21/12/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu today encouraged Morocco to pursue its ambitious objective to obtain the newly created PACE status of Partner for Democracy. “This will bring our co-operation to a new level,” he said. In this respect, the President recalled the broad reforms that the country has undertaken during the last decade in the political, economic and social sphere, and all the work done in order to expand fundamental freedoms and to strengthen democratic institutions.
21/12/2010 | Session
A report on the illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo will be a highlight of the Assembly’s winter plenary session (24-28 January 2011), along with addresses by the Presidents of Turkey, Serbia and Romania, as well as the Prime Minister of Albania and the French Foreign Minister. Other topics to be discussed include the protection of journalists’ sources, and a series of reports on reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia.
20/12/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Strasbourg, 20.12.2010 – The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) rapporteur for Belarus, Sinikka Hurskainen (Finland, SOC) has expressed her deep concern at yesterday’s episodes of violence on the streets of Minsk following the presidential elections on Sunday 19 December. “I am...
18/12/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
The Chair of the PACE Migration Committee, Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG), made a call “not to ignore or forget the tragedy played out on the rocks of Christmas Island earlier this week, when over 30 migrants, asylum seekers and refugees met their death within sight of safety, sanctuary and solid ground.”
17/12/2010 | President
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, expressed alarm that, on 15 December, Sweden forcibly returned around 20 Iraqi refugees to Iraq, including Christians who are currently the victims of particular persecution in this country. “I am concerned since this is not the first time that Sweden has forcibly sent back refugees to Iraq”.
17/12/2010 | President
Le Président de l'APCE, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, a fait part de sa vive inquiétude à la suite du renvoi forcé par la Suède, le 15 décembre, d’une vingtaine de réfugiés irakiens en Irak, y compris de chrétiens alors que ceux-ci sont actuellement victimes de persécutions particulières dans ce pays. « Je suis inquiet, car ce n’est pas la première fois que la Suède renvoie de force des réfugiés en Irak ».
17/12/2010 | President
PACE President, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, is to make an official visit to Morocco from 19 to 22 December. On 20 December, in Rabat, he will meet the Speaker of the House of Councillors Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Abdelwahed Radi, the Minister of the Interior Taib Cherkaoui and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and of Cooperation Taieb Fassi Fihri.
17/12/2010 | Monitoring
"Undoubtedly, Serbia has made significant progress in many areas and is heading towards the full completion of its commitments. However, some key issues remain unsolved or incomplete such as the reform of the justice system, the revision of the electoral law, the elimination of the party-administered system and blank resignations, as well as full compliance with the laws on freedom of speech, association etc...
17/12/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu welcomed the strong and fruitful co-operation between the Assembly and the Venice Commission, addressing today the 85th Plenary Session of the Venice Commission in the city. “Our respective roles are very complementary,” he said.
16/12/2010 | News
“All Council of Europe member states are under the obligation to protect the public against terrorist attacks […] and all perpetrators of terrorist acts, but also the instigators and organisers, must be held to account for their actions,” today stressed PACE Vice-President Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), speaking on behalf of the PACE President at the opening of a conference on the prevention of terrorism held by the Council of Europe in Istanbul.
16/12/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE Legal Affairs Committee has called for a series of international and national investigations into evidence of disappearances, organ trafficking, corruption and collusion between organised criminal groups and political circles in Kosovo* revealed this week in a report by Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE).
15/12/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
In a resolution on reconciliation and political dialogue between the countries of the former Yugoslavia* adopted unanimously in Paris today, the Political Affairs Committee says it supported the efforts of the countries of the former Yugoslavia to reconcile and reconstruct a new relationship among themselves and welcomed their commitment to regional co-operation, which indicated a greater willingness to overcome the legacy of the past. It noted with satisfaction a number of positive examples of people and leaders from the region working together for change.