01/03/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu today welcomed the return of the opposition to the Albanian parliament last week as an important political sign. “However, I firmly hope that this positive step was not a “one off” and that it will mark the beginning of ongoing participation of all political forces in the work of the parliament. I am all the more pleased about this development as it comes after the recent visit of our PACE Presidential Committee to the country, which aimed at supporting the process of resolving the current political situation and assisting President Topi in his role of mediator and his efforts to restore political dialogue,” the President said.
26/02/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu yesterday took part in the official ceremony to inaugurate the new President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich. He personally transmitted an invitation to President Yanukovich to address the Assembly, which he accepted. On this occasion, Mr Çavusoglu also met the President of Armenia, the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, the Speaker of the Russian State Duma, the President of the European Parliament, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, the EU's Enlargement Commissioner, and the Foreign Minister of Turkey.
26/02/2010 | President
PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu is to make an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1-3 March 2010. He will meet the Presidency, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and the Speakers of both chambers of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as delivering an address to both chambers of the parliament on Tuesday morning. He will also hold a series of discussions with the leaders of the main political parties in the country.
25/02/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“In Kosovo, there are more than 2 million Europeans who need the rule of law, good governance and respect for human rights, regardless of the community they belong to,” said Björn von Sydow (Sweden, SOC), rapporteur of PACE Political Affairs Committee, speaking today at the end of a five- day visit to Kosovo. “During my visit, I travelled extensively in Kosovo, meeting ordinary people from all communities. All of them highlighted widespread corruption, lack of a trustworthy judiciary and poor implementation of the law.
25/02/2010 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
"The World Congress in Geneva sends out a powerful message: the death penalty is on its way out, world-wide", said Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein/EPP), PACE Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, addressing the World Congress against the Death Penalty in Geneva today. "Europe has shown the way, and more and more countries are joining the consensus: capital punishment violates the right to life and human dignity, and it is counter-productive from a law enforcement perspective. I warmly invite the Council of Europe's observer states, Japan and the United States of America, to join in the movement towards abolition of this barbaric punishment."
24/02/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The new Council of Europe convention to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence must set high standards and should be backed by a strong, independent and well-funded monitoring mechanism, the head of PACE’s Equal Opportunities Committee has told the group of experts drafting it. Speaking in Strasbourg yesterday, José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/DC) called for a system of parliamentary scrutiny of how well parties apply the convention, which he said would be a “trailblazing major democratic advance”. The convention came about in part because of strong pressure from the Assembly, he pointed out.
23/02/2010 | President
At the invitation of the Ukrainian authorities, PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu will participate in the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Viktor Yanukovich in Kyiv on 25 February. On this occasion, the President will re-iterate the invitation for Mr Yanukovich to address the Parliamentary Assembly in the near future, possibly already during its April session in Strasbourg (26-30 April). On 24 February, he will meet the Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine and the country’s delegation to PACE.
23/02/2010 | President
At the end of their visit to Albania, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Mevlüt Çavusoglu, the leaders of the Assembly’s five political groups and the monitoring co-rapporteurs for Albania today urge the Albanian parties to end the current political crisis in the country in order to proceed with the vitally needed reforms. They believe that the absence of parliamentary dialogue undermines the democratic functioning of the state’s institutions.
22/02/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“The Council of Europe Convention on action against trafficking in human beings will reach its full potential when it is ratified by other countries in Europe and beyond. The wider the ratification of the Convention is, the better the protection for victims will be. The role of parliamentarians is crucial to this end,” today recalled Kent Olsson (Sweden, EPP/CD), at a seminar on trafficking in human beings organised in London by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
19/02/2010 | President
Speaking at the press conference marking the end of a two-day conference on the future of the European Court of Human Rights in Interlaken, organised by the Swiss chairmanship of the Council of Europe, PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu re-affirmed the Parliamentary Assembly’s full support for the Final Declaration. He also expressed hope for a rapid EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights, creating one human rights standard for one Europe.
19/02/2010 | Political Affairs and Democracy
In the framework of his forthcoming report on the situation in Kosovo, Björn von Sydow (Sweden, SOC), PACE rapporteur of the Political Affairs Committee, will conduct for the second year, a fact-finding visit to Kosovo from 21 to 25 February. The main purpose of this second visit is to get acquainted with the situation of different communities on the ground, in a number of municipalities.* All reference to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.
19/02/2010 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Committee on the Environment yesterday adopted the report by Rafael Huseynov (Azerbaijan, ALDE) describing the harm caused by noise and light pollution to man and other living species. Such pollution can have serious repercussions, such as disturbing ecosystems and provoking diseases in humans. The rapporteur believes that the fight against such pollution is a major environmental and public health challenge. He calls for an integrated approach to the problem and for efforts to raise awareness of the whole of society.