25/01/2006 | News
The Assembly today decided to ratify the credentials of Azerbaijan’s twelve-member delegation, but set out a list of urgent measures needed “to restore confidence in the electoral, and more generally the democratic process” in Azerbaijan – including ensuring that the election rerun in 10 constituencies fully abides by democratic principles – and said it would decide in June whether to reconsider its decision in the light of progress made. On the opening day of the session ten members of the Assembly had supported a challenge to the credentials on substantial grounds by Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), one of two co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, who said that Azerbaijan's recent election was not in line with Council of Europe standards.
25/01/2006 | News
The Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), meeting in Strasbourg this afternoon, adopted the following declaration: “The Political Affairs Committee is extremely worried about the Iranian decision to put an end to the moratorium on nuclear activities. This unilateral step, taken in spite of many calls not to do so, further undermines the international community’s confidence in Iran, which has already been damaged by that country’s secret nuclear programme. Against this background, Iranian declarations that this programme has no military purposes, inspire less and less trust.
25/01/2006 | News
Addressing the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly today, Romania's President, Traian Basescu, said that his country's transition to democracy, aided by the Council of Europe, had helped to pave the way for membership of the European Union. He also spoke of his strong support for the activities of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, particularly the creation of a Black Sea Euroregion, whose launch conference would take place in Romania in March.
25/01/2006 | News
PACE President, René van der Linden, addressing the Council of Europe Conference of INGOs in Strasbourg today, stated that civil society must play a more central role in the organisation’s projects to strengthen democracy.
25/01/2006 | Session
PACE today strongly condemned the massive human rights violations committed by totalitarian communist regimes and expressed sympathy, understanding and recognition for the victims of these crimes. The Assembly said these violations included individual and collective assassinations and executions, death in concentration camps, starvation, deportations, torture, slave labour and other forms of mass physical terror.
24/01/2006 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
It is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware of the “rendition” of more than a hundred persons affecting Europe, according to Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, whose interim assessment was made public today in an information memorandum. Citing statements made by American officials and others, Mr Marty also said there was “a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of ‘relocation’ or ‘outsourcing’ of torture”. He welcomed the arrival yesterday of detailed information he had requested from Eurocontrol and the EU's Satellite Agency.
24/01/2006 | News
"I would like to express my concern. In the United States, the media are under great pressure not to report on this affair, and this has been confirmed to me by journalists. The Washington Post has not given the names of the countries concerned, although it knows them, and this is a result of pressure from the United States Government. (…) We are representing civil society here. Our aim is not to place the blame; it is far simpler and nobler than that. It is to find out the truth that is being hidden from us today", Dick Marty (Suisse, ALDE) said today in Strasbourg at the opening of a PACE current affairs debate on alleged secret detentions in Council of Europe member States.
24/01/2006 | News
The General Committees of the Assembly elected their bureaux on Monday 23 January 2006, as follows:
24/01/2006 | News
Access to water should now be recognised as a fundamental human right. Following a debate on “Europe’s contribution to improving water management” (rapporteur Elsa Papadimitriou (Greece, EPP/CD), the Assembly adopted a text that underlines that this recognition would enable ordinary citizens and civil society to hold governments to account if they fail to provide it. According to PACE members, Parliaments and governments must keep the momentum up at international level.
24/01/2006 | News
Addressing the Assembly today, the Bulgarian Prime Minister told his audience that the democratisation process in his country was still under way. He underlined that his government had a number of priorities, such as improving the judicial system, preventing and combating corruption and integrating minorities, particularly Roma, into Bulgarian society. Mr Stanishev also expressed his government's gratitude to the Council of Europe for its support in the case of the Bulgarian nurses imprisoned in Libya; thanks to Tony Lloyd's report proclaiming their innocence, they had avoided the worst possible outcome.
24/01/2006 | News
At the end of a debate on the integration of immigrant women in Europe, the Assembly today called on measures to encourage this women to join the labour market, learn the language and play a full part in the economic, social and political life of their adopted countries. They should be granted an autonomous legal status independent of their spouse while the application of any foreign legislation, such as legal judgments on marriage, divorce or child custody delivered in non-Council of Europe member states, should be checked to see if they adhere to the principles of equality which are part of the fundamental human rights promoted by the Council. Men need to be involved in this process too, the committee believes – fathers, spouses and brothers must be encouraged to apply gender equality in their own communities.
24/01/2006 | News
Two years after the Rose Revolution, it is now time for Georgia to deliver on its promises, the Assembly said in a resolution adopted today. Debating a report on the country's honouring of obligations and commitments, the parliamentarians said progress over the last year can be regarded as generally encouraging, but it is still only a first step towards fully honouring those promises. “Post-revolutionary euphoria has given way to pragmatism and, in general, large-scale and long-term reforms have been set on the right track,” they said. However, major challenges remain, in particular continuing to build strong democratic institutions, fight corruption and reform the judiciary and local self-government.