14/12/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Following the interest shown in the draft report on the inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in organs in Kosovo,* the rapporteur Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), in agreement with the Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), has decided to make public the text on the website of the Assembly. The text will be discussed by the committee on Thursday 16 December in Paris (Council of Europe office, 55 Avenue Kléber). Mr Marty will give a press conference on the same day at 2.30pm.
14/12/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
At a hearing in Paris on the expansion of democracy by lowering the voting age to 16, the rapporteur of the PACE Political Affairs Committee on this issue, Miloš Aligrudic (Serbia, EPP/CD), today said that lowering the voting age from 18 to 16 should be strongly encouraged as the period of adolescence was of paramount importance for the future citizen. “Those who are below 18 and wish to vote should register on Voting Registers on their own. This is aimed at solving the problems related to the turnout of young voters, and participation of the young,” the rapporteur stressed.
14/12/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
At a meeting in Paris on Thursday 16 December, PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is expected to adopt a report by Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) on the inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo* at the Council of Europe office in Paris. Mr Marty will give a press conference at 2.30 pm at the same premises.
13/12/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Lord Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), PACE’s rapporteur on climate change, has welcomed the package of decisions agreed at the UN global climate change talks in Cancún, describing them as “a small but important step for mankind”. Mr Prescott, who played a key role in negotiating the 1997 Kyoto Accord on behalf of the EU, attended the talks along with Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC).
09/12/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu has welcomed the strong determination of Bulgarian authorities to fight corruption and organised crime, an outstanding issue in the Parliamentary Assembly’s “post-monitoring dialogue” with Bulgaria. The President was speaking mid-way through a three-day official visit to the country (8-10 December), during which he met the country’s President, Speaker of Parliament and Foreign Affairs and Justice Ministers, among others.
08/12/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“The Dublin Regulation is an unfair system both for asylum seekers and for states. It is expensive and ineffective and sometimes infringes the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,” the newly elected Chair of the PACE Committee on Migration stressed today when summing up yesterday’s committee hearing on “Dealing with Dublin: ensuring fairness for asylum seekers and member states”.
08/12/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG) has been elected Chair of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population. A member of PACE since 2005, Mr Chope is a barrister and former British Minister for Roads and Traffic. He replaces John Greenway (United Kingdom, EDG).
08/12/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Participants at a round table on the rights of migrant women, organised by the PACE Migration Committee in Paris today, have called for reinforced protection through legal means and improved practices. “214 million international migrants are women. Whereas earlier the presence of women was attached to family reunification, the current trend shows that women are migrating independently,” the rapporteur Pernille Frahm (Denmark, UEL) stressed.
07/12/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu, is to make an official visit to Bulgaria from 8 to 10 December. During his visit, he is due to meet in particular the Speaker of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva, the President of the Republic Georgi Parvanov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikolay Mladenov and the Minister of Justice Margarita Popova.
03/12/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
A ten-member PACE delegation visiting the United Nations on the occasion of the General Assembly session has held a round of meetings with leading UN officials and ambassadors to discuss topics including peacekeeping and peace-building operations, counter-terrorism and human rights, as well as regional issues such as the situation in Kosovo.*
03/12/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Strasbourg, 03.12.2010 - The accession by the European Union to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings would ensure that “the Convention’s high standards and human rights approach are uniformly applied throughout Europe”, today said the participants in the...
03/12/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
"Each of us has an individual political responsibility: let us not tolerate slavery. Let us not be powerless witnesses but fight against it", today said Jose Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD) at the opening of the Interparliamentary Conference 'Parliaments united against trafficking in human beings', organised in Paris by PACE's Committee on Equal Opportunities. "Trafficking in human beings affects us all as members of parliament. Victims of trafficking are powerless. We have the power to change their situation. We have the power to give them a voice", he added.