14/12/2011 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC), who is carrying out an inquiry for the PACE into “Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea: who is responsible?”, in particular for the deaths of ‘boat people’ fleeing Libya, will make a fact-finding visit to Malta from 15 to 16 December 2011. During her visit, the rapporteur will meet refugees who arrived from Libya after January 2011 to gather testimony on their experiences, and will meet officials from the Maltese armed forces who are involved in organising rescues.
14/12/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
In a draft Resolution adopted unanimously at a meeting in Paris today, PACE Political Affairs Committee stresses that the Council of Europe standard-setting, advisory and monitoring role should be appropriately reflected in the political documents of the Eastern Partnership of the EU (EaP) and the findings of its monitoring mechanisms fully taken into account.
13/12/2011 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Tina Acketoft (Sweden, ALDE) will carry out a fact-finding visit to Sukhumi and Gali in Georgia from 12 to 15 December 2011 to continue preparation of her report on “Follow-up on the humanitarian consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia: the humanitarian situation in the war-affected areas”.
13/12/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In a draft resolution adopted today at a meeting in Paris, PACE Legal Affairs Committee condemns any form of enforced population transfer in Europe and elsewhere as a human rights violation and invites all Council of Europe member states to do so, including in their international relations with states outside Europe.
12/12/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Lord Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), former rapporteur on climate change for the PACE and Kyoto Treaty signatory, and Sir Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC), today welcomed the decision taken at the climate change summit in Durban to endorse the policy put forward by the PACE to "Stop the Clock" on the Kyoto Protocol.
09/12/2011 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
While pointing out that the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women is the most comprehensive legally binding instrument in the world and may therefore “save and change the lives of millions of victims”, the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men today asked “the largest possible number of states” to sign and ratify this convention and to implement it effectively.
09/12/2011 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Committee on Equal Opportunities today called for renewed impetus to be given to the promotion, protection and effective implementation of women's rights worldwide, and for periodic evaluation of those rights. A report by Lydie Err (Luxembourg, SOC), approved by the Committee, points out that, all over the world, violence disproportionately affects women: one women in three has, at some point in her life, been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other way.
09/12/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"As a result of the inherent lack of transparency, no-one really knows how much public money is siphoned out via tax havens; by various estimates the amounts add up to trillions", according to Dirk Van der Maelen (Belgium, SOC), rapporteur on policy on tax havens, speaking today when he opened a Paris hearing on the subject organised by the PACE Committee on Economic Affairs.
08/12/2011 | Monitoring
“The right to peacefully demonstrate is one of the basic rights of people in any democratic state, and is part of freedom of expression and assembly. There is no justification for the arrest and detention of hundreds of people just because they have gathered to protest calmly. On the contrary, they have the same right to police protection as those who express their support for the winning party,” said PACE's co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Russia, Andi Gross (Switzerland, SOC) and György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD).
08/12/2011 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The PACE Committee on Culture, Science and Education today pointed out that the right of everyone to take part in cultural life presupposes equal and free access for all to a variety of cultural resources. Adopting a report by Muriel Marland-Militello (France, EPP/CD), the committee said that states not only had a responsibility to ensure a wide supply of cultural services but should also act as “an initiator, promoter and regulator of interaction”.
08/12/2011 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
To protect freedom of expression and information on the internet and online media, the Committee on Culture, Science and Education encourages all intermediaries of ICT-based media to set up self-regulatory codes of conduct for respect of their users’ right to freedom of expression and information.
08/12/2011 | President
At the end of a three-day official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu today suggested a set of concrete measures to overcome the political stalemate and speed up reforms, on the eve of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 10th anniversary of membership in the Council of Europe in April 2012, and before the Assembly’s debate to be held in January 2012 during PACE’s plenary session.