15/09/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu is to make an official visit to Ukraine from 20 to 22 September 2010. In Kyiv on Monday 20 and Tuesday 21, he is due to meet President Viktor Yanukovych, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko and the leadership of coalition and opposition factions, as well as NGO representatives...
14/09/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), Chair of the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, recalled today that the suspension of the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death for adultery, was a step forward but a far-from-adequate measure, which merely postponed execution of the sentence.
14/09/2010 | Monitoring
In an information note published last Thursday on their fact-finding visits to Moscow and Murmansk in March and July 2010, the PACE co-rapporteurs on Russia, György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD) and Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), welcomed the tangible progress made in some areas since the last monitoring report in 2005. They were concerned, however, about a failure to liberalise electoral legislation sufficiently and considered that more progress was needed to strengthen pluralist democracy and speed up the reform of justice.
13/09/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“The Assembly will organise a conference on 3 December in Paris, aimed at strengthening co-operation between international parliamentary assemblies involved in action against trafficking in human beings,” today announced Doris Stump (Switzerland, SOC) at a debate in Strasbourg on partnerships among parliaments, intergovernmental organisations and NGO’s active in this field.
13/09/2010 | President
“I warmly welcome the positive result of the referendum on constitutional change in Turkey – as well as the high turnout, which showed how strongly the Turkish people are attached to their democratic rights and freedoms, and to a future in Europe. This marks an important new stage in Turkey’s democratic progress, and paves the way for further reforms soon, including a new civilian Constitution," declared today Mevlüt Çavusoglu, PACE President.
13/09/2010 | President
"We must ensure that the media perform a role of mediation and help create an environment conducive to better understanding of the various religious beliefs and cultural approaches" today said PACE President in Ohrid at the opening of an encounter on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue organised by the Council of Europe and the Chairmanship of its Committee of Ministers.
10/09/2010 | Monitoring
PACE Monitoring Committee has welcomed the political will being shown by the new government in Ukraine for an “ambitious and far-reaching package of reforms” – but warned that they were being implemented in a hasty manner. In a draft resolution unanimously approved yesterday at a meeting in Paris, the committee said the reforms needed “wide political consensus and public support”, which in turn was only possible if parliamentary procedures and democratic principles were strictly respected.
10/09/2010 | President
In a letter today to Boris Gryzlov, Speaker of the Russian State Duma, and Sergey Mironov, Speaker of the Federation Council, PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu has expressed his great shock at the bombing which took place yesterday in Vladikavkaz: “I was deeply shocked to learn of the bombing which took place yesterday in Vladikavkaz, in which at least 15 people died and many more were injured. As you know, the Parliamentary Assembly has consistently condemned terrorism and all forms of violence..."
09/09/2010 | Election observation
A five-member PACE delegation led by Tiny Kox (Netherlands, UEL) is carrying out a pre-electoral mission to Sarajevo and Banja Luka from 12 to 15 September 2010, ahead of the general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 3 October, to assess the electoral framework and campaign.
08/09/2010 | Bureau
PACE Bureau today called on Council of Europe member states to shoulder their humanitarian responsibilities following the floods in Pakistan: “Over five years ago the Tsunami disaster struck Southeast Asia and the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean. Earlier this year, Haiti was devastated by an earthquake. Both times, the international community, deeply shocked, reacted generously...
08/09/2010 | President
Mevlüt Çavusoglu, PACE President, today addressed a letter to Ali Larijani, President of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, calling on him to do his utmost for the death sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to be repealed. “Many voices have been raised in defence of the life and dignity of Sakineh Ashtiani...
08/09/2010 | Bureau
"We share much more than we tend to think we do. And only if we focus on what unites us, only then will we be able to achieve, together, the true goals of mankind", today said PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu during an audience with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, together with the members of PACE Bureau. The PACE President invited His Holiness to come to Strasbourg to address the Assembly.