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.
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.