10/12/2007 | President
"The Council of Europe, the contintent’s human rights watchdog, is indispensable. And its aims are, clearly, nowhere near being fully realised. The Assembly’s recent report on CIA renditions and secret detentions in Europe showed that the Council of Europe does not apply double standards, and that it is willing and able to criticise violations committed in any of our member states, said PACE President René van der Linden.
07/12/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Dick Marty, Chair of the PACE's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights welcomes the moves in the two houses of the US Congress towards banning the CIA from using coercive interrogation methods such as “waterboarding”, the use of dogs and sexual humiliation. “They are purely and simply torture techniques. They violate the international obligations of the United States in the field of human rights and are totally unworthy of this great democracy.”
07/12/2007 | Election observation
At the end of a three-day mission ahead of the observation of Georgia’s 5 January parliamentary elections, a four-member PACE delegation today made the following statement: “The consolidation of democracy has, until recently, been notable in Georgia. However, the events in November have seriously damaged this process. The political schism and polarised political debate risk undermining the credibility of the upcoming Presidential elections, and its outcome, in the eyes of the Georgian public.
06/12/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“Tolerating violence against women is unacceptable. Society will only change if we have the support of all the parties involved,” said Nimet Cubukcu, Turkey’s State Minister for Women and Family Affairs, at the opening of the hearing on domestic violence held by the PACE’s Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. “The awareness-raising campaign and the initiatives conducted by the Hürriyet newspaper, in Turkey and Germany, are helping to change attitudes,” added the Minister.
05/12/2007 | President
"Mexico is a valuable partner for the Council of Europe as regards the promotion of the organisation's fundamental values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law beyond the European continent", declared René van der Linden at the end of his official visit to Mexico (Mexico City and Monterrey, 30 November - 4 December 2007).
04/12/2007 | News
Developments as regards the future status of Kosovo, UN Security Council and EU blacklists, the disappearance of new-born babies for illegal adoption and the election of the new President of the Assembly are among highlights of PACE’s Winter Session (21-25 January 2008). Mikhail Gorbachev, President of Green Cross International, will take part in the debate on global warming and ecological disasters, and Michel Platini, President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), will participate in the debate on the need to preserve the European sport model.
03/12/2007 | Election observation
The State Duma elections in the Russian Federation on 2 December 2007 were not fair and failed to meet many OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections, according to an observation mission of parliamentarians from these two bodies. The observation, bringing together over 70 parliamentarians from 28 countries, was a joint effort of delegations from PACE, led by Luc van den Brande, and the OSCE PA, led by Göran Lennmarker. The Nordic Council also joined these two bodies in their statement.
30/11/2007 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
According to the experts speaking today in Paris at a hearing on environmental health risks, held by the PACE Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs, 30% of Europeans suffer from environmental illnesses, and 4 to 9% even suffer from serious ailments having environmental causes. "This has a considerable cost for health insurance schemes" said PACE rapporteur Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC), who hopes that this argument will help make governments more aware of the need for a genuine prevention and environmental health strategy.
30/11/2007 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Britain’s Hadley Centre Met Office predicts that 2007 will go down as the hottest year on record, thanks to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for rising temperatures. The ten hottest years in the last 150 are concentrated between 1995 and today.
30/11/2007 | Election observation
The delegation heads of two international parliamentary bodies observing the Duma elections in Russia are to deliver their joint preliminary conclusions at a press conference in Moscow on the day after the election. Luc van den Brande and Göran Lennmarker, heading delegations from the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA) respectively, will give a joint press conference in the Winter Garden Room of the Savoy Hotel (3/6, b. 1, Rozhdestvenka, Moscow) at 12.30 p.m. on Monday 3 December 2007.
30/11/2007 | President
Following the execution of police officer Alyaksandr Syarheychyk, announced by the Supreme Court of Belarus [according to Belapan News Agency], PACE President said: “I’m appalled by this execution. Such a barbaric act took place on the very same day that I called on President Lukashenko to commute the death sentences handed down on three other persons. Belarus is the only European country executing people, and the only European State non- member of the Council of Europe. This execution shows that Minsk is not willing to move closer towards the values shared by all other European countries”, Mr van der Linden said.
29/11/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden will make an official visit to Mexico from 29 November to 5 December. In Mexico City and Monterrey he will meet the country's highest authorities, including the President of the Republic, Felipe Calderón, Speaker of the Senate, Santiago Creel, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Patricia Espinosa, as well as representatives of regional and local authorities, religious leaders, representatives of NGOs and a student representative.