05/10/2011 | Session
"High unemployment is the big elephant in the room: this job crisis is the human face of the crisis", highlighted OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria while addressing PACE on Wednesday. The former Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs underlined many interconnections between areas of expertise of both OECD and Council of Europe, such as youth unemployment, gender, and tax havens.
05/10/2011 | Session
In a context of modest growth, weak public finances and persistently high unemployment in many member states, the Assembly considers that combating unemployment is one of the central challenges confronting the OECD economies; it has called on the OECD to develop appropriate policy advice in order to prevent high long-term unemployment rates from becoming entrenched.
05/10/2011 | Session
Deeply concerned at the public’s increased access to violent and extreme pornographic material, the Assembly has called on European governments to ensure the effective implementation of existing law regulating the production, distribution and sale of pornography. “A common feature in Council of Europe member states is the poor enforcement of existing law and regulations,” it underlined.
05/10/2011 | Session
According to the PACE, the partnership between the Council of Europe and the EU facilitated by the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty should lead to “a common space for human rights protection across the continent in the interest of all people in Europe”, through the European Union’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights, which is a requirement of the treaty.
05/10/2011 | Session
The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of PACE has today expressed its dismay that Ales Bialiatski, a highly-respected human rights defender and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, has been arrested by the Belarusian authorities.
05/10/2011 | Session
PACE has declared that images of child abuse on the internet should be rapidly removed where possible, but if this is not possible then they should – as a complementary measure, and following transparent procedures that respect human rights principles – be blocked. Unanimously approving a report by Agustín Conde Bajén (Spain, EPP/CD), the Assembly said Council of Europe member states should, in the long term, criminalise the intentional viewing of child abuse images.
04/10/2011 | Session
PACE today voted to grant “Partner for democracy” status to the Palestinian National Council – only the second time such status has been accorded. Presenting the report at today’s debate, Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL) said the status “created new opportunities for the Palestinian people” and could be seen as part of the Arab Spring.
04/10/2011 | Session
The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan has formally submitted its request for “Partner for democracy” status with the Assembly, PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced today during PACE’s autumn session. The Moroccan Parliament and the Palestinian National Council already hold this status, which allows parliaments from neighbouring regions to take part in the Assembly’s work in return for commitments to uphold the values of the Council of Europe.
04/10/2011 | Session
At the end of a debate on co-operation between the Council of Europe and the emerging democracies in the Arab world, PACE invited members of the UN Security Council – in particular France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany and Portugal, member states of the Council of Europe – to support the Palestinian formal request to join the United Nations as a full member state.
04/10/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
In a resolution adopted today, PACE calls on member states not to recognise or support in any way the de facto authorities of territories resulting from unlawful secessions, in particular those supported by foreign military interventions.
04/10/2011 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
" A child is first and foremost a child, and only in second place a migrant. This is the starting point for any discussion about undocumented migrant children; the status of the child is secondary and arguably irrelevant," according to Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD), speaking today at the opening of a joint hearing on the subject of children of undocumented migrants organised by the PACE Sub-Committees on Migration and on Children.
03/10/2011 | Session
Addressing the Assembly for the last time as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko welcomed democratic movements in the southern Mediterranean and stressed the Council of Europe’s readiness to help the region in its transition to democracy. "I hope that action plans with those countries where discussions are most advanced will be finalised soon so that these countries can rapidly benefit from the Organisation's expertise," he said.