25/09/2006 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Following visits to the Nagorno-Karabakh and Abkhazia regions from 18 to 22 September 2006, Leo Platvoet (Netherlands, UEL), Rapporteur of PACE's Migration Committee, said he was optimistic that it was possible to make progress on the issue of the missing from the conflicts in the region. Mr Platvoet, having previously visited Yerevan, Tbilisi and Baku in June 2006, concluded that there was a willingness on the part of all stake-holders in the dossier of missing persons to treat this as a humanitarian and not a political issue.
25/09/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today warmly welcomed Pope Benedict XVI’s meeting at the Pope's residence near Rome with envoys from Muslim nations. “Mutual respect and commitment to defend and promote our common fundamental human values are a pre-condition for inter-religious and intercultural dialogue. I’m convinced that this meeting helped not only to overcome past misunderstandings, but also to set this important dialogue on the right track,” René van der Linden said. “It is my firm belief that, in Europe, the Council of Europe and its Assembly are the best placed to provide an ideal and natural forum for inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue”, he said.
25/09/2006 | President
PACE President, René van der Linden, made today the following statement: “I am saddened and disappointed by the executions of three men that took place in Sulawesi on Friday. Whatever their crimes, the death penalty is never justice. What is needed in Indonesia is not more death – which, as we have seen in recent days, only contributes to the violence – but a sincere dialogue between the religions.” No executions are carried out within the 46 nations of the Council of Europe.
25/09/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Igor Sutyagin, Valentin Danilov and Mikhail Trepashkin, all convicted of espionage following high-profile cases in Russia, should be set free without further delay as there are strong indications that they did not receive fair trials, according to a PACE report made public today. The report, prepared by Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD) on behalf of the Legal Affairs Committee, said judges and juries were changed repeatedly without adequate reason, the defence was unable to question experts about the secret nature of the information allegedly divulged, and the proceedings lacked openness.
20/09/2006 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Female employment rates and the percentage of children being cared for in child-minding facilities from a very young age seem to be closely linked according to a recent study drawn up by the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on the basis of questionnaires to its 46 member states (*). It is part of a report on the need to reconcile work and family life which will be discussed by PACE on 6th October 2006 in Strasbourg. According to this study, the member states are cruelly short of places in collective day nurseries.
18/09/2006 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
“Individual nations will have different approaches on how to reconcile econonomic growth and social protection in an era of globalisation, but the maximum impact is likely where the public sector works, and invests alongside and in co-operation with the private sector, and other social partners,” PACE rapporteur Tony Lloyd (United Kingdom, SOC) said in Paris today at the end of a hearing organised by the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development on this issue.
18/09/2006 | News
PACE's Committee on Economic Affairs today adopted, at the end of its meeting in Paris, a statement expressing serious concern that the debate within the Committee of Ministers concerning the Council of Europe's budget for 2007 is at a standstill. The committee said it will request un urgent debate on the issue during PACE's forthcoming plenary session (2-6 October 2006).
18/09/2006 | News
PACE's Committee on Economic Affairs today unanimously adopted, at the end of its meeting in Paris, a draft resolution that reviews Russia’s economic progress in recent years and highlights problem areas which call for priority action by the authorities. The text reviews the major short- to medium-term development objectives and underlines that the additional revenues accumulated through trade in natural resources should serve to underpin structural reforms and provide the basis for future quality growth. PACE will examine the text at its next plenary session (2-6 October 2006).
15/09/2006 | President
At the end of a three-day visit to Kazakhstan, PACE President René van der Linden has expressed his recognition of the important role being played by Kazakhstan in the Central Asian region thanks to its stability and openness to the outside world, including Europe. "I strongly encourage the government's willingness to engage with European organisations, and particularly appreciate the authorities' desire to co-operate with the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly," he said.
14/09/2006 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
According to PACE rapporteur on the situation of elderly persons in Europe, Jean-Marie Bockel (France, SOC), Europe is likely to lose nearly 55 million economically active persons by 2050, making a ratio of one retired person for each worker. During a conference in Paris on 13 September organised by the Assembly’s Committee on Social, Health and Family Affairs under the patronage of the French Senate, several proposals were made for ways of countering this phenomenon. These include measures to encourage immigration, increased fertility and, in particular, employment prospects for senior citizens.
13/09/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today strongly condemned the bomb attack at a bus stop in the southeast Turkish city of Diyarbakir that has caused the death of 11 people and injured at least 13 others. “I wish to extend my condolences, on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly, to the families of the victims.
13/09/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today called for “a new alliance between the secular and the sacred”, based on fundamental values common to both religion and democracy, in order to face the challenges of globalisation, migration and terrorism. Addressing participants at the Second Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, Kazakhstan – which included representatives of the Islamic, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Shinto, Taoist and Hindu faiths – the President called on religious leaders to present “a united front” based on the common values of peace, justice, equality, tolerance and respect.