21/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Following the decision of the Georgia parole board to deny Troy Davis clemency, I appeal to the Georgian authorities, even at this late hour, not to carry out his execution,” said Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on abolition of the death penalty. “To carry out this irrevocable act now would be a terrible mistake which could lead to a tragic injustice,” she said.
21/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Effective parliamentary supervision at the national level is important to ensure the implementation of Strasbourg Court judgments,” today said in Kyiv PACE Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), in a conference on “The prevention of human rights violations” organised by Ukraine’s Justice Ministry.
21/09/2011 | Session
An address by the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, on Thursday 6 October 2011 will be one of the highlights of PACE's Autumn session, which will be taking place in Strasbourg from 3 to 7 October. On Tuesday 4 October the Assembly will consider the request for Partner for Democracy status submitted by the Palestinian National Council, whose President, Salim Za'noun, will address the Assembly the same day.
20/09/2011 | President
“I am shocked by the news of today’s bomb explosion in Ankara, in which – according to initial reports – three people have died and several people have been injured as a result of this act of violence," said PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu. "My thoughts are with them and their families. The perpetrators of such terrorist activities should know that terrorism has no place in a democracy, and that no-one can reach their goals through such inhuman and heinous attacks."
19/09/2011 | President
“In my mind, ‘wider’ Europe is associated rather with countries which are our neighbours, but beyond the strictly geographical frontiers of Europe,” the Assembly President said, referring to PACE's recently-established “Partnership for Democracy” status. The Assembly, he added, is pursuing a strategy of bringing non-member states closer to the Council of Europe and to its standards. “In the wake of the Arab revolutions, we have even intensified our efforts,” he said, recalling that the Parliament of Morocco was recently granted this status and that the Palestinian National Council is likely to receive it during the October plenary session.
19/09/2011 | President
Today’s politicians bear responsibility for overcoming humanity’s past errors and moving the world community in a direction which will preserve civilization, PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu has said. Speaking at a round table in Kyiv on risk reduction, the President said humanity could either move towards balanced development, with human rights and democracy at its core, or regress to promoting only short-term interests which could eventually lead to the destruction of civilization.
16/09/2011 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Serbia, Davit Harutyunyan (Armenia, EDG) and Indrek Saar (Estonia, SOC), are to visit Belgrade from 19 to 22 September 2011 to assess different aspects of Serbia’s fulfilment of its obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe. The main topics for discussion include the latest political developments, reform of the judiciary and the situation of the media, as well as asylum-seekers, refugees and Roma.
16/09/2011 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Karin S. Woldseth (Norway, EDG), is to visit Sarajevo and Mostar from 19 to 23 September 2011 to assess different aspects of the country’s fulfillment of its obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe. The main topics for discussion include the formation of the State level government, implementation of the Sejdic and Finci judgment, and constitutional reform.
16/09/2011 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Ukraine, Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD), are to visit Kyiv and the Crimea from 19 to 23 September 2011 to assess different aspects of Ukraine’s fulfillment of its obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe. In Kyiv (20-21 September), the main topics for discussion include electoral reform and reform of the criminal justice system, criminal investigations into opposition representatives, and minority issues.
16/09/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"Any kind of ‘sexualisation’ of children in the media and elsewhere is to be avoided and combated, for it constitutes a first step towards representing as sexual objects our children, who then find themselves exposed to abuse and exploitation by sex offenders and criminal groups", according to Augustin Conde Bajén (Spain EPP/CD), speaking today when he presented to the Social Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris, his report on child abuse images.
16/09/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Adopting an opinion on the report on prenatal sex selection which is to be debated by the PACE on 4 October, the Social Affairs Committee pointed out that while, in theory, prenatal sex selection could also be used to prevent the birth of boys, it in fact serves essentially to prevent female births. As in the case of domestic violence, it is therefore necessary to address the main cause of prenatal sex selection, the inequality between women and men.
16/09/2011 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"As stereotypes and prejudices against all that is different persist, as well as a desire to control these differences, or at least to control their propagation and reproduction, forced sterilisation and castration continue to this day in our member states," warned Liliane Maury Pasquier (Switzerland, SOC), Chair of the Social Affairs Committee, on the occasion of a hearing on this subject. The practice is reported to be directed mainly against Roma women, convicted sex offenders and transgender persons.