26/03/2013 | Session
German President Joachim Gauck, Andorran Head of Government Antoni Martí, Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta and Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki are among a number of leading figures to address PACE during its spring plenary session in Strasbourg (22-26 April).
26/03/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Council of Europe’s Transfrontier Television Convention, a 1989 treaty in force in 34 countries which sets out basic common standards for European TV programmes to enable their free circulation across borders, needs to be modernised, according to PACE rapporteur James Clappison (United Kingdom, EDG).
25/03/2013 | Prizes
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, which aims to reward outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights in Europe and beyond, was launched today at a ceremony in Prague (Czech Republic).
22/03/2013 | Monitoring
“As rapporteur of the PACE on post-monitoring dialogue with Turkey, I first wish to support the statement issued by our President Jean-Claude Mignon welcoming the PKK leader’s call for a truce. This is a crucial stage in the continuing peace process, begun in December 2012 by the Turkish authorities with Abdullah Öcalan. The end of all the violence is a precondition for any negotiations,” Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) said today.
22/03/2013 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon is to make an official visit to Ukraine from 26 to 28 March 2013. In Kyiv on Tuesday, he is due to meet President Viktor Yanukovich, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara.
21/03/2013 | President
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Jean-Claude Mignon has today welcomed the PKK leader’s call for a truce. "This is a crucial stage in the continuing peace process, begun in December 2012 by the Turkish authorities with Abdullah Öcalan. Ending all violence is a precondition for any negotiations,” he said.
20/03/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
21 Council of Europe member states have problems of overcrowding in prisons, with more than 100 prisoners per 100 prison places. According to the Council of Europe’s statistics the countries where the situation is worst are Serbia, at 172 prisoners per 100 places, Italy at 153, Cyprus at 151, Greece at 123, Turkey at 115 and France at 108...
20/03/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On the basis of a report by Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG), the Legal Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris today, agreed that the Draft Protocol 15 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which the Committee of Ministers has submitted to PACE for opinion, could be adopted and opened for signature and ratification as presently drafted, without amendment.
20/03/2013 | Monitoring
Theodora Bakoyannis (Greece, EPP/CD) has been appointed as a co-rapporteur for PACE’s monitoring of the Russian Federation, to replace György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD), who leaves this post after three years. She will work alongside the existing co-rapporteur Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC). The Russian Federation is one of ten Council of Europe member states subject to the monitoring procedure, which assesses how far a country honours its obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe.
19/03/2013 | Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs
Though public administrations have to accept the changing social and economic environment, public services cannot be built on the contingencies of the moment. The State remains a guarantor of social, economic and territorial cohesion.
19/03/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
"Avoiding stateless in general, and granting access to nationality for long-term legal residents, is certainly a political issue as well as a legal one, but without political will, progress is impossible. Too many children are still born stateless and this is a blatant violation of the most basic of human rights," Boriss Cilevics (Latvia, SOC).
18/03/2013 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Council of Europe member states should enact laws enabling them to prosecute “child sex tourists” for acts committed abroad, PACE’s Social Affairs Committee has said, approving a report on the topic today at its meeting in Berlin.