17/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
While noting that current national systems for dealing with sex offenders vary greatly between member states, the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, convinced that the management of sex offenders requires international co-operation, called on European governments to introduce a sex offenders register containing information on persons convicted of such offences in order to produce a central file "allowing an exchange of information between entitled authorities, as strictly defined by law".
17/03/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Council of Europe and the European Union must “join forces and speak out together” to combat violence against women in Europe, Carmen Quintanilla Barba (Spain, EPP/CD), a member of PACE’s Equal Opportunities Committee, told a European Parliament conference in Brussels today. “We need your determination, your commitment and your support to make progress with legislation and to change attitudes,” she said, expressing the hope that the EU would accede to the future Council of Europe convention to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence, and help with data collection as part of the convention’s monitoring procedure.
16/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting this morning in Paris, again called on European governments to guarantee "legal recognition of same-sex partnerships" and provide for the possibility of "joint parental responsibility" for each partner's children.
16/03/2010 | President
“I came to Kazakhstan with an offer to upgrade co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and I am very glad that we found full understanding with the highest authorities of the country on this matter,” declared the Assembly’s President Mevlüt Çavusoglu at the end of an official visit to Kazakhstan on 15-16 March 2010.
15/03/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
During its meeting on 16 March in Paris, PACE's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is due to adopt the report by Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Also scheduled for adoption are the reports by Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE) on the necessity to take additional international legal steps to deal with sea piracy, and by Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD) entitled "For a Europe-wide sex offenders register".
12/03/2010 | Standing Committee
PACE Standing Committee, meeting in Paris today, called for the appropriate inclusion of the aspect of children who witness domestic violence into a future Council of Europe Convention focussing on violence against women. It invited member states to develop comprehensive social services and educational strategies aimed at preventing the intergenerational transfer of domestic violence. The report, presented by Carina Ohlsson (Sweden, SOC), also proposed to develop the Council of Europe Platform on Childrens’ Rights launched in June 2009.
12/03/2010 | Standing Committee
"Eleven years after the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities came into force, eight member states have still not ratified it, and restrictive declarations and reservations sometimes hinder its operation", according to Boriss Cilevics (Latvia, SOC), speaking at a meeting of the Standing Committee in Paris today. In a recommendation adopted on the basis of his report, the PACE asked the Committee of Ministers to increase efforts to achieve speedy ratification of the Convention.
12/03/2010 | Standing Committee
The Assembly today adopted, in its Standing Committee, an opinion on the draft protocol to the Convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters. In its opinion, prepared by Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), PACE paid special attention to the need to protect personal data, as well as administrative assistance in criminal tax matters and the compatibility of the text with European Union law.
12/03/2010 | Standing Committee
Following its debate on a report presented by Paul Wille (Belgium, ALDE), PACE today invited Council of Europe member states to ensure that the right to equal pay for work of equal value is enshrined in their domestic legislation, and that employees have recourse to the judicial process to pursue their claims with regard to this right, without incurring risks to their employment.
12/03/2010 | Standing Committee
PACE Standing Committee, meeting in Paris today, recommends that the Committee of Ministers initiate a future-oriented study on copyright in the digital environment and give thought to the changes required to guarantee a flexible legal apparatus, enabling copyright law to adapt more easily to technical, economic and social changes.
12/03/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu is to make an official visit to Kazakhstan from 15 to 18 March. Meetings are scheduled with the President of the Republic, Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Chairman of Mazhilis (lower House of Parliament), Ural Muhamedzhanov, the Chairman of the Senate, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, and with the State Secretary and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kanat Saudabayev.
12/03/2010 | Standing Committee
"The Parliamentary Assembly is increasingly concerned about the serious threat posed by counterfeit medicines to the life and health of vulnerable people and patients in Europe and elsewhere. The recent development of cross-border care and the introduction of on-line pharmaceutical sales and direct e-mail ordering have amplified the problem", concluded Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE) today at the PACE Standing Committee meeting in Paris.