09/05/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden, today expressed his deep concern over the newly elected speaker of Serbia’s Parliament, Tomislav Nikolic, a leader of the Serb Radical Party. “’I have learned with consternation of the election of Tomislav Nikolic, member of a political party run by an indicted war criminal, to the post of Speaker of the Serbian Parliament. In this context, I want to recall that co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is not optional, but a legally-binding obligation and a commitment that Serbia undertook when joining the Council of Europe.
09/05/2007 | President
“It has been a long time coming, but the wait was well worth while,” said PACE President René van der Linden today, commenting on the Northern Ireland Assembly as it reconvened for the first time in over four-and-a-half years. “To see Mr Paisley and Mr McGuiness take office as First Minister and Deputy First Minister, to see them smiling side-by-side as partners in this exciting moment: this is truly inspiring and, I am confident, a sign of happier times to come, since it will contribute to the development of a stable and prosperous northern Ireland,” he continued.
04/05/2007 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Speaking at the Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education in Istanbul on 4 May, Anne Brasseur (Luxembourg, ALDE) recalled on behalf of PACE that ignorance – both of human rights and of cultural diversity – was at the root of most negative attitudes towards different persons and cultures. “The full implementation of existing human rights in everyday life is an unfinished task. Human rights can most effectively be maintained when they are embedded in the culture of all citizens, which requires adequate cultural and education policies by all member states and the Council of Europe, including teacher training, professional training for journalists, training for civil servants in contact with the public as well as continuing training for politicians,” she stressed. She finally called for education to become a major leverage tool in the European process and said that education for Europe should be one of the main aims of European co-operation.
02/05/2007 | President
"This month, our Assembly launched a unique new initiative – an Annual report on the state of human rights and democracy in Europe, which must become the essential reference on the state of democracy and human rights in Europe. We have invited all our national parliaments to hold their own debates on the report, to ensure that governments take these issues much more seriously, both at home and abroad", PACE President René van der Linden said on 1st May adressing the 116th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
27/04/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden has expressed his deep concern over last night’s turbulent events in the centre of Tallinn, Estonia, during which demonstrators and police were injured and one person died. He regretted the decision of the Estonian authorities to remove the Bronze Soldier memorial as this act, rather then building bridges, is widening the rift between the country’s citizens of Estonian and Russian origin.
26/04/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden is to take part in the 116th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Denpasar, Indonesia, from 29 April to 3 May. He will also hold several bilateral meetings on the fringe of the meeting, including with the Indonesian Foreign Minister. Earlier in Jakarta (26-28 April), he will meet Indonesia’s Justice Minister, as well as the Chair of the country’s Human Rights Commission, to discuss co-operation with the Council of Europe and promoting inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.
25/04/2007 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE investigator Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) today strongly deplored the UN Security Council for the “flagrant injustice” of blacklisting individuals suspected of having links to terrorism without evidence of any wrong-doing, flouting its own principles. The process of blacklisting – in which individuals have their assets frozen and are banned from travelling – is carried out behind closed doors by a New York-based committee (the “1267 committee”) at the request of Security Council members. Those blacklisted are not informed or given a chance to be heard, and there is no appeal. The list currently contains 362 individuals and 125 companies or organisations.
23/04/2007 | President
Following the death of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, PACE President René van der Linden today declared: "I want to pay tribute to Russia's first democratically elected President. For the Council of Europe, Boris Yeltsin will be remembered as the man who brought the Russian Federation to the European family of common values based on democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Under his Presidency, he instituted a moratorium on executions in Russia. Boris Yeltsin will be remembered as the symbol of the irreversibility of the transition to democracy in Russia."
20/04/2007 | President
“The Assembly is disappointed by the overall content of the draft memorandum. It does not contain precise and concrete commitments requiring the parties to make substantial additional efforts to enhance co-operation. It does not provide an innovative or ambitious approach to challenges faced by the European construction,” PACE declared following a debate on the draft memorandum. The Assembly considers that the draft text does not sufficiently reflect the proposals and recommendations contained in the report by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, or opinions previously expressed by PACE and its President. Parliamentarians also pointed out that if the co-operation between the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers on this issue is to be meaningful, the Assembly’s position must also be taken into account when finalising the document.
20/04/2007 | Session
The Assembly today called on the governments of the Council of Europe member States to make provision for an international legal instrument, in the form of a convention, designed to introduce a new offence relating to pharmaceutical crime. During a debate on the quality of medicines in Europe, the parliamentarians warned about a phenomenon that kills and can be associated with a form of organised crime. Counterfeit medicines affect 10% of the world medicines market and the losses are estimated at about 500 billion euros a year. The report, by Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE), highlights the alarming increase in counterfeit medicines, which now account for 10% of the world market, and cost states 500 billion euros in lost taxes every year. It calls for an international convention, defining a new offence – pharmaceutical crime – and making it possible to arrest, prosecute and punish the producers of counterfeit or adulterated medicines.
20/04/2007 | President
"I wish I could have said that Europe is free of anti-semitism, free of hatred and intolerance, but we all know that this is not yet the case. The work of collective memory therefore is all the more fundamental to prevent a repetition of history," stressed René van der Linden announcing that PACE will give its support and patronage to the Third International Forum of the World Holocaust Forum (Germany, November 2008) which will mark 70 years since the Kristallnacht.
20/04/2007 | News
PACE welcomed a draft convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, but also pointed out that certain “escape clauses” might weaken the criminal protection of children at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, following an urgent debate on the subject. Such clauses include allowing reservations on offences concerning child pornography. The Assembly also called for a better recognition of the important role of victims' parents and families.