30/01/2009 | Session
PACE today called for an international convention which clearly defines environmentally-induced migration for the first time. More cross-disciplinary research is needed to understand the complex links between population movements and climate, the parliamentarians said. Debating a report by Tina Acketoft (Sweden, ALDE), the Assembly said that above all, governments must tackle the root cause of this looming problem – co-ordinated and swift action at all levels to deal with dangerous environmental degradation.
30/01/2009 | President
Björn von Sydow (Sweden, SOC), who is preparing a report for the PACE on the situation in Kosovo, is to visit Kosovo from 2 to 5 February 2009. Opening a current affairs debate in the Assembly in January 2008, Mr von Sydow said: “Irrespective of its status, the Parliamentary Assembly wants people in Kosovo to enjoy the same rights and freedoms and have the same opportunities”.
30/01/2009 | Session
In line with the conclusions by Lydie Err (Luxembourg, SOC), rapporteur for the Equal Opportunities Committee, the Assembly today unanimously adopted a resolution asking Mexico to step up its efforts to combat «feminicides» – the murder of a woman because she is a woman. The text follows a previous 2005 resolution on “Disappearance and murder of a great number of women and girls in Mexico”,in which PACE called on the Mexican Congress to complete the planned constitutional and legislative reforms to fight impunity for such grave human rights violations.
30/01/2009 | President
PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig is to make an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina on 2-3 February to deepen co-operation and, in particular, to assess progress on constitutional reform. Meetings are foreseen with Nebojša Radmanovic, Željko Komšic and Haris Silajdžic, members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Nikola Špiric, Chairman of the Council of Ministers; Sven Alkalaj, Minister of Foreign Affairs; as well as with members of the Collegium of both Houses of the Parliamentary Assembly. Mr de Puig will also meet with Miroslav Lajcak, High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
30/01/2009 | Session
In a debate on electronic democracy, based on a report by Zoltán Szabó (Hungary, SOC), PACE pointed out that "e-tools may be highly instrumental in strengthening traditional representative democracy and in contributing to the improvement of its quality", while at the same time pointing to the potential risks posed for democracy by the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as unequal access and possible misuse.
29/01/2009 | Session
According to PACE, memorials of disputed symbolic significance must not become sources of tension in intra-state relations or between different communities. In a resolution adopted today on the basis of the conclusions of Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE), PACE Political Affairs Committee rapporteur on “Attitude to memorials exposed to different historical interpretations,” the Assembly called on member states to initiate the broadest possible debate about the fate of controversial memorials, involving historians, active members of civil society and political leaders.
29/01/2009 | Session
Council of Europe governments should closely regulate private military and security companies to ensure that in practice their personnel meet the human rights standards which apply to regular armies and state security services, according to PACE. After debating a report by Wolfgang Wodarg (Germany, SOC), the parliamentarians called for a convention which would require such firms to be more transparent, and to seek parliamentary approval for any foreign missions they carried out. Any laws and rules applying to the regular army or police should also apply to them.
29/01/2009 | Session
At the end of an urgent debate on the consequences of the global financial crisis, PACE today reminded the European governments of “their responsibility to protect citizens’ social and human rights”. The disastrous impact of the crisis “could possibly threaten to undermine the very foundations of democracy”. According to the parliamentarians, it is vital that economic solidarity, coordination and co-operation should be exercised not only among the Council of Europe member states and between the industrialised states, but also vis-à-vis the developing countries.
29/01/2009 | Session
The PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men today elected the members of the Gender Equality Prize jury, including its chairperson. Having topped the voting, the Swedish politician, Lena Hjelm-Wallén, will chair the jury. In twenty years of office in the Swedish government, Ms Hjelm-Wallén served as Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs, Minister responsible for International Development Co-operation, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister. The deadline for submitting candidatures for the prize has been extended to 1 June 2009.
29/01/2009 | Session
PACE Monitoring Committee, meeting today in Strasbourg, examined recent developments in Azerbaijan and decided to request the opinion of the Venice Commission – the Council of Europe’s group of experts on constitutional law – on the package of constitutional amendments to be submitted to a nation-wide referendum on 18 March 2009. These amendments, adopted by the Azerbaijani Parliament on 25 December 2008, would abolish the limit on the number of consecutive terms of office for the President of the Republic, extend the term of office of the President and the Parliament in a time of war, as well as grant the right to introduce a legislative initiative if it has the support of 40,000 voters.
29/01/2009 | Session
At the opening of the Assembly 2009 session, on 26 January 2009, the still unratified credentials of the delegation of Albania to the Parliamentary Assembly were contested on procedural grounds. After examining the various objections made, PACE has found that there was no indication that the principles guaranteed by the Assembly’s Rules of Procedures were not respected in the nomination of the members of the parliamentary delegation of Albania and therefore decided, in a resolution unanimously adopted today, to ratify their credentials.
28/01/2009 | Session
“PACE can offer its political know-how to try to ease daily life for the populations of the two parties in conflict,” said Göran Lindblad (Sweden, EPP/CD) in Strasbourg today, opening a current affairs debate on the situation in Gaza. He highlighted the need for a change of attitude by the two parties to try to work out a just and lasting peace, including “recognition of secure borders”. As rapporteur, he said the Parliamentary Assembly’s Sub-Committee on the Middle East would pursue its efforts in support of the peace process.