25/05/2009 | Standing Committee
The Standing Committee of PACE will meet in Ljubljana on Friday 29 May 2009 at the invitation of the Slovenian National Assembly. PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig will also hold separate meetings on the same day with Slovenian President Danilo Türk and the President of the National Assembly Pavel Gantar.
25/05/2009 | President
During a visit to Algeria, Lluís Maria de Puig confirmed to the Algerian authorities that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and, more particularly, he personally as President of PACE, were determined to strengthen parliamentary relations with the countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, starting with the Maghreb. He pointed out that a debate on the establishment of a “Partner for democracy” status with the Parliamentary Assembly (Doc. 11913) was scheduled to take place in Strasbourg on 26 June.
25/05/2009 | Political Affairs and Democracy
During its meeting in Paris on Tuesday 26 May, PACE's Political Affairs committee is expected to adopt a report by Andrea Rigoni (Italy, ALDE) on the situation in Belarus. The committee will also hold an exchange of views on “threshold levels in parliamentary elections and their impact on representativity of parliaments”, the subject of a report being prepared by Hendrik Daems (Belgium, ALDE). The agenda also includes an item on the committee’s contribution to the draft code of good practice for civil participation in the decision-making process.
20/05/2009 | News
A group of 20 members of PACE has challenged the credentials of the Ukrainian delegation to the Assembly on the substantial grounds of “a serious violation of the basic principles of the Council of Europe”. In a motion submitted yesterday, the signatories said the Ukrainian government persistently refuses to replace a missing third candidate on the list of candidates for election of a judge to the European Court of Human Rights, which “undermines the credibility of the Court”. Under the rules, a report is automatically prepared on a challenge of credentials, which is likely to be debated by the Assembly durings its forthcoming session (22-26 June 2009).
18/05/2009 | President
Beyond the creation of a common democratic and legal area, one of the Council of Europe’s major achievements, “we should think about new ways that will enable the Organisation to assert itself more in the member countries and on the international scene,” said PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig in Helsinki at the ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Council of Europe and the 20th anniversary of Finland’s accession to the Organisation. “I therefore welcome the reflection launched in our Assembly concerning a need for a broader interpretation of human rights."
18/05/2009 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Jószef Berényi (Slovak Republic, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on the situation of Roma and Chair of the Assembly’s Sub-Committee on Rights of Minorities, made the following statement, speaking after a hearing on the subject in Târgu Mures, Romania: “It is with a feeling of revolt and shame that I note that in recent times the Roma minority has been the victim of attacks of a rare violence in several Council of Europe member states. In Italy, Roma camp sites have been burnt down, in Hungary two members of a Roma family – including one child – were killed in an attack on their home..."
15/05/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Supporting a report by Miet Smet (Belgium, EPP/CD) on sexual violence against women in armed conflict, the PACE Equal Opportunities Committee has approved a series of measures to ensure that justice is done whenever a women is raped during an armed conflict. The committee considers that in order to put a stop to sexual violence against women in armed conflict, it is vital to include this crime against humanity in the future Council of Europe Convention on the severest and most widespread forms of violence against women.
15/05/2009 | News
Supporting a report by Miet Smet (Belgium, EPP/CD) on sexual violence against women in armed conflict, the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men has approved a series of measures to ensure that justice is done whenever a women is raped during an armed conflict. The committee considers that in order to put a stop to sexual violence against women in armed conflict, it is vital to include this crime against humanity in the future Council of Europe Convention on the severest and most widespread forms of violence against women.
15/05/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“All the necessary background legal regulations to combat violence against women have been enacted in Turkey, but they are not yet fully implemented, thus it is difficult to say that these regulations can eradicate violence against women,“ said Turkey’s Minister responsible for Family and Women’s Affairs Selma Kavaf, speaking at the first meeting of the PACE network of contact parliamentarians on combating violence against women, taking place today in Istanbul.
15/05/2009 | President
Strasbourg, 15.05.2009 – A concrete proposal to inscribe “the right to a healthy environment” into the European system of human rights protection is to be debated in September by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), its President announced yesterday. Addressing the Nevsky...
14/05/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“No religion advocates so-called ‘honour crimes’, and there is no honour in these crimes,” said John Austin (United Kingdom, SOC), at a meeting of the PACE Equality Committee in Istanbul today. “All forms of violence against women in the name of traditional codes of honour must be considered to be crimes, unacceptable in any culture, and be harshly punished by the courts. We should not concede any form of social and cultural relativism,” said Mr Austin, the author of a report on the urgent need to combat these crimes, which was today approved by the Equality Committee.
14/05/2009 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Speaking at the plenary meeting of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly in St Petersburg today, Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC) recalled that whilst the Council of Europe was celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, its work was not finished. "Our values are potent but vulnerable. We keep on building Greater Europe every day. Rooting our values in daily life, protecting human dignity, is an unfinished task and a mission that should guide our efforts," he said.