06/06/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“When it comes to so-called ‘honour crimes’, it is often a whole family or even an entire community which can gang up on a victim, citing tradition, culture or religion,” said Gita Sahgal, a representative of Amnesty International, addressing a parliamentary hearing on the subject today in Paris, organised by PACE's Equal Opportunities Committee. Crimes of honour include “honour murders”, forced marriages, confining women against their will or even mutilations, all with the aim of dominating womens’ sexuality, she pointed out.
06/06/2008 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Non-execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights remains a “major problem” for eleven countries that are in theory bound by its rulings, according to an introductory memorandum by Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD) made public by PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee. Problems are “most pressing” in at least four states, according to the rapporteur: Italy, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine. The report aims to bring parliamentary pressure to bear on states that have not fully implemented judgments after five years or more, or ones which raise “important implementation issues”.
06/06/2008 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Five-member delegations from the Israeli Knesset and the Palestinian Legislative Council will meet in Rhodes, Greece, from 11 to 12 June 2008, under the auspices of PACE, to discuss human rights and “confidence-building measures” such as easier movement of people and initiatives for ending incitement to hatred.
05/06/2008 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Marie-Louise Bemelmans-Videc (Netherlands, EPP/CD) will represent the PACE Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights at the colloquy “Towards stronger implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights” at national level, organised under the Swedish Chairmanship of the Committee of...
05/06/2008 | President
“The Latin American Parliament works to promote human rights, pluralist democracy and the rule of law. Those are precisely the values upheld by the Council of Europe since its inception. I am here to propose closer co-operation and increased links with you, as our organisation has already done with other regions of the world. We want to move forward with you,” said PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig in Buenos Aires today at the opening ceremony of a conference on international humanitarian law organised by the Parlatino and the Argentine Congress.
04/06/2008 | President
Speaking on the eve of World Environment Day, PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig has called for “a right to a healthy environment” – and pledged to press for a legally-enforceable right at the European level.
03/06/2008 | Bureau
PACE is due to hold an urgent debate on “the functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey” on Thursday 26 June 2008 during the Assembly’s forthcoming plenary session (23-27 June 2008).
03/06/2008 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has urged Turkey to take “a positive attitude” to the small number of ethnic Greeks still living on the Turkish Aegean islands of Gökçeada (Imbros) and Bozcaada (Tenedos) and their descendants. In a draft resolution approved yesterday, the committee welcomed a number of positive gestures already taken, but called for the fair settlement of education and land issues concerning ethnic Greeks, and steps to repair the damage done to the natural and cultural heritage of the islands.
03/06/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men will be holding a hearing in Paris on 6 June on “The urgent need for action on so-called ‘honour crimes’”. The participants who will be joining with the committee members in discussing this issue include a representative of Amnesty International, an expert in the social work field, the director of an international campaign against “honour crimes”, and a lawyer.
02/06/2008 | Election observation
Key international standards were not met in yesterday’s elections, as organised attempts to violently disrupt the electoral process in parts of the ethnic Albanian areas made it impossible for voters in many places to freely express their will, said the international election observation mission for the parliamentary elections in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” in a statement released today.
30/05/2008 | President
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Lluís Maria de Puig, today expressed his profound concern after the banning of Turkey’s only gay rights association, just ordered by a Turkish court.
30/05/2008 | Standing Committee
PACE has called on the United Kingdom, United States and NATO to immediately declassify information on the locations of sites in the Baltic Sea where chemical munitions were dumped after the Second World War. In a resolution adopted yesterday, based on a report by Gediminas Jakavonis (Lithuania, ALDE), PACE’s Standing Committee said that this information would enable a detailed study of the current condition of these chemical munitions, and the risk they pose to the marine environment.