21/03/2007 | Session
A special, all-day debate on the state of human rights and democracy in Europe – with contributions from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the heads of the main Council of Europe human rights monitoring mechanisms, as well as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch – will be the main highlight of the Assembly’s spring plenary session (16-20 April 2007). Also on the draft Order of Business, made public today, are Montenegro’s accession to the Council of Europe, a monitoring report on Azerbaijan, and fair trial issues in criminal cases concerning espionage or divulging state secrets.
21/03/2007 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Eddie O’Hara (United Kingdom, SOC), rapporteur on the cultural heritage in the South Caucasus for PACE, has welcomed the announcement of the opening on 29 March of the Armenian Akhtamar Church on Lake Van in Turkey, following extensive restoration funded by the Turkish Ministry of Culture. “The involvement of the Turkish Government, the Armenian Church authorities, experts from Turkish and international universities and local contractors is an outstanding example of how co-operation can help save the rich cultural heritage of this region,” said Mr O’Hara. “It now remains to work on access to the site, on its landscape surroundings and on the uses to which the restored site as a whole can be put.” He said he hoped the Armenian authorities will be able to participate in the opening.
20/03/2007 | News
A PACE rapporteur looking into the situation of longstanding refugees and displaced persons in South-East Europe has warmly praised the Bosnian town of Prijedor, in the Republika Srpska entity, as “an extraordinary example of hope for the whole region of the Western Balkans as it has welcomed and assisted people of all ethnicities who wish to build a better and brighter future there”. Nikolaos Dendias (Greece, EPP/DC) was speaking at the end of a fact-finding visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro. Prijedor was the scene of mass executions during the war.
20/03/2007 | President
To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March, PACE President René van der Linden today made the following statement: “Europe represents, for millions of people from around the world seeking a better life for themselves and their families, a land of human rights, values and opportunities. Yet for many the reality is instead harassment from authorities desperate to send them home, discrimination in the work place and xenophobia and intolerance from local populations."
19/03/2007 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
John Greenway (United Kingdom, EDG), at the end of a visit to Spain to gather information on its experience of regularising over 500,000 irregular migrants, has commended the Spanish authorities on helping to provide “a dignified future” for many in a highly vulnerable situation, and said Europe has “a lot to learn” from the programme.
16/03/2007 | President
PACE President, René van der Linden, today said that, since the retrial of the Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting some 426 children with HIV at a hospital in Benghazi, and the death sentence served on them by a Libyan Court on 19 December 2006, he had received hundreds of letters of support for them.
16/03/2007 | News
René van der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has strongly condemned the recent arrests of opposition leaders in Belarus. Speaking during meetings of PACE’s Bureau and Standing Committee in Paris, the President stressed that these arrests were all the more unacceptable given that, following his visit to Minsk in January, the Belarusian authorities had appeared to show a willingness to take a more constructive attitude towards relations with Europe and to start developing a new political climate in the country. This new step backwards jeopardizes a possible review of current relations with the Assembly, he said.
16/03/2007 | News
To guarantee responsible and professional media, the Standing Committee of the PACE today called on governments to increase professional education and training opportunities for journalists. Aware that not all companies are able to provide such training, because of lack of funds, the parliamentarians recommended Council of Europe support, possibly in co-operation with media and their professional organisations. They also recommended organising pan-European exchanges of journalists with educational institutions and media companies.
16/03/2007 | News
The Standing Committee of the PACE drew attention today to the failure of the United States, an observer to the Council of Europe, to comply with its obligation to respect human rights and the rule of law, especially in its ”war against terror”. It warned that, since the 11 September attacks, the Bush Administration has “inappropriately and unilaterally disregarded key human rights and humanitarian legal norms”. The parliamentarians criticised the unlawful detention of persons in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, the setting up of a “spider’s web” of illegal detentions and inter-state transfers, and bilateral immunity agreements. They added that the Bush Administration has “tarnished its reputation as a beacon in defending human rights”. The Standing Committee called on the US Government and American parliamentarians to initiate a dialogue on a global strategy based on respect for human rights.
16/03/2007 | News
The PACE Standing Committee today underlined the “significant differences” between Council of Europe member states regarding solid waste management. It warned that this situation results in considerable public health hazards and additional costs in both the short and the long term. The Assembly called on member states to comply with occupational health and safety standards during waste collection, establish regular waste collection systems for all urban, suburban and rural areas and enforce compliance with strict standards for landfilling.
16/03/2007 | News
The PACE Standing Committee sounded the alarm regarding the need to address the problems caused by electronic waste (e-waste), which “threatens to overwhelm the world's landfills with permanent toxic substances”. The Assembly called on the Council of Europe member states to take legislative and regulatory measures in order to restrict the use of hazardous materials in the production of electrical and electronic equipment and implement effective management systems for e-waste.
16/03/2007 | Standing Committee
PACE is due to hold a debate at its June 2007 session on the promotion by Council of Europe member states of an international moratorium on the death penalty, the Assembly's Bureau proposed today at a meeting in Paris. A report on this subject, to be prepared by the Assembly’s Legal Affairs Committee, will aim to explore ways to support an Italian initiative at the UN General Assembly aimed at re-launching the consideration of a global moratorium, and in the future a global ban, on capital punishment.