27/01/2012 | Session
PACE committees elected their Chairpersons: Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy Pietro Marcenaro (Italy, SOC) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG) Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development Liliane Maury Pasquier (Switzerland, SOC)...
27/01/2012 | Session
In a resolution adopted today on the basis of a report by Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania, EPP/CD), PACE expressly condemned any form of enforced population transfer in Europe and elsewhere in the world, a practice which involves moving persons into or out of an area, either within or across an international border, or within, into or out of an occupied territory, without their free consent.The Assembly pointed out that enforced population transfer violated international human rights law and also international criminal law and international humanitarian law, as well as public international law principles.
27/01/2012 | Monitoring
Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) and Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC), co-rapporteurs of PACE for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan, will make a fact-finding visit to that country from 31 January to 2 February. In Baku, the co-rapporteurs are due to meet the President of the Republic Ilham Aliyev, the Speaker of Parliament Ogtay Asadov, the Minister of Justice Fikrat Mammadov and the leaders of political parties represented in Parliament.
27/01/2012 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon has launched an urgent appeal to the competent Belarusian authorities not to execute the two young men convicted for the bombing of the Minsk metro in April 2011. “The Assembly is opposed, as a matter principle, to the use of capital punishment in any circumstances. But in the cases of Dmitry Konovalev and Vladislav Kovalev, I also have serious doubts whether these two youths ever committed the despicable act of terrorism for which they were convicted,” the President said.
27/01/2012 | Session
Despite declining fertility rates and the ageing of its population, Europe still has the opportunity to compete and remain economically and politically influential, PACE has said. Approving a report by Nursuna Memecan (Turkey, ALDE), the Assembly advised member states - among other things - to encourage innovation and technology, to increase investment in “human capital” and to treat migrants in particular as a major asset.
26/01/2012 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“Governments must apply zero tolerance to so-called ‘honour crimes’, which must be punished by exemplary sentences to show total rejection of this practice”, said Jacqueline Thibault, President of the Foundation ‘Surgir’ (Switzerland), speaking at a hearing organised by the PACE network of contact parliamentarians committed to combating violence against women, opened by José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD).
26/01/2012 | Session
“Europe must move with more determination from rhetoric to enforcement of human rights standards” stated the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, when presenting today the last annual report of his mandate. The report identifies fields in which stronger political action is required. One concern is the justice system which is dysfunctional in several member states.
26/01/2012 | Session
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon participated in Strasbourg in the ceremony to commemorate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, together with the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, and the member of the Knesset delegation to PACE, Doron Avital. The event marked the liberation of the largest Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945.
26/01/2012 | Session
"Women want their basic human rights respected": stated Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, when addressing PACE on Thursday. Former Chilean President, a long-time defender of women's rights, has advocated for increasing gender equality and stronger women's empowerment. "Our greatest challenge is to make sure that hard won gains for women are not lost but protected and advanced during this time of austerity and transition", she said.
26/01/2012 | Session
In a resolution adopted today, PACE called on the member states which have not yet done so to sign the Istanbul Convention and rapidly proceed to ratification. This convention – which provides a comprehensive framework for preventing violence against women, protecting its victims and prosecuting the perpetrators – cannot come into force until it has been signed and ratified by a sufficient number of member states (minimum of ten, including eight member states).
26/01/2012 | Monitoring
PACE's Monitoring Committee made public an information note by the co-rapporteurs on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Georgia, Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC) and Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE), on their fact-finding visit to Tbilisi and Batumi (11 – 14 October 2011). The note focuses on the electoral reform in progress, administration of justice, prison conditions and the repatriation of the Meskhetian Population.
26/01/2012 | Session
PACE has called for charges against former government members in Ukraine, including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, to be dropped. It asked the President of Ukraine to consider releasing them and to allow them to compete in the upcoming parliamentary elections. In a resolution approved today, based on a report by Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD), the Assembly also expressed its concern about the deteriorating health of Ms Timoshenko, and called on the authorities to allow her treatment by independent doctors.