement issued at the end of a two-day visit to Tirana (10-11 June 2013).
10/06/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Following a fact-finding visit to Berlin to prepare his report on "the protection of minors against sectarian influence", the rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights Rudy Salles has welcomed the German authorities' determination to combat the phenomenon of "sectarian abuse".
10/06/2013 | Monitoring
Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) and Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, will visit the country from 11 to 13 June 2013, to further assess the honouring of its obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe.
10/06/2013 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
General rapporteur on the rights of LGBT people Håkon Haugli expressed concern about the draft bill on ‘homosexual propaganda’ to be examined by the Russian Duma. "Russia should wait for the Venice Commission opinion".