10/09/2009 | Monitoring
In a draft resolution adopted yesterday at a meeting in Paris, the Monitoring Committee calls upon the new dominant coalition and the opposition in Moldova to enter into meaningful negotiations to break the deadlock and bring about the election of the President. Once the new state institutions are put in place, they should straightaway work on a far-reaching reform, including constitutional amendments if relevant, in order to establish genuine democratic safeguards against similar institutional and political deadlock situations, the co-rapporteurs on the functioning of democratic institutions in Moldova, Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) and Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania, EPP/CD) stressed.
09/09/2009 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“If the Council of Europe is to wear proudly its human rights badge, it must be more ambitious in tackling the human rights and humanitarian consequences of the war between Russia and Georgia.,“ said Corien Jonker (The Netherlands, EPP/CD), Chair of the Migration and Refugee Committee in her address to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, today in Strasbourg. In speaking to the representatives of the 47 Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the member states, Mrs Jonker called on them to get the Council of Europe involved in the so called “Geneva Process”, the political mechanism for dealing with the aftermath of the conflict.
09/09/2009 | Monitoring
In a vote in Paris today on a draft resolution on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Monaco, PACE Monitoring Committee said it was in favour of closing the monitoring procedure having regard to the progress achieved since 2004. The committee said it was confident that the Monegasque authorities will continue the reforms commenced. Remaining commitments will be closely monitored within the so-called post-monitoring dialogue.
08/09/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Widespread public attitudes to rape which tend to shift the blame from the attacker to the victim are a major obstacle to the reporting, effective investigation and prosecution of cases of rape and sexual assault, according to a report adopted today in Paris by the PACE Equal Opportunities Committee on the rape of women, including marital rape. The report, which will be discussed by PACE at a coming plenary session, recommends the launch of a Council of Europe campaign to change those attitudes.
08/09/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities today designated the three winners of the PACE Gender Equality Prize. The first winner is the Portuguese Socialist Party, Partido Socialista, followed by the British Labour Party and Swedish left-wing party Vänsterpartiet. All three were rewarded for the steps they had taken to significantly improve women’s participation in their parties or in the elected assemblies of their respective countries.
04/09/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Expressing great concern about growing marine pollution, the Environment Committee believes a legal and institutional framework for a new ocean governance needs to be worked out and proposes establishing an integrated maritime policy based on the European Union’s “Blue Book”. According to PACE’s rapporteur Manuela de Melo (Potuglal, SOC), as the Council of Europe includes non-EU European countries and has some major coastal countries from other continents as observers, it “has a key part to play in implementing an integrated maritime policy”.
04/09/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
In a report adopted today in Paris by the PACE Committee on the Environment, Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE) stresses the importance of recognising access to water and sanitation as a fundamental human right. According to the rapporteur, who describes in particular the worrying situation of the Maghreb, a real water culture should become widespread, founded on integrated management that accommodates the economic, ecological and social aspects. The rapporteur also calls for inter-regional and transfrontier co-operation on water issues.
04/09/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
An additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, which would recognise the right to a healthy, sustainable environment, has become necessary according to José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), the author of a report on this issue adopted today by the Environment Committee. The inclusion of this right in the Convention would in fact enable the Court to rule directly on violations of that fundamental right, and is a natural extension of the Council of Europe’s role in environmental protection.
04/09/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“If the continuity of the Kyoto Protocol is to be ensured, an ambitious, binding new agreement will have to be concluded at the UN Climate Change conference this December in Copenhagen,” according to John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) in a report adopted today by the PACE Committee on the Environment. Developed countries must accept their historical responsibility for CO2 emissions since the dawn of the industrial age, the Rapporteur believes, and initiate deep and early cuts in their emissions according to the “polluter pays” principle.
02/09/2009 | President
“The agreement between Armenia and Turkey to normalise their relations is excellent news,” said PACE President Lluís-Maria de Puig. “This is something that PACE has long been hoping for, and working towards. The two governments have accepted that, whatever the difficulties of the past, they must look to the future – on behalf of all their peoples. The Assembly, a forum where Armenian and Turkish parliamentarians work together as colleagues, stands ready to help in any way it can to advance this process."
01/09/2009 | Monitoring
Mevlüt Çavusoglu (Turkey, EDG) and Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee on Bosnia and Herzegovina, will start today a four-day fact-finding visit to Banja Luka, Mostar and Sarajevo to take stock of the implementation of Resolution 1626 (2008) on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the Council of Europe, and of progress with regard to the constitutional reform.
26/08/2009 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
A campaign called the ‘New Earth Deal’ is being launched today in London, with the support of PACE’s Environment Committee, to push for a global climate change deal at Copenhagen in which richer countries should do more. PACE’s rapporteur on climate change John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), a former Deputy Prime Minister who took part in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations, said developed countries must “carry a greater share of the burden of reducing emissions” because of their historic responsibility for past emissions: “They must now recognise the central principle that the polluter pays.”