01/06/2012 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Roma face “double stigmatisation” when they are on the move, firstly as a persecuted and victimised minority and secondly as migrants, according to PACE’s Migration Committee. In a draft recommendation approved today in Paris, based on a report by Annette Groth (Germany, UEL), the committee points out this stigma is “based on three deep-rooted prejudices, namely that all Roma are nomads, they all come from abroad, and their migration is illegal”.
31/05/2012 | Session
Addresses by the Albanian and Croatian Prime Ministers, as well as a joint debate on the state of democracy in Europe, will be among highlights of PACE’s forthcoming summer session (25-29 June). The Italian Foreign Affairs Minister will also address the Assembly. The President of Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly will take part in a debate on political transition in the country.
31/05/2012 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Addressing the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana (Kazakhstan), former PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu today renewed PACE’s recent call for the establishment of a stable platform for dialogue between the Council of Europe, the religious faiths and the main humanist organisations in order to promote a partnership for democracy and human rights...
31/05/2012 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
PACE rapporteur Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC) has called on members of the European Parliament to help uncover further details related to the deaths of 63 refugees who died in the Mediterranean last spring after their distress calls went unanswered. She was briefing the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee today in Brussels on her continuing investigation into the tragedy.
30/05/2012 | President
PACE's Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, meeting today in Paris under the chairmanship of Pietro Marcenaro (Italy, SOC), made the following statement: “The Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy joins the international community and the President of the Assembly in condemning, in the strongest possible terms, the massacres perpetrated last weekend near the town of Houla, where more than a 100 people, mainly women and children, were savagely and summarily executed..."
30/05/2012 | President
Following the earthquake that hit north-eastern Italy yesterday, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon has sent to the Presidents of the Italian Senate, Renato Giuseppe Schifani, and the Chamber of Deputies, Gianfranco Fini, the following letter of condolence...
29/05/2012 | Monitoring
Kerstin Lundgren (Sweden, ALDE) and Jana Fischerová (Czech Republic, EDG), who are currently assessing the request for the opening of a monitoring procedure in respect of Hungary, will visit Brussels on 30 May for high-level meetings with members of the European Commission and the European Parliament.
29/05/2012 | President
Adding his voice to the international condemnation of the recent massacre in Houla, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon today called on the Syrian authorities to co-operate fully with the Special Envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League, Kofi Annan, and with United Nations observers in the field.
25/05/2012 | Standing Committee
There are numerous Jewish cemeteries in Europe and they need to be protected and preserved. They are part of the European cultural heritage and constitute an important element of the Jewish religion, PACE's Standing Committee said today at its meeting in Tirana. Considering that these cemeteries are probably more at risk than those of other confessions represented in Europe, the adopted text, based on the proposals by the rapporteur (Piet De Bruyn, Belgium, NI), calls on governments, members of Jewish communities and heritage organisations to develop appropriate forms of co-operation to ensure their protection.
25/05/2012 | Standing Committee
Europe’s governments should set up digital film libraries and other archives of audiovisual material for education and research purposes, and clarify copyright issues for making it available on the internet, according to PACE’s Standing Committee. Approving a report by Doris Fiala (Switzerland, ALDE), the committee said that old films and recordings were “vanishing due to their material fragility”.
25/05/2012 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC), whose report “Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea: who is responsible?” was recently adopted by the PACE, will be in Brussels on 30 May to brief members of the European Parliament on her findings and seek their assistance in clarifying further how 63 people fleeing the Libya conflict by sea in March 2011 were “left to die”.
23/05/2012 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon is to meet Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Foreign Minister Edmond Haxhinasto on the fringes of a meeting of the Assembly’s Bureau in Tirana on 24 May. Talks will cover, among other things, Albania’s plans for its six-month Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, which begins today, and co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly during this period.