30/12/2006 | President
In a statement made today, PACE President René van der Linden deplored the execution of Saddam Hussein. "The Council of Europe is completely opposed to the death penalty in all its forms, even for the most appalling criminals of this world. Human rights apply to every one of us, without exception,"he said. "No doubt, Saddam Hussein had to pay for the heinous crimes he committed, but his execution will not help to do justice, as the death penalty denies it. What Iraq needs now is not the taking of lives but the improving of them," René van der Linden stressed.
27/12/2006 | President
"It is with deep regret that I learn - in this season dedicated to human love and understanding - of the execution in Japan, on 25 December 2006, of four people condemned to suffer the death penalty. For the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as for the Council of Europe as a whole, capital punishment marks a deplorable step backwards and is deemed incompatible with the organisation's values, especially our European Convention on Human Rights and its Protocol No. 6 prohibiting the death penalty, he said.
22/12/2006 | News
In a report made public today, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) rapporteur on child victims, Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD), explains that maltreatment, physical violence or neglect is the cause of death of three children per week in France and two per week in Germany and the United Kingdom. * “Every day, children are bought, sold, imported, exported, used as commodities, subjected to forced marriages, prostitution. They become soldiers, servants, have their organs removed for the purpose of trafficking. They are victims of sexual abuse, everyday maltreatment, corporal punishment, trivialised domestic and parental violence as well as intimidation at school. Although there is an extensive legal apparatus at the international level intended to secure children’s rights and combat certain forms of exploitations, there is a glaring discrepancy between the rights secured to children on paper and the reality,” Mr Gardetto says in his report.
21/12/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of has warmly welcomed today’s adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Convention against Enforced Disappearances. In a statement, the committee declared: “This important text, strongly supported by the Parliamentary Assembly, outlaws the barbaric practice of enforced disappearance and foresees concrete measures to prevent and punish such crimes more effectively. Ending impunity is the strongest signal that can be sent to potential future perpetrators, and the Council of Europe, far from solely pointing the finger at distant parts of the world, recognises that much still remains to be done in its own member states, as well as in Belarus – the last European country that is not yet part of the Council of Europe.”
21/12/2006 | Election observation
The 21 January 2007 parliamentary elections in Serbia will be an important test of Serbia’s commitment to further democratisation and continued European integration, concluded a PACE pre-election delegation. The delegation noted the highly competitive nature of the forthcoming vote, with ten election lists registered so far (several more are expected), offering a solid choice for the electorate. It took note of an amended electoral legislation allowing diaspora voting and of new administrative measures facilitating the representation of ethnic minorities in the future Parliament. It welcomed new regulations ensuring a better gender balance in politics.
19/12/2006 | President
Reacting to today’s court ruling on the six medics in Libya, PACE President René van der Linden said: "I am deeply shocked at this ruling, which flies in the face of hard evidence presented by neutral experts that these medics are innocent, as the Assembly has long held. The deaths of the infected children are immensely sad, but the execution of further innocents – who came to Libya with the aim of healing the sick – would be a gross injustice. I appeal to the Libyan authorities not to carry out these death sentences, and to release the medics immediately." The six are accused of deliberately infecting children with HIV/AIDS.
19/12/2006 | Session
His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Princess Caroline of Hanover, as well as the Prime Ministers of Belgium and Greece will address PACE’s winter session in Strasbourg (22-26 January 2007). Princess Caroline of Hanover, President of the World Association of Children's Friends will speak at a debate on child victims: violence, exploitation and abuse. A debate is also scheduled on the current situation in Kosovo, with the participation of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari. Urgent debates have been requested on threats to the lives and freedom of expression of journalists, and on current tensions between Russia and Georgia. Other topics for discussion include fair trial issues in criminal cases concerning espionage or divulging state secrets, the peril of using energy supply as an instrument of political pressure, HIV/AIDS in Europe as well as the honouring of obligations and commitments by Albania and Armenia.
18/12/2006 | President
"From the perspective of the Council of Europe – an organisation created to prevent the repetition of such horrors – to call into question the fact or the importance of the Holocaust is deeply offensive," said PACE President René van der Linden. "As President of the Parliamentary Assembly, I must put on record my clear and absolute rejection of this dangerous and profoundly misguided attempt to rewrite the history of one of Europe’s most horrific episodes."
15/12/2006 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
At a meeting yesterday in Paris, PACE's Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs urged the governments of the organisation’s 46 member states to take action against modern-day enslavement and trafficking of seasonal agricultural workers. “Situations vary between countries, but all point to the same findings: the active population looking for work is, in part, constituted illegally and lastingly so as to create a real labour market and a casual, exploited workforce to match, often under outright conditions of modern-day bondage,” said John Dupraz (Switzerland, ALDE), PACE rapporteur on Agriculture and illegal employment in Europe.
14/12/2006 | Monitoring
PACE's Monitoring Committee regrets that Albanian political life has continued to be dominated by confrontation and obstructionism. “The poor political climate has again delayed major reforms, in particular in the field of election legislation and the media, which are urgently required in view also of the forthcoming local elections”, the rapporteurs Leo Platvoet (Netherlands, UEL) and David Whilshire (United Kingdom, EDG) said at the meeting of the Monitoring Committee in Paris yesterday, Wednesday 13 December.
14/12/2006 | Monitoring
PACE's Monitoring Committee has welcomed Armenia’s constitutional reform but warned that an improved political climate, and dialogue between the ruling coalition and opposition, would be necessary for it to work effectively. In a draft resolution adopted yesterday, the committee said: "Simply passing legislation is not enough to implement democratic reforms in the country. The laws must be applied." The committee also said forthcoming elections must comply with European standards for free and fair elections, and media coverage of the election campaign and the elections must be pluralist and unbiased. The report, by Georges Colombier and Mikko Elo, is due to be debated by PACE at its January plenary session.
13/12/2006 | Monitoring
PACE's co-rapporteurs on Azerbaijan, Tony Lloyd and Andres Herkel, have welcomed the return of Azerbaijan’s ANS TV station to the air pending a new frequency tender process, and thanked the authorities for showing "flexibility and goodwill". However, they said a definitive solution still needed to be found and strongly urged that the law on Radio and Television, and the procedure for its application, be reviewed by Council of Europe experts.