07/02/2008 | Political Affairs and Democracy
"The three capital executions which took place on Tuesday in Belarus sadly show that this country is still a long way away from European values and standards," commented Andrea Rigoni (Italy, ALDE), rapporteur of PACE's Political Affairs Committee, following the executions of Sergei Morozov, Valery Gorbaty and Igor Danchenko of the Morozov criminal gang. "It is particularly disconcerting that the same day on which a prominent political prisoner such as Artur Finkevich is released, three people are executed. The death penalty is to be condemned in all circumstances and should be completely abolished," he said.
06/02/2008 | President
PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig today expressed his profound dismay at the executions of Syarhey Marozaw, Ihar Danchanka and Valerii Gorbatii in Belarus. “The Belarusian authorities have once again chosen the course of barbarism and injustice. President Lukachenko could have commuted these sentences and thus shown a clear determination to bring Belarus closer to the Council of Europe. Instead he decided to distance his country even further from the values shared by 800 million Europeans,” the PACE President said. He added that “this atrocity has unfortunately overshadowed the good news of yesterday’s release of the political prisoner Artur Finkevich”.
04/02/2008 | Election observation
International observers from ODIHR and from PACE have concluded that the second round of voting in Serbia’s presidential election yesterday was conducted in line with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments for democratic elections. “I was impressed by the maturity shown by the people of Serbia, and I also congratulate both candidates for their commitment to democratic principles,” said Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), head of the PACE delegation. “I hope that the President is able to build the much-needed bridges in society to strengthen the process of European integration.”
04/02/2008 | Election observation
The 3 February 2008 parliamentary elections in Monaco were free and fair. They were well organised and their result is a true expression of the will of the electorate, concluded a five-member, cross-party delegation of observers from PACE. The delegation was impressed with the high voter turnout of 77 per cent, which testifies to the confidence of Monegasques that every vote counts. This public mood bodes well for the future of representative democracy in this particular constitutional monarchy.
01/02/2008 | Monitoring
Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/C D ) and Evguenia Jivkova (Bulgaria, SOC), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, will be making a fact-finding visit to Baku from 4 to 8 February, to review this state's honouring of its commitments vis-à-vis the Council of Europe, and verify ten months later, the implementation of Resolution 1545 (2007) on this issue. Talks are scheduled with, among others, the President of the Republic, the President of the Parliament and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Interior and Justice. The co-rapporteurs will also be meeting representatives of the different political parties, NGOs and the media, and prisoners in their places of detention.
01/02/2008 | Election observation
A PACE delegation led by Andreas Gross Switzerland, SOC) will visit Serbia from 1 to 4 February to observe the second round of the presidential election, alongside the OSCE and the ODIHR. The parliamentarians should have meetings with a representative of the Election Commission and members of the Association of Independent Journalists of Serbia, before observing the holding of the election and vote counting on 3 February.
01/02/2008 | Election observation
A four-member delegation from PACE, headed by Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), will make a pre-electoral visit to Moscow from 6 to 9 February 2008 to assess the run-up to the 2 March Presidential election. The delegation, made up of representatives from four of the Assembly’s five political groups, is due to meet all the official candidates, Andrey Bogdanov, Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Guennady Zyuganov, as well as Mikhail Kasyanov whose candidature has not been accepted by Russia’s Central Election Commission.
31/01/2008 | Election observation
The PACE pre-election delegation, led by John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) and visiting Yerevan from 29 to 31 January, said it was concerned with the apparent lack of trust in the electoral process, including in the impartiality of the legal complaints and appeals process, expressed by a number of interlocutors. The delegation strongly recommended that the authorities take all necessary measures to ensure public confidence in the electoral process, especially with regard to the secrecy of the vote and the transparency of the counting and tabulation processes. It also said it regretted the clearly unbalanced media coverage on most broadcast media, including public television, before the official campaign period.
31/01/2008 | Election observation
A PACE delegation, consisting of one representative of each of the Assembly’s political groups and headed by Jaakko Laakso (Finland, UEL), will be in Monaco from 1 to 4 February to observe the conduct of the parliamentary elections. The delegation members will meet Jean-Paul Proust, Minister of State of the Principality of Monaco, Georges Marsan, Mayor of Monaco, Stéphane Valéri, President of the National Council, Philippe Narmino, Director of Judicial Services, and representatives of the opposition lists and the media.
31/01/2008 | President
“Trafficking in human beings constitutes a form of inhuman and degrading treatment as well as a blatant violation of human rights. However, together with the arms trade and drug trafficking, it is one of the few sectors which has never seen an economic slowdown. With the coming into force of our convention, we hope at last to wage a more effective fight against this intolerable modern-day barbarity, which can only be countered if a collective effort is made on a Europe-wide basis. The greater the number of countries that ratify this convention, the better the protection that will be afforded to the victims”, said Lluis Maria de Puig, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
31/01/2008 | News
“Trafficking in human beings constitutes a form of inhuman and degrading treatment as well as a blatant violation of human rights. However, together with the arms trade and drug trafficking, it is one of the few sectors which has never seen an economic slowdown. With the coming into force of our convention, we hope at last to wage a more effective fight against this intolerable modern-day barbarity, which can only be countered if a collective effort is made on a Europe-wide basis. The greater the number of countries that ratify this convention, the better the protection that will be afforded to the victims”, said Lluis Maria de Puig, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
28/01/2008 | Election observation
Ahead of the presidential election due to be held in Armenia on 19 February, a three-member delegation from PACE, headed by John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), will carry out a pre-electoral mission in the country from 29 to 31 January. The delegation will meet various political figures (President of the Republic and Speaker of the Parliament, President of the Constitutional Court, Minister for Foreign Affairs), the candidates in the presidential election, the Chair of the Central Electoral Commission, and representatives of civil society and the media.