13/12/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Following a fact-finding visit to Stockholm in connection with the preparation of his report on protection of minors against sectarian influence, the rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights Rudy Salles (France, EPP/CD) has ascertained that in Sweden the national education system, particularly the arrangements for funding private schools, together with the system for registering associations, embody defects that might prompt abuses at the hands of sectarian movements.
13/12/2012 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon this morning expressed his profound sadness at the death of Lluís Maria de Puig, who presided over the Parliamentary Assembly from 2008 to 2010 and was a member of it for twenty-three years.
13/12/2012 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The human rights and democratic values at the heart of the European project represent “supra-national” common interests which all states must respect, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon has said, opening a major conference today in Turin on human rights and foreign policy. The conference, organised by PACE in co-operation with the Italian Senate’s Human Rights Committee and the Italian Chamber of Deputies, brings together over 100 participants.
13/12/2012 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon has welcomed today’s judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of el-Masri v. “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.
13/12/2012 | News
13/12/2012 | Political Affairs and Democracy
A step towards encouraging more human rights in European foreign policy was agreed today in Turin when key committees in up to 47 national parliaments agreed to meet on an institutional basis to promote the issue.
12/12/2012 | Monitoring
While welcoming the substantial progress made by Bulgaria towards the fulfilment of its remaining obligations, the PACE Monitoring Committee today said that the current post-monitoring dialogue with the Bulgarian authorities should continue.
12/12/2012 | Monitoring
PACE Monitoring Committee today encouraged the authorities of Azerbaijan “to step up their efforts to implement the legislation in the areas crucial for the proper functioning of democratic institutions” and, against this background, said the monitoring of the country’s obligations and commitments should continue.
12/12/2012 | President
At the end of their meeting in Strasbourg today, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon and Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, stressed that both PACE and the EU benefited from informal meetings such as the one today and agreed to discuss co-operation in specific fields on a more regular basis.
11/12/2012 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In a draft resolution adopted today by the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights at its meeting in Paris, the committee called for reinforcement of the selection procedures for the experts involved in the principal human rights monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe.
11/12/2012 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
A Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly hearing on governance at the world football body FIFA is to take place in Paris on 19 December, attended by leading current or former members of the organisation as well as those who have sought reforms to encourage greater transparency.
11/12/2012 | Monitoring
Following his visit to Tbilisi and Kutaisi from 5 to 7 December, Boriss Cilevics (Latvia SOC), co-rapporteur of the Assembly for the monitoring of Georgia, called on the political majority and opposition to fully respect each other’s constitutional roles and, in the interest of all Georgian citizens, ensure that the cohabitation between President and Government works.