12/11/2009 | Monitoring
Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, and Christoph Strässer (Germany, SOC), rapporteur on the follow-up to the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan by PACE, today expressed their dismay at the conviction of two satirical bloggers, Adnan Hadjizadeh, 26, and Emin Milli, 30, accused of hooliganism. “This case is yet another blow to freedom of expression in Azerbaijan and a serious setback on the country’s path to democratisation,” the two rapporteurs said.
10/11/2009 | Standing Committee
Switzerland’s priorities for its Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers will feature at a meeting of PACE Standing Committee in Bern, Switzerland, on Friday 20 November 2009. A series of reports on migration are also due to be debated. The President of the Swiss National Council Chiara Simoneschi-Cortesi will give a welcome address, followed by an exchange of views with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey. The President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly João Soares will also address the committee.
10/11/2009 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
The members of PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population will be taking part on 12 November in a forum on “Remain, migrate or return: what to do in a global recession?”, organised by the Sub-Committee on Migration and the Turkish parliament. The parliamentarians will be looking at the effects of the economic crisis on migration flows, the burdens and benefits for receiving countries, the development challenges faced by countries of origin and the repercussions of the crisis on migrants and their families.
05/11/2009 | President
PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig will be conducting an official visit to Japan from 9 to 12 November. Meetings are scheduled with the Speaker of the House of Councillors (the upper house of the Japanese Parliament), the Vice-Speaker of the House of Representatives (the lower house), the Minister of Justice, the Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Director General of the European Affairs Bureau, and the Minister of State for Financial Services and for Postal Reform, who is also Chairman of the Parliamentary Members’ League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty.
05/11/2009 | President
PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig today welcomed the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009 and expressed the hope that accession by the European Union (EU) to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), made possible by the Treaty, would be a priority for the EU. "As from next month, the 27-member EU will be in a position to become more democratic, more transparent and more effective.
30/10/2009 | Monitoring
Jaakko Laakso (Finland, UEL) and David Wilshire (United Kingdom, EDG), co-rapporteurs for Albania of the PACE Monitoring Committee, will be conducting a fact-finding visit to the country from 3 to 5 November to take stock of the honouring of obligations and commitments by Albania vis-à-vis the Council of Europe. Interviews are scheduled with the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Justice, and the President of the Constitutional Court.
26/10/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), PACE rapporteur on the human rights situation in the North Caucasus, today expressed his shock at the murder, on Sunday 25 October, of Maksharip Aushev, Ingush opposition figure, in the region of Kabardino-Balkaria, a neighbouring republic of Ingushetia.
26/10/2009 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Council of Europe area has suffered a “marked setback” in the overall level of media freedom in the past three years, according to a background report by an independent expert presented today to PACE’s Sub-committee on the Media. The country-by-country report, by the academic and former BBC senior correspondent William Horsley, was commissioned as a contribution to a PACE report on media freedom being prepared by the sub-committee’s Chair Andrew McIntosh (United Kingdom, SOC), and presented at a PACE hearing today in Luxembourg.
23/10/2009 | President
At the end of his visit to Ukraine, and in view of the forthcoming Presidential election, PACE’s President today recalled the need for free and fair elections to confirm the democratic achievements of the country. Lluís Maria de Puig welcomed the willingness of the authorities to take into consideration the opinion of the Venice Commission on the Law on the Election of the President, as well as the readiness of the authorities to provide support and assistance to the work of the PACE observer delegation.
23/10/2009 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Ways to protect journalists from electronic eavesdropping and government searches, the protection of sources and the growing number of threats facing investigative reporters across Europe are among topics to be discussed at a parliamentary hearing on media freedom in Luxembourg on Monday 26 October 2009. Organised by PACE Sub-committee on the Media, at the invitation of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies, the event will bring together journalists, leading NGOs such as Reporters sans frontières and parliamentarians. The President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies Laurent Mosar will open the event.
22/10/2009 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Changing the electoral system to one more favourable to women’s representation in politics, including by introducing gender quotas, can lead to more gender-balanced, and thus more legitimate, political and public decision-making, said Lydie Err (Luxembourg, SOC) today in Kyiv on the occasion of the Forum for the Future of Democracy. Coinciding with this year's theme "Electoral systems: strengthening democracy in the 21st century", Mrs Err presented a memorandum on the "Impact of electoral systems on women’s representation in politics".
20/10/2009 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Several members of PACE will attend the Forum for the Future of Democracy in Kyiv, which starts tomorrow and continues until 23 October. This year's theme is "Electoral systems: strengthening democracy in the 21st century". During the Forum, the President of the PACE will hold meetings in Kyiv on 22 October with the President of Ukraine, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), the Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, and representatives of the various political parties represented in parliament.