17/07/2009 | President
PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig today ended a two-day official visit to Italy, during which he met the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Gianfranco Fini (photo), the Vice-President of the Senate Vannino Chiti, the Minister for Relations with the Regions Raffaele Fitto, and the members of the Italian delegation to PACE. Mr de Puig also had a meeting at the Vatican with the Secretary for Relations with States, Dominique Mamberti.
16/07/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Following the brutal murder of Natalia Estemirova, a highly respected human rights defender and head of the Human Rights Center “Memorial” in Grozny (Chechnya), PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig, and parliamentary rapporteurs today expressed their shock and dismay, urging the authorities to hold to account not only the direct perpetrators, but also the instigators and organisers of this heinous crime. “This is one murder of a human rights defender too many - the Russian authorities in Moscow, at the highest level, must at last take decisive action to rein in the lawlessness in Chechnya and the whole North Caucasus region and protect those who stand up for the rights of their fellow citizens, as a matter of national responsibility”, they said.
13/07/2009 | President
PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig today ended an official visit to Italy on 16 and 17 July, during which he met the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Gianfranco Fini (photo), the Vice-President of the Senate Vannino Chiti, the Minister for Relations with the Regions Raffaele Fitto, and the members of the Italian delegation to PACE. Mr de Puig also had a meeting at the Vatican with the Secretary for Relations with States, Dominique Mamberti.
13/07/2009 | Monitoring
The co-rapporteurs for Georgia of the PACE Monitoring Committee, Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE) and Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC), have welcomed the statement by the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, David Bakradze, that the draft amendments to the laws on rallies, police and administrative offences will be submitted to the Venice Commission to ensure their compliance with Council of Europe standards of democracy and human rights.
09/07/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, has ended a two-day visit to Kiev (8-9 July 2009) with a call for greater domestic parliamentary supervision to ensure Ukraine implements judgments of the Court. The Rapporteur obtained assurances that Parliament will now take a more pro-active approach in supervising the Strasbourg Court's judgments, and that long overdue structural changes in the legal and justice system are now being finalised.
08/07/2009 | Monitoring
The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for the monitoring of Ukraine, Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) and Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Germany, ALDE), have called on the Ukrainian parliament to pass a law on the presidential election which takes fully account of Council of Europe recommendations. Draft law No. 4741 on the presidential election is currently under discussion in the Verkhovna Rada, which is due to decide on it tomorrow, Thursday 9 July 2009.
07/07/2009 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“The use of force against demonstrators by China’s communist regime must be strongly condemned by the international community,” said Göran Lindblad (Sweden, EPP/CD), Chair of the PACE Political Affairs Committee, referring to the unrest in the Chinese province of Xixjiang which over the last two days has resulted in at least 156 deaths and over 800 injuries. “The parliamentarians from the Council of Europe, the pan-European Organisation standing for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, have a special responsibility to react when the communist regime in China represses its own population.”
07/07/2009 | Monitoring
In the context of the monitoring procedure relating to Montenegro's honouring of its obligations and commitments, Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD) and Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE), co-rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee, are starting today a fact-finding visit to Podgorica, during which they are due to meet the President of the Republic, Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Justice.
07/07/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), who is currently preparing a report on the implementation of judgements of the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, is to visit Ukraine from 8 to 9 July 2009, where he is due to meet inter alia the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of Justice, the acting Minister of Finance, the President of the Supreme Court and Prosecutor General.
06/07/2009 | President
“The founding mission of the Council of Europe, namely to build peace and create a common area governed by the rule of law, democracy and human rights, is far from complete,” declared PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig, speaking today at the opening of the 4th Summer University for Democracy. “The Council of Europe must project its human rights values beyond Europe’s borders, and a new phase has begun with the creation of a new ‘partner for democracy’ status with PACE, in order to strengthen co-operation with the countries of the southern Mediterranean, Central Asia and the Middle East,” added Mr de Puig.
06/07/2009 | Election observation
Yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Bulgaria were generally in accordance with international standards, but further efforts are necessary to ensure the integrity of the election process and increase public confidence, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) concluded in a joint statement released today.
02/07/2009 | President
PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig has expressed deep concern about the death sentence passed on a young man in Belarus on 29 June. "The death penalty is a flagrant violation of human rights. It does not serve, but denies justice. No crime could justify it. This is why the Assembly asked its Bureau on 23 June not to lift the suspension of the Belarus Parliament's special guest status until such time as a moratorium on executions has been introduced by the appropriate Belarus authorities," he said.