Logo Assembly Logo Hemicycle

News

History education should be a key part of human rights education, PACE committee says

04/12/2024 | Culture, Science, Education and Media

“History education should be a key part of human rights education and a foundation for young people to develop democratic citizenship,” the PACE Committee on Culture said today. However, “delivering quality history education in schools can be very challenging due to overloaded curricula...

Reviewing legislation to better safeguard the right to freedom of expression on social media

04/12/2024 | Culture, Science, Education and Media

PACE's Committee on Culture today called on Council of Europe member states to review their legislation to better safeguard the right to freedom of expression on social media. They should in particular, it said, “require that social media uphold users’ fundamental rights, including freedom of...

©shutterstock

Host country for the 2034 FIFA World Cup: PACE General Rapporteur concerned over ‘a rather opaque process’

04/12/2024 | Culture, Science, Education and Media

Mogens Jensen (Denmark, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur on Governance and Ethics in Sport, today made the following statement: “On 11 December FIFA is set to decide on the host country for the 2034 FIFA World Cup. Saudi Arabia is the only candidate, following a rather opaque process. Unfortunately...

PACE rapporteurs dismayed by the arrest of Azerbaijani human rights defender Rufat Safarov

04/12/2024 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights

The PACE General Rapporteur for political prisoners, Thórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC), and General Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and whistleblowers, Emanuelis Zingeris (Lithuania, EPP/CD), have reacted to the arrest of Rufat Safarov by the Azerbaijani...

Linda Hofstad HELLELAND (Norway, EPP/CD)
©Council of Europe

The World Cup and human rights: ‘It is crucial that FIFA sets clear and enforceable rules for Saudi Arabia...

04/12/2024 | Culture, Science, Education and Media

In a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, the Chair of the PACE Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media Linda Hofstad Helleland (Norway, EPP/CD) has underlined the importance of ensuring the highest standards in the protection of human rights at the 2034 World Cup. "As one of the...

Euskararen Etxea (the House of the Basque Language) in Bilbao, Spain, wins 2025 Council of Europe Museum Prize

03/12/2024 | Prizes

The 2025 Council of Europe Museum Prize has been awarded to Euskararen Etxea (the House of the Basque Language) in Bilbao, Spain. The museum was selected by the Culture Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), meeting today. The House of the Basque Language is a...

Investing in leadership for persons with disabilities

02/12/2024 | Equality and Non-Discrimination

“Positions of leadership must be open and accessible to persons with disabilities at political, economic and societal level. This is essential to securing sustainable change,” said Mariia Mezentseva-Fedorenko, Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, in a statement on...

Report on the observation of the parliamentary elections in Georgia

29/11/2024 | Elections

A report on PACE’s observation of the 26 October parliamentary elections in Georgia, prepared by Iulian Bulai (Romania, ALDE), was made public yesterday following its approval by the Bureau of the Assembly at a meeting in Luxembourg. Mr Bulai led a 32-member, cross-party delegation from the...

New ways to involve civil society in the work of the Assembly

29/11/2024 | Standing Committee

PACE’s Standing Committee has proposed a number of ways to increase the Assembly’s exchanges with civil society, whose role in a democracy should be “celebrated and protected”, while also introducing a code of conduct to ensure that any exchanges with what it terms “interest representatives” – or...

Georgia must remain faithful to its European values, says PACE

29/11/2024 | Standing Committee

The following statement was adopted by the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) at its meeting on 29 November 2024: “The Parliamentary Assembly, meeting today in Luxembourg as the Standing Committee, expresses its concern about the situation in Georgia...

PACE debates the intensification of repression in Azerbaijan

29/11/2024 | Standing Committee

The Parliamentary Assembly – meeting as the Standing Committee – today held a current affairs debate on the topic "The intensification of repression in Azerbaijan: the situation of political prisoners, threats to democratic freedoms and parliamentary rights" during its meeting in Luxembourg...

PACE Standing Committee met in Luxembourg

29/11/2024 | Standing Committee

The Assembly’s Standing Committee opened in Luxembourg this morning with a welcome address from the Speaker of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies, an address by Luxembourg’s Defence, Mobility and Public Works, and Gender Equality and Diversity Minister, and a review by the PACE President of the...