04/10/2006 | News
PACE today called on the eight Council of Europe member states which have not yet ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities to do so, and appealed for the withdrawal of reservations or restrictive declarations. The parliamentarians said the convention – which allows states to protect the religion, language, traditions and culture of designated minorities on their territory – helped to maintain social and political stability.
04/10/2006 | News
After having debated on the cultural situation of the Kurds in plenary sitting, the PACE today adopted a resolution calling for ''assistance on the European level and in particular from the Council of Europe, to protect this culture''. The Assembly recommended that Turkey, as a Council of Europe member State, consider the possibility of education in Kurdish – where it is a child’s mother tongue- in addition to the official language, encourage university courses on Kurdish language and literature and support Kurdish cultural associations. Furthermore, the PACE urged the governments of Iran, Iraq and Syria to ''acknowledge that Kurdish language and culture are part of the heritage of their own country, that they are richness worth being preserved and not a threat to be combated''.
03/10/2006 | News
PACE President today expressed "serious concern" over the deteriorating climate between Georgia and Russia. Speaking at the opening press conference of the Assembly's Autumn Session, he said both sides "should show restraint and refrain from politicising the issue, which has to be solved by legal and diplomatic means". René van der Linden criticise apparent attempts to blow the dispute out of proportion and to stage “theatrical” actions which can lead to dangerous assumptions. While regreting the accumulation of unresolved issues and disputes and stressing the need for them to be solved through dialogue in a calm and impartial manner, he recalled the responsibility of both sides for stability in the region, responsibility which is not only individual but also common, residing in their bilateral relations. "I will invite the heads of Georgian and Russian Assembly delegations to meet during the week", he said.
03/10/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), who is investigating alleged secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees on behalf of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), has announced that he intends to pay a visit to Guantanamo Bay in the company of UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak. In a joint statement with Mr Marty, Assembly President René van der Linden said he expected the US – which holds observer status with the Council of Europe – to agree to the visit. Mr Marty hopes to have contact with inmates of US secret prisons who, according to President Bush, have recently been transferred to Guantanamo.
03/10/2006 | News
Addressing the Parliamentary Assembly on 3 October, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha thanked the Council of Europe for helping to reform the former “totalitarian and kleptocratic” regime in Albania. But in a following speech, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Council of Ministers Chair, Adnan Terzic, voiced concerns that Europe is losing focus on EU candidate countries.
03/10/2006 | News
''Western Balkan countries are repeatedly criticised as far as their democratic development is concerned but the international community should assume its share of responsibility for lack of democratic development in the region'', the resolution adopted today by the PACE underlines. After having debated on the situation in the Balkans, the members of the PACE adopted a resolution that calls on the international community to ''offer better incentives and perspectives to the region''. The Assembly especially called on the EU to ''liberalise its visa regime towards Western Balkan countries and to set a clear road map for EU integration''. Furthermore, the Assembly called on the countries of the Western Balkan region to ''prove credibility in their endeavour to condemn war crimes and in providing tangible proof of their co-operation with the ICTY and to ensure full protection to minorities living or returning to their territory''.
02/10/2006 | Elections
Yesterday’s general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina were generally administered in line with international standards and represented further progress in the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law. Lord Russell-Johnston, Head of PACE delegation, said: “The sun shone on a tranquil and well organized election, in which all citizens and peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina showed their firm commitment to a democratic society. I was greatly encouraged and am now confident that before the next election a constitution will be agreed which will finally be fully in line with Council of Europe standards and commitments”.
02/10/2006 | Bureau
On the 50th Anniversary of the Hungarian 1956 upraising, the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has this morning thanked Hungary for ''its inestimable contribution to the cause of freedom'' declaring that ''it is the duty of this new and united Europe of ours to uphold the values of freedom, human rights, democracy and the rule of law that inspired the Hungarian and other European peoples at that time''.
02/10/2006 | News
The Assembly today elected, at the opening of its Autumn 2006 Session, three new Vice-Presidents: Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine), Andrea Rigoni (Italy) and Oliver Sambevsky ("the Former yugoslav Republic of Macedonia").
02/10/2006 | News
Major structural deficiencies in the judicial systems of Italy, Russia and Ukraine are causing large numbers of repeated violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, representing a “serious danger to the rule of law” in these three countries, according to PACE. In a resolution the Assembly criticised the excessive length of judicial proceedings in Italy, where many cases take more than the 10 years the Court has ruled is a violation of the Convention. In Russia, the Assembly said the most important problems were excessive length of pre-trial detention in overcrowded facilities, as well as chronic non-enforcement or quashing of judges’ decisions. There were similar problems in Ukraine, made worse by interference with judicial independence.
02/10/2006 | News
In his address to the Assembly, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader today reviewed his country’s efforts towards European integration. “We must bear in mind our European history, characterised by confrontation; if we wish to avoid the same kind of future, there is no alternative but European integration, he said. According to the Prime Minister, Croatia has an important part to play in this process. It must endeavour to stimulate co-operation not only within Europe but also at the regional level. “As a neighbour, we have interests of our own in forging stability in the region … the Council of Europe must keep up its input of expertise in this regard, and Croatia can also make its contribution in a tangible way.”
02/10/2006 | News
The PACE today adopted a recommendation calling for an improved institutional balance in the organisation. In particular, the Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers to reach an agreement with it in order to strengthen PACE’s role regarding the elaboration and adoption of legal instruments, the negotiations with other international organisations as well as the adoption of the budget. The transparency of the COE both internally and externally should be strengthened and the status of the Human Rights Court in the institutional framework reconsidered. "If one wants to prevent the COE from institutional backwardness and from turning, to a certain extent, into a 'fossil', far-reaching institutional reforms will be required", the adopted text said.