15/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The year 2011 will mark the 50th anniversary of the European Social Charter, and will be an occasion to assert the indivisibility of social rights and civil and political rights, the Charter’s importance for upholding this corpus of rights and, in particular, the enhanced role of the PACE in the Charter’s supervisory machinery. This was the view expressed today by the Social Affairs Committee in adopting a report on the subject at its meeting in Paris.
14/11/2010 | President
A memorial forest of 2500 pine and locust trees has been planted in Dösemealti, near Antalya, to symbolise stronger relations between Turkey and the European institutions, as well as to honour the first ever election of a Turkish president to head PACE. Mevlut Cavusoglu, who was elected President in January 2010, is a deputy from the Antalya region.
12/11/2010 | Standing Committee
PACE Standing Committee today held a current affairs debate on “recent violent attacks against Christians and other religious communities in Iraq” during its meeting in Antalya, Turkey. Opening the debate, requested by the French delegation to the Assembly, Jean-Claude Mignon (France, EPP/CD) said the Assembly could not avoid discussing this issue.
12/11/2010 | Standing Committee
PACE has called on European governments to suspend planned returns of Roma to Kosovo* “until they can be shown to be safe and sustainable”. Approving a report on “Roma asylum seekers in Europe” by Milorad Pupovac (Croatia, SOC) today in Antalya, PACE’s Standing Committee - which acts in the name of the Assembly – said these Roma faced “an unsustainable social situation with little chance of reintegration upon return, as well as serious threats to their personal security”.
12/11/2010 | Standing Committee
Council of Europe member states should pass strict laws governing online gambling and regulate them effectively, PACE Standing Committee has said. Approving a report by Laurent Beteille (France, EPP/CD), the committee said the legal situation at EU level should be clarified and a European policy adopted to protect players against online gambling addiction.
12/11/2010 | Standing Committee
In a resolution adopted today, the Assembly called on member states to combat the harmful effects of noise and light pollution. It advocated measures with a view to "introducing threshold values for noise and light […], imposing penalties and establishing maximum reference values for noise in connection with the WHO guidelines”.
12/11/2010 | Standing Committee
PACE's Standing Committee has demanded "immediate action" to save endangered languages in Europe, including raising awareness of them, encouraging their transmission to younger generations, and ensuring they are taught using new information technologies, if necessary.
12/11/2010 | Standing Committee
PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu has pledged the Assembly's full support for the priorities of the new Turkish Chairmanship of the Council of Europe, particularly its work to address the current challenges of multicultural societies. During an exchange of views with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at a meeting of PACE's Standing Committee in Antalya, the President said the Assembly had "a wealth of ideas and concrete proposals" to contribute on this topic.
11/11/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Experts negotiating a forthcoming Council of Europe treaty to combat violence against women and domestic violence are “four-fifths” of the way through their work and the convention could be ready before the end of Turkey’s six-month chairmanship of the Council of Europe, parliamentarians were told today during a meeting in Antalya. PACE’s Sub-committee on domestic violence was meeting ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November) to take stock of progress since the end of the Council of Europe’s campaign against domestic violence, which ended two years ago.
10/11/2010 | President
In his speech on the occasion of the handing over of the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers from “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” to Turkey, PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu welcomed the priorities of the Turkish Chairmanship. He added that they went in the same direction as those of PACE.
10/11/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee of the PACE will be holding a hearing in Paris on 15 November on “Combating poverty”, in connection with the preparation of a report on this subject by Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD). The discussion will provide an overview of poverty in Europe and efforts to combat it and will establish a link between poverty and social exclusion. The specific case of child poverty will be considered.
08/11/2010 | Election observation
Yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were characterised by a peaceful atmosphere and all opposition parties participated in the political process, but the conduct of these elections overall was not sufficient to constitute meaningful progress in the democratic development of the country, international observers said in a statement issued today. “In a welcome departure from the past, the run-up to the elections and election day were peaceful and not marred by violent incidents...,” said Paul Wille, head of the delegation of the PACE.