19/01/2006 | News
Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), who is investigating allegations of secret detentions in Council of Europe member states, is due to make his interim assessment in an information memorandum to be made public at 9 a.m. on Tuesday 24 January 2006 in Strasbourg. PACE's Legal Affairs Committee will also hold an exchange of views on alleged secret detentions, and on suspected abductions on European soil, and alleged illegal transport of detainees from or through Europe to countries where the persons are at risk of torture, with the United Kingdom's former Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak and John Sifton of Human Rights Watch, New York.
18/01/2006 | Election observation
A 9-member PACE delegation, lead by Lord Russell-Johnston (United Kingdom, ADLE), will observe the election of the Palestinian Legislative Council to be held on 25 January 2006. During their visit to Ramallah and Jerusalem, from 23 to 26 January, the parliamentarians will meet with representatives of the political parties, the President of the Palestinian Authority, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Chair of the Central Electoral Commission, as well as with representatives of the European Union Mission, the United Nations and NGO’s. On the election day, PACE observers will be deployed in both the West Bank and Gaza.
17/01/2006 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Organised by the Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the PACE, the hearing - in Paris on 18 January at 2.30 pm- concentrates on the situation of Kurdish communities from Iran, Iraq, Syria and the diaspora in order to complete a report by Lord Russell-Johnston (United Kingdom, ALDE), who visited Turkey in 2005. The meeting will be held in camera. Lord Russell-Johnston will meet the press at the end of the meeting at the CoE Paris Office (55, avenue Kléber, 16ème).
16/01/2006 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Mikhail Margelov (Russian Federation, EDG), Rapporteur on the Middle East of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Political Affairs Committee, has welcomed the recent Israeli decision to allow 200 000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem to vote in the forthcoming parliamentary elections due to take place on 25 January 2006.
16/01/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Rudolf Bindig, who is PACE's rapporteur on human rights violations in the Chechen Republic, has appealed to Said-Emin Ibragimov, a Chechen human rights activist based in Strasbourg who has been on hunger strike for more than a month, to end his fast.
13/01/2006 | President
René van der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, today welcomed the proposal that the European Parliament create a temporary committee to investigate the allegations of secret CIA detentions in Europe.
12/01/2006 | News
Alleged secret detentions in Council of Europe member states, the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes and human rights violations in the Chechen Republic are among subjects scheduled for debate during PACE's Winter Session in Strasbourg from 23 to 27 January 2006. The current affairs debate on alleged secret detentions is likely to take place on Tuesday 24 January at 10 a.m. Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), who is investigating these allegations, is due to give his interim assessment in an information memorandum to be made public at 9 a.m.
12/01/2006 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Organised by the Assembly’s Culture Committee, the hearing - in Paris on 18 January - concentrates on the situation of Kurdish communities from Iran, Iraq, Syria and the diaspora in order to complete a report by Lord Russell-Johnston (United Kingdom, ALDE), who visited Turkey in 2005.
12/01/2006 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The committee holds an exchange of views with EBRD President Jean Lemierre in the framework of its annual report on the Bank’s activities. Also on the agenda: "Economic development in Ukraine, a test case for European solidarity" and "Europe’s interest in the continued economic development of Russia". On Thursday 19, the committee will meet senior representatives of the global risk management company Swiss Re.
09/01/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden will address participants of an international conference on intercultural and interreligious dialogue organised by the Russian Federation in cooperation with the Council of Europe in Nizhniy Novgorod on 7 and 8 September. The President very much welcomed this initiative as he considers that this issue receives too little attention from politicians. He said he will encourage churches to raise their voices and speak out on issues relating to our common values, e.g. human rights, poverty, children's rights, family issues, the fight against AIDS. The Conference will bring together some 300 government representatives, experts and leading figures from religious communities all across Europe. Those taking part will look at the challenges and opportunities of cultural diversity, the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue and the contribution the media can make to greater mutual understanding.
25/12/2005 | President
The President of PACE René van der Linden today welcomed the decision of the Libyan Supreme Court to order a new trial of the Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor facing the death penalty for deliberately infecting children with HIV. “The Libyan judicial system has demonstrated its independence today, recognising that new evidence and new information have cast serious doubt on this conviction,” he said. “The medics should now be released on bail.” He also thanked the British Presidency of the EU for its efforts to find a solution to this problem.
22/12/2005 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE's Legal Affairs Committee this week decided to make public a supplementary introductory memorandum on "The implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights" by Erik Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC). In his memorandum Mr Jurgens updates his assessment of the situation in thirteen member states where Court judgments have still not been fully implemented after five years, or which raise important issues.