13/04/2011 | Monitoring
In an information note on their fact-finding visit to Moscow and Kazan from 18 to 21 January 2011, the co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Russia, György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD) and Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), state their intention of presenting a full monitoring report by the end of the year, so as to enable the Assembly to hold a debate on this subject after the legislative elections due in December 2011, but before the presidential election scheduled for mid-2012.
13/04/2011 | Session
Adopting a resolution on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Georgia, PACE today welcomed “the significant efforts” made by the authorities in honouring their remaining obligations and the “considerable progress” achieved since the last monitoring report adopted in 2008, but decided to continue its monitoring procedure “pending further progress” on key issues.
13/04/2011 | Session
"Progress in implementing human rights is too slow, and the agreed standards are not consistently enforced," said Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg, presenting his 2010 annual activity report to the Assembly today. "The implementation gap is wide." He added: "What I have seen and heard during my activities in 2010 has made me deeply impatient."
13/04/2011 | Session
In a text adopted today PACE called on the relevant member states of the CoE and the EU to more rigorously enforce the implementation of the recommendations of the Bern Convention and its expert bodies starting by increasing its international visibility and by assessing the progress of this implementation. The Bern Convention which was created over 30 years ago is designed to protect wild plants and animals, particularly endangered ones in their natural habitat.
13/04/2011 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
"There is a victim behind every child abuse image on the internet," recalled Agustín Conde Bajén (Spain, EPP/DC), PACE rapporteur on combating child pornography, speaking today at the second meeting of the Network of Contact Parliamentarians to stop sexual violence against children. "We are facing an extremely serious issue and, as parliamentarians, we should make concrete proposals to our governments to combat child pornography on the internet in the most effective way," he stressed.
13/04/2011 | Session
61 years after Turkey ratified the statute of the Council of Europe, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in his address to the Assembly, paid tribute to the Organisation’s work against all forms of discrimination and in pursuit of respect for human dignity. Recalling the historical meeting of the Christian and Muslim worlds, Erdoğan indicated that a future based on peace could only be built on an understanding of history as cultural interaction and convergence, rather than as war, conflict and polarisation.
13/04/2011 | Session
PACE today expressed serious concern about the high number of acts of violence committed in schools, mainly involving attacks by pupils with or without weapons, bullying and harassment among pupils, sexual violence and acts of hostility or even aggression against teachers by pupils. In a resolution adopted today on the basis of a report by Gvozden Srećko Flego (Croatia, SOC), the Assembly advocates a series of measures for education against violence at school, which parliaments should endorse at national level.
12/04/2011 | Session
At the opening of this morning’s sitting, members of the Assembly stood for a minute of silence in memory of the victims of yesterday’s terrorist attack in Minsk. PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu declared: “On behalf of the Assembly, I would like to condemn most strongly what appears to be a terrorist act which happened yesterday evening in the Minsk Underground..."
12/04/2011 | Session
Following a debate which brought together leading religious figures from across Europe, PACE has called for “a new culture of living together” based on the assertion of everyone’s equal dignity and adherence to the Council of Europe’s basic principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Adopting a recommendation based on a report by Anne Brasseur (Luxembourg, ALDE) on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue, the parliamentarians called on Europe’s governments to set up a new “platform for dialogue”.
12/04/2011 | Session
The human rights situation in Belarus has “not improved” since January 2011, on the contrary, and therefore there can be “no progress” in relations between the Assembly and Belarus, according to PACE’s rapporteur on Belarus Sinikka Hurskainen (Finland, SOC).
12/04/2011 | Monitoring
In an information note on their visit to Baku from 1 to 3 February 2011, published in Strasbourg today, Pedro Agramunt Font de Mora (Spain, EPP/CD) and Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC), co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee on Azerbaijan, said that they particularly valued the openness of the Azerbaijani authorities to political dialogue with the PACE.
12/04/2011 | Session
PACE, meeting this week in plenary session in Strasbourg, today elected Helen Keller as judge to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) with respect to Switzerland. Ms Keller, having obtained an absolute majority of votes cast, is elected a judge of the European Court of Human Rights for a term of office of 9 years starting on 4 October 2011.