27/01/2009 | Session
PACE, which elects judges to the European Court of Human Rights from lists of three candidates designated by the States Parties, stressed the importance of national selection procedures that guarantee and increase the quality, efficiency and authority of the Court. In line with the conclusions of the rapporteur for the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG), PACE asked the governments of the member states to issue public and open calls for candidatures and to describe the manner in which candidates have been selected.
27/01/2009 | Session
The investigation into the murder of Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze cannot be considered solved until the “instigators and organisers” are held to account in addition to the actual perpetrators of the crime, according to the PACE. In a resolution adopted today, the Assembly welcomed the conviction of three former Interior Ministry police officers for the murder, but said Ukrainian prosecutors should now vigorously pursue authentification of the so-called “Melnychenko recordings” so that they can be used as evidence in court.
27/01/2009 | Session
“The new American administration wishes to break with the past and return to the path of the rule of law,” said Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), former PACE rapporteur on the illegal transfer of detainees and secret detentions in Europe, at a press conference today in Strasbourg. “Some European governments would be well advised to tell the truth before the Washington Post or the New York Times reveal it,” he added.
27/01/2009 | Session
At the end of this morning's winter session debate and following the proposals of the monitoring co-rapporteurs for Armenia, Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD) and John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decided not to suspend the voting rights of the members of the Armenian delegation to the Assembly at this stage, viewing the recent initiatives of the Armenian authorities as an indication of their readiness to address the demands made by PACE in its Resolutions 1609 (2008) and 1620 (2008). The Assembly remains dissatisfied and seriously concerned by the situation of persons deprived of their liberty in relation to the events of 1 and 2 March 2008.
27/01/2009 | Session
Addressing the Assembly, Philippe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court said there was an urgent need for universal ratification of the Court’s statute which will help to put an end to impunity for serious international crimes. He emphasised that the longstanding support that ICC has received from the Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly helped to bring about the Court’s existence. "The Council of Europe can contribute further to the success and efficiency of the Court by encouraging its member and observer states to provide the practical support, resources and co-operation it needs to do its work," he said.
27/01/2009 | Session
Following the proposals of the rapporteur (Herta Daubler-Gmelin, Germany, SOC), the Assembly today reiterated its firm commitment to the International Criminal Court (ICC). “The universal ratification of the Rome Statute (…), as well as close co-operation by states and non-States Parties in providing practical and judicial assistance to the ICC, are of key importance for the fight against impunity” the adopted text underlines. The parliamentarians urged eight Council of Europe member states (Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Monaco, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine) that have not yet ratified the Rome Statute to do it “without further delay”.
27/01/2009 | Session
Technological change in the audiovisual media has made it necessary to revise the European Convention on Transfrontier Television (ECTT), whose aim is to ensure freedom of transmission and retransmission of broadcasting in Europe regardless of frontiers. During a debate on the regulation of audiovisual media services, based on a report by Andrew McIntosh (United Kingdom, SOC), PACE reiterated that “all media regulation in Europe must respect the right to freedom of expression and information … regardless of frontiers”.
27/01/2009 | Session
British Conservative MP David Wilshire has today been elected as the new Chairman of the European Democrat Group (EDG) in the Assembly. Mr Wilshire was formerly Deputy Chairman of the Group and replaces Mikhail Margelov who has left the Russian delegation to take up a new role in Moscow. "It is a great honour and responsibility to be entrusted with the important task of upholding and implementing the values and beliefs of our Group. As the third largest political group in PACE we are well placed to help steer the Council of Europe in the direction our group members were all elected to champion", Mr Wilshire said.
27/01/2009 | Session
PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting this morning in Strasbourg, adopted the following statement: “Following the recent spate of murders and disappearances of a lawyer, a journalist, a witness and other critics of, in particular, the regime of the President of the Chechen Republic, the committee urges the competent authorities in Moscow and Vienna to carry out full inquiries and to prosecute the killers as well as the instigators and organisers of these crimes.
26/01/2009 | Session
In a resolution adopted today, PACE asked member states to include disability issues in all areas of policy-making and allocate sufficient funds to them.In line with the conclusions of the rapporteur for the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE), the Assembly asked member states to promote and carry out the Council of Europe Disability Action Plan for 2006-2015, facing people with disabilities.
26/01/2009 | Session
Addressing the Assembly on 26 January on the state of the Council of Europe, Secretary General Terry Davis stated that reducing the organisation’s output will be even more expensive for Europe in the longer term. ''There is a cost attached to that – a cost which can be measured not only in less democracy, less human rights and less rule of law, but also in financial terms. In money which will have to be spent on putting out fires which can be prevented if we have not only the will but also the means to act in time,'' he said.
26/01/2009 | Rules, Ethics and Immunities
The credentials of the Albanian delegation to PACE were challenged on procedural grounds on the opening day of the session in Strasbourg. Making the challenge, Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary), who heads the ALDE group, said: “We have reason to believe that one of our Assembly members from Albania was removed in a way which is in breach of the applicable rules.” The Assembly’s Rules Committee will now prepare a report on the matter, and the Assembly will make a final decision on Thursday morning.