06/09/2006 | Bureau
PACE Bureau called today on the Slovak government to take a firmer stand against the use of racist or xenophobic discourse in politics and in society, which contributes to a climate of violence by legitimising hatred and intolerance. Assembly members expressed great concern at the increase in xenophobic incidents in Slovakia during recent months and, in particular, the recent violent attack on a young ethnic-Hungarian woman.
06/09/2006 | News
The Bureau of PACE has said a flagrant denial of defence rights in the re-trial of Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor in Libya casts "serious doubts" on its outcome. In a statement adopted during a meeting in Paris today, the Bureau also said it was dismayed by the Libyan prosecutor’s call for the death penalty in the case and called for international expertise to be admitted to the re-trial. The medics are accused of deliberately infecting Libyan children with the AIDS virus.
06/09/2006 | Election observation
A nine-member PACE delegation, headed by Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD), will observe the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Montenegro on Sunday 10 September 2006. The delegation, which will be in the country from 7 to 12 September, will assess whether the elections in Montenegro meet international – and in particular Council of Europe – standards for democratic elections.
05/09/2006 | News
At a hearing to be held in Paris on 13 September, Council of Europe parliamentarians and experts will discuss a comparative study on the legal situation of prostitutes in the organisation’s 46 member states. Legal in some countries, illegal and outlawed in most of them, prostitution divides Europeans. According to a motion for a resolution of members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the differing attitudes negatively impact on cooperation in the fight against forced prostitution, the one and only form of prostitution unanimously condemned in Europe.
05/09/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today expressed his great surprise at a Dutch MP's proposal to boycott Wednesday's soccer match between the Netherlands and Belarus as a means of fighting dictatorship in Belarus. The soccer field was not a place for conducting politics, said Mr van der Linden. "Mixing politics and sport means taking a wrong and potentially dangerous path. A Dutch boycott of the soccer match with Belarus would represent a big step backwards and would ultimately do more harm than good to the citizens of Belarus," he said.
04/09/2006 | President
Following the bomb blast that hit the Turkish region of Van last night, killing at least two people and injuring about twenty, PACE President conveyed his sympathies to the families of the victims and expressed his solidarity with all those injured or affected. He strongly condemned the attack. “There is still no evidence on the identity of the perpetrators, but whoever the authors are, they are nothing but criminals moved by the sole aim of killing innocent people,” he said.
31/08/2006 | President
Strasbourg, 31.08.2006 - “New record level arrivals of sub-Saharan migrants on the Canary Isles require European responses and solutions,” PACE President said today in response to news that over 19,000 sub-Saharan migrants had reached the shores of the Canary Isles this year. “Spain, along with Italy, Malta and other Mediterranean countries are in the front line of mass arrivals, but these countries are merely stepping stones for the rest of Europe,” he said.
31/08/2006 | President
René van der Linden today spoke out against xenophobia and intolerance in Slovakia, following the recent violent attack on a young ethnic-Hungarian woman.“Xenophobia and intolerance are incompatible with the basic values of democracy and represent a continuing threat to peace and stability throughout Europe,” said Mr van der Linden. “Democratic politicians must take a stand against the use of racist or xenophobic discourse in politics, which contributes to a climate of violence by legitimising hatred and intolerance.”
29/08/2006 | News
“Europeans need to form a united front in the battle against terrorism,” PACE President René van der Linden said today in response to the series of bombings that has killed three people and injured some fifty in Antalya, Istanbul and Marmaris. On this occasion, he re-iterated his call for further signatures and ratifications of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (*). “Our message to terrorists is plain and simple – there is no place for them in our societies,” he added.
25/08/2006 | News
In a letter sent today to the Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Dick Marty, PACE President René van der Linden asks the Committee as a matter of urgency, to closely examine efforts in Poland to reintroduce the death penalty. “It is essential that the Assembly takes a firm lead in responding to the current situation. The abolition of the death penalty is a central policy of the Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly has always been at the forefront of this campaign,” he recalls.
07/08/2006 | News
PACE President René van der Linden today deplored the arrest by the Israeli Army of the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Aziz Dweik, and called for his immediate release. "The Palestinian Legislative Council is a democratically elected parliamentary body that derives its legitimacy from elections held in January this year, which the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe who observed them declared were conducted 'in a well organised and democratic fashion'.
03/08/2006 | News
In a letter sent to the President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, PACE President René van der Linden expressed his deep concern at the proposal to reintroduce the death penalty in Europe. "Restoration of the death penalty would constitute a flagrant breach of a country’s obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights, which enshrines the fundamental values of the Council of Europe. Its reintroduction would thus be completely incompatible with membership of our organisation. I can assure you that, given the extreme gravity of this issue, the Parliamentary Assembly will continue to follow developments closely. In the light of these concerns, I hope that you will now see fit to reconsider your position and to retract your proposal”, Mr van der Linden wrote.