22/06/2010 | Session
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), meeting this week in plenary session in Strasbourg, today elected Angelika Nussberger as judge to the European Court of Human Rights with respect to Germany. Mrs Nussberger, having obtained an absolute majority of votes cast, is elected a judge of the European Court of Human Rights for a term of office of 9 years starting on 1 January 2011. Judges are elected by PACE from a list of three candidates nominated by each State which has ratified the European Convention on Human Rights.
22/06/2010 | Session
"We say Dosta! To injustice, humiliation, ignorance and violation of human rights," declared Fanny Ardant, Ambassador of the Council of Europe Dosta! Campaign when she addressed the Assembly on 22 June during the debate on the situation of Roma in Europe. She also gave a very fine reading of a letter of Franz Liszt concerning the Gypsies.
22/06/2010 | Session
At the end of a debate on the situation of Roma in Europe, the Assembly said it is shocked by recent outrages against this minority in Europe. It is the “reflect of an increasing trend in Europe towards anti-Gypsyism of the worst kind”, a situation that is “reminiscent of the darkest hours in Europe’s history”. On the base the proposals by the rapporteur József Berényi (Slovak Republic, EPP/CD), the adopted text calls on member States for determined measures in terms of access to education, employment, health services and housing or social integration.
22/06/2010 | President
“We strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack on a bus in Istanbul, in which three people have been killed, including a child,” the Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Antonio Milošoski and the President of its Parliamentary Assembly Mevlüt Çavusoglu said in a joint statement. “Bloodshed like this will never bring victory, only sadness and anger. We stand together with the families of those killed this morning, and share in their distress, they added.
22/06/2010 | Session
The President of Ingushetia (Russian Federation) today said before the Assembly that he had taken measures to advance human and civic rights and ongoing dialogue with civil society and the different religious communities. Crime, youth unemployment and radicalism nevertheless remain major problems in the region. "Power is not to be served by man, but to be placed at the service of man," he concluded.
22/06/2010 | Session
In his address to the Assembly, Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic described progress so far to promote democracy, the rule of law and economic stability and development since his country joined the Council of Europe as the 47th member state in 2007. He praised the Venice Commission’s contribution to ‘the quality of legislation’ in his country and stressed his support for reform of the European Court of Human Rights, which would introduce case screening methods and promote the building of stable legal frameworks and independent judiciaries at national levels.
22/06/2010 | Session
PACE has urged Russia to fight terrorism in the North Caucasus by “respecting fundamental rights and the tenets of the rule of law”, by following the example of other countries that have had to face it, and by working more closely with local NGOs and the Council of Europe. In a resolution unanimously approved today based on a report by Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), the Assembly expressed “compassion and solidarity” with the families of those who had suffered terrorist attacks, but said the human rights situation in the North Caucasus was “the most serious and most delicate” in the whole Council of Europe area.
22/06/2010 | Session
Following a proposal by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, the Assembly today decided to reintroduce on the agenda the debate on "Prohibiting the marketing and use of the Mosquito youth dispersal device". It will take place on Friday 25, at 10 a.m. and will consequently replace the debate on the need to avoid duplication of the work of the Council of Europe by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights.
22/06/2010 | Session
“Improving the protection of witnesses is essential for the success of the work of justice and a key means of achieving reconciliation in the Balkans,” said Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD). In his report adopted yesterday by the PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Mr Gardetto assesses the effectiveness of the protection and support programmes for witnesses to the war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia in proceedings at national level (in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo*) and international level, before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
22/06/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE’s Committee on Social Affairs today held a hearing on "Child abuse in institutions: ensuring full protection of the victims", in the framework of the preparation of a report on the subject by Marlene Rupprecht (Germany, SOC). Participants included Massimo Introvigne, sociologist (Vatican City); Marian Shanley, Member of the Commision to Inquire into Child Abuse (Ireland); Christine Bergmann, Special Representative on Cases of Child Abuse (Germany); Helgard Van Hüllen, Member of the Executive Board of Victim Support Europe and Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Council of Europe's Deputy Secretary General.
22/06/2010 | Session
In an opinion adopted yesterday on the basis of the report by Erol Aslan Cebeci (Turkey, EPP/CD), the Assembly signified its support for “the process launched to revitalise the Council of Europe”, in order to give the Organisation greater political effectiveness and influence in Europe. However, the parliamentarians consider that the success of the reforms proposed by the Secretary General must be based on “true, substantial and permanent dialogue, not only between the two statutory organs but also with other entities of the Organisation.”
21/06/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Considering the fact that the practice of conscientious objection arises in the field of health care when healthcare providers refuse to provide certain health services based on religious, moral or philosophical objections, PACE's Health Committee called on European governments to develop regulations that define conscientious objection in that field. The draft resolution, prepared by Christine McCafferty (United Kingdom, SOC), emphasizes the need “to balance the right of conscientious objection of an individual not to perform a certain medical procedure” with the responsibility of the profession and “the right of each patient to access lawful medical care in a timely manner”.