05/10/2012 | Session
Pietro Marcenaro (Italy, SOC), Chair of the PACE Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, has today condemned the “shocking human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions in public, floggings, amputations and stoning to death” inflicted on persons accused of crimes, outside any legal framework, by the armed Islamic groups operating in northern Mali, a country divided between the government-controlled south and the north controlled by extremist groups linked with the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram.
05/10/2012 | President
“As a parliamentarian I set great store by youth participation in politics. It is very important that the younger generation has access to political mandates at the national and European levels in order to tackle the problem of young people’s lack of trust in political leaders. But that it not enough: we must also develop formal and informal participatory democracy mechanisms so that all interested youngsters can participate in the decision-making process”, said Jean-Claude Mignon, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), at the opening of the PACE Youth Assembly in Strasbourg.
05/10/2012 | Session
In a statement adopted today, PACE’s Bureau has called on Council of Europe member States to give greater support to the North-South Centre, especially in its work to assist democratic processes in Arab countries in transition focusing on youth and young adults, including young women in Europe’s neighbouring regions.
05/10/2012 | Session
György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD), rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the situation of human rights defenders, has expressed serious concern at recent threats to Tanya Lokshina, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch in Russia. “I am worried about the worsening situation of human rights defenders in Russia and the hostile climate for their work. The recent threats sent via mobile phone to Ms Lokshina, a highly-regarded human rights defender, are unacceptable...
05/10/2012 | Session
Public authorities must ensure the quality of higher education without limiting academic freedom, PACE said today. Debating a report by Gvozden Srećko Flego (Croatia, SOC) on the governance of higher education institutions on the last day of the session, the Assembly said that these institutions should, within the framework of national higher education policies and domestic law and with due respect for human rights, be able to determine for themselves their academic curricula and degrees, student admissions, research, administrative organisation, financing and staff employment.
04/10/2012 | Session
“I strongly condemn the killing of Turkish civilians by Syrian cross-border shelling – this is only the latest and worst of several such incidents, which are an unacceptable violation of Turkish sovereignty...” declared today PACE President, Jean-Claude Mignon, on the occasion of a PACE urgent debate on the European response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
04/10/2012 | Session
PACE has today condemned “the continuing, systematic and gross human rights violations, amounting to crimes against humanity, committed in Syria,” and called on Europe to show greater solidarity with Syrians who are victims of the conflict and the neighbouring states sheltering them. In a resolution based on a report by Giacomo Santini (Italy, EPP/CD), the Assembly said the humanitarian situation was “becoming more and more critical” for the estimated 1.2 million Syrians...
04/10/2012 | Session
In a statement adopted today in Strasbourg, the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) announced its unanimous decision to support the proposal by Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, to nominate Ales Bialiatski – the human rights defender sentenced on 24 November 2011 to four and a half years’ imprisonment – for the 2013 PACE Human Rights Prize.
04/10/2012 | Session
The Council of Europe’s knowledge and experience provide the key to promote democratic societies that respect and uphold diversity, Albanian President Bujar Nishani told the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly today. Marking Albania’s first ever chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, Mr Nishani called for support for membership of Kosovo in the Council of Europe as a way to ensure that European standards take root.
04/10/2012 | Session
In a resolution adopted today on the basis of a report by Oliver Heald (United Kingdom, EDG), PACE decided to introduce a code of conduct for its members and establish a system of rules relating, in particular, to political favouritism, offers of gifts or hospitality to members, situations of conflict of interest, or the use of members’ mandates to promote or safeguard personal interests.
04/10/2012 | Session
PACE has called on Europe’s governments to ensure the viability and quality of public-run schools, while upholding the right to establish and run private schools as part of the national education system, provided they meet certain standards. In a resolution based on a report by Carmen Quintanilla (Spain, EPP/CD), the Assembly said Council of Europe member States should respect parents’ right – spelled out in a Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights – to have their children taught “in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions”, insofar as these are compatible with the Council of Europe’s fundamental values.
04/10/2012 | Session
“Somehow, we in this Assembly must try to persuade the international community to get serious about the problem between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” said Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG) today in Strasbourg, opening a current affairs debate on the Safarov case.