17/12/2009 | Session
A call for legal recognition of same-sex couples across Europe and a debate on the situation in the Middle East, as well as addresses by Greek Prime Minister George A. Papandreou and Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Franco Frattini, are among highlights of PACE’s winter session on 25-29 January 2010. The Assembly is also due to elect a new President. Other subjects due to be debated include respect for media freedom, judicial corruption and the detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants. The Assembly will only decide its final agenda on the first day of the session.
16/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
PACE rapporteur on climate change, former British Deputy Prime Minister and EU Kyoto negotiator John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), today issued a stern warning to the US that they must do much more to help secure a deal at Copenhagen. Addressing a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at the Danish Parliament, Mr Prescott publicly criticised the US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern for saying emissions were “just maths”.
15/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), the Assembly’s rapporteur on climate change, is posting a daily video diary from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which opened this week. Mr Prescott, who negotiated the 1997 Kyoto Accord as Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister, is part of a 13-strong PACE delegation at these key global talks.
15/12/2009 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE's Political Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris on 15 December, said that Council of Europe member states should consider decreasing legal electoral thresholds that are higher than 3 per cent and removing other obstacles, including high financial deposits, which bar minor parties or independent candidates from being represented on elected bodies.
11/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"There is evidence that when family-friendly policies are pursued consistently over a long period, they do have a positive effect on individual decisions to have children and tackle the demographic problems of Europe," Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD) stressed at a meeting of PACE Social Affairs Committee in Paris on 11 December.
11/12/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Children witnessing violence against their mother are far too often neglected as victims of psychological trauma, as possible future victims and as links in a chain of violence, when they could help identify potentially violent situations and avoid new violence in the future. Adopting a report by Carina Ohlsson (Sweden, SOC) in Paris on 11 December, PACE Social Affairs Committee agreed on a list of measures to be taken by national parliaments and governments.
11/12/2009 | Monitoring
A press briefing is held today at 11.30 am at the Council of Europe office in Paris, in connection with the adoption of the report of Mevlüt Çavusoglu (Turkey, EDG) and Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of PACE, who are monitoring Bosnia and Herzegovina's commitments and obligations to the Council of Europe.
11/12/2009 | Monitoring
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), co-rapporteur of PACE for the monitoring of Ukraine, announced on Tuesday an agreement on the establishment of a clear roadmap for the adoption of the legal reforms demanded by the Council of Europe.
10/12/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
As the Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe have never ceased to emphasise, violence against women, including domestic violence, is a serious violation of human rights incompatible with the Council's norms and standards, Paul Wille (Belgium, ALDE), Vice-President of the Assembly, told today's opening session of a conference in Paris on migration and violence against women in Europe. “Action must be taken to prevent and punish such violations. Cultural relativism or references to culture, religion or customary practices can never be invoked to justify them,” he stressed.
10/12/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Immigrant women are victims of a “triple penalty”, that of being a woman and an immigrant, and the fact that they are often there illegally, according to Jean-Claude Mignon (France, EPP/DC), speaking at the opening of a conference on migration and violence against women in Europe, in Paris on 10 December. “Fear of being forced to leave a country where they have found at least a precarious refuge is not an incentive to seek the protection of the law, for fear that they will once again find themselves on the move,” he said.
09/12/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
“Wisdom resides in the people – this is a truth lying at the heart of the democratic culture which has kept Europe secure for the last sixty years. But democracy can be practised in many ways. National referenda have a valuable role to play, yet we have seen how they can also be misused for political ends. I believe there are fundamental values that should never be put to a popular vote,” pointed out Lluís Maria de Puig, on the eve of Human Rights Day.
09/12/2009 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“Not solving property issues of some 2,5 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Europe means perpetuating their displacement and complicating peace-building efforts,” Jorgen Poulsen (Denmark, ALDE) explained when presenting his report on this issue on 9 December to the PACE Migration Committee in Paris. The restoration of legal rights and physical possession of properties through restitution, or the provision of equivalent properties or value through compensation, are essential forms of redress.