09/09/2011 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
PACE’s Committee for Equal Opportunities today expressed its preoccupation at the negative impact of violent and extreme pornography on women’s dignity and right to live free from sexual violence. Adopting a draft resolution based on a report by Michał Stuligrosz (Poland, EPP/CD), the committee recalled that this type of pornography “further erodes the conditions for achieving effective gender equality”.
09/09/2011 | President
“After showing some signs of relief during the past year, the economic and financial crisis is deepening again in Europe. We all know too well from tragic past experience that when the cake becomes smaller and smaller and there is not enough for everybody, it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure that the rules of the game are the same for everybody. Discrimination is therefore a real threat to our societies,” today said PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu addressing the Assembly’s Committee on Equal Opportunities during its meeting in Paris.
09/09/2011 | Elections
A five-member, cross-party delegation of observers from PACE is to make a “pre-electoral” visit to Tunisia on 15-16 September, to assess the electoral framework and campaign ahead of the 23 October elections for a Constituent National Assembly.
08/09/2011 | President
"On this day of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks we first and foremost pay tribute to the victims and their families, declared Thorbjørn Jagland, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. "This tragic date of mourning should serve as a reminder that terrorism has no ideology, no nationality and no religion. Terrorism in all its forms is a violation of the most fundamental human right: the right to life. Regardless of where, by whom and against whom terrorist offences are perpetrated, these crimes affect us all and target humanity as a whole," they added.
08/09/2011 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
A major parliamentary hearing on the state of media freedom in Europe will take place on Monday 12 September at the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm, attended by around 90 government officials, parliamentarians and leading media professionals. The event is being organised jointly by the PACE Sub-committee on the Media and the Swedish Parliament.
08/09/2011 | Monitoring
“The outcome of the latest general amnesty in Armenia, the renewed impetus to investigate the 10 deaths during the March 2008 events, and the resulting start of a constructive dialogue between the opposition and ruling coalition mean that the chapter on the March 2008 events can finally be considered closed”, today said PACE Monitoring Committee.
07/09/2011 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The use of pre-natal sex selection in Europe will be the focus of the meeting which the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities will be holding in Paris on 9 September 2011. Members of the committee will be considering a draft resolution based on the report by Doris Stump (Switzerland, SOC) which severely criticises pre-natal sex selection for non-medical reasons and puts forward a number of proposed measures for the countries concerned to deal with this practice.
07/09/2011 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“The PACE inquiry into who is responsible for the more than 1,000 ‘boat people’ thought to have perished in the Mediterranean since January 2011 while trying to reach European soil from North Africa is meant to prevent impunity, PACE rapporteur Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC) has said at the end of a two-day visit to Rome (6 and 7 September 2011).
07/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Secret services and intelligence agencies must be held accountable for human rights violations such as torture, abduction or renditions and not shielded from scrutiny by unjustified resort to the doctrine of “state secrets”, according to PACE Legal Affairs Committee.
07/09/2011 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
There is no need for a "trade-off" between protecting human rights and effective counter-terrorist action, according to PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs, as safeguards exist in human rights law itself. Adopting a draft resolution based on a report by Lord John E. Tomlinson (United Kingdom, SOC), the committee reminded States Parties to the European Convention on Human Rights that they are duty-bound to secure within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms guaranteed therein.
06/09/2011 | Rules, Ethics and Immunities
As part of the reform of the PACE, the Committee on Rules of Procedure adopted a package of measures to increase the Assembly's political relevance and effectiveness, make it more visible, rationalise its operational resources and improve the commitment and participation of its members.
06/09/2011 | Political Affairs and Democracy
In a debate today in Caserta, Italy, on the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the Council of Europe, based on a report by Kerstin Lundgren (Sweden, ALDE), the Political Affairs Committee argued that the partnership between the EU and the Council of Europe should lead to a common space for human rights protection across the continent in the interest of all Europe's citizens.