23/11/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu met Bakir Izetbegovic, Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, today in Ankara, and congratulated him on his recent election to the tripartite Presidency. In talks, the President pointed out that Bosnia and Herzegovina was “seriously lagging behind” in the implementation of its post-accession commitments to the Council of Europe, a matter for disappointment, but welcomed Mr Izetbegovic’s stated ambition to fulfil these commitments as soon as possible.
22/11/2010 | Monitoring
The Parliamentary Assembly’s two co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) and Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC), have welcomed the release by the Azerbaijani authorities of the two bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli. "This is an important step forward and a clear sign that the Azerbaijani authorities are willing to resolve the issues that have hindered their co-operation with the Council of Europe. We hope that we can soon welcome further progress on other outstanding issues," they said.
19/11/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Presenting his memorandum on reconciliation and political dialogue between the countries of the former Yugoslavia,* made public during a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee meeting in Paris yesterday, PACE rapporteur Pietro Marcenaro (Italy, SOC) pointed out that – since the committee had embarked on this report in January 2009 – the governments concerned had made many positive steps, indicating a greater willingness to overcome the legacy of the past.
19/11/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
During an exchange of views with representatives from Belarus, organised by the Political Affairs Committee in Paris on 18 November, parliamentarians called for visible progress in the conduct of the forthcoming Presidential elections on 19 December 2010, and in particular with regard to the freedom of the media. They took note with interest of information according to which positive developments with regard to the abolition of the death penalty might be expected in the near future.
18/11/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Co-operation between PACE and the European Parliament should focus on how to create a common European space in terms of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, avoiding the creation of new borders within Europe, participants concluded at a hearing on the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on PACE and the European Parliament, organised by the PACE Political Affairs Committee in Paris today.
17/11/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights shows that there sometimes exists a temptation to respond to terrorism with a strong-armed approach that gives public security precedence over the respect for human rights,” Lord John E. Tomlinson (United Kingdom, SOC), rapporteur on human rights and the fight against terrorism.
17/11/2010 | News
Unanimously adopting its 7th report on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights today during a meeting in Paris, PACE Legal Affairs Committee has urged nine countries where major structural problems have led to many repeat violations – Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine – to take swift action.
17/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Nuclear energy and its impact on climate change, the economy and society will be the focus of a conference organised by PACE Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs in Strasbourg (Palais de l’Europe, Avenue de l’Europe, Room 1) on 25 and 26 November 2010. Exchanges of views between the hundred or so parliamentarians, experts and non-governmental organisation representatives taking part in the conference will provide material for the preparation of a future report on the subject.
16/11/2010 | Monitoring
PACE Monitoring Committee today appointed Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD) as new co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Ukraine. She is replacing Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), whose term expires in line with the provisions of Resolution 1710 (2010).
15/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
There is a vicious circle in which extreme poverty equates with the denial of all human rights. Human rights are interdependent and interconnected. The loss of one leads to the loss of others. Conversely access to one human right offers access to others. Poverty leads to social exclusion and vice versa. These are some of the conclusions of a hearing on "combating poverty", organised by the Social Affairs Committee in Paris today. It should culminate in a report by Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD) to the next session of the PACE.
15/11/2010 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Markku Laukkanen, Chairman of PACE Sub-Committee on the Media, strongly condemned the recent violent attacks on two Russian journalists, Oleg Kashin of the newspaper Kommersant and Anatoly Adamchuk of the newspaper Zhukovskie Vesti. “It is an alarming sign that two critical journalists are attacked physically in Russia within one week”, said Mr Laukkanen, “and I welcome the declaration by the Russian President, Mr Dimitry Medvedev, that whoever is responsible for this crime will be punished regardless of their position", he said.
15/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Heavy metals are a major risk factor for human health according to Peter Jennrich, a German toxicologist, and Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC), responsible for drawing up a report on health hazards of heavy metals. Many chronic diseases of civilisation are traceable to them – such as diabetes, allergies, cancers, autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and depression.