23/01/2006 | News
The credentials of Azerbaijan’s twelve-member delegation to the Assembly have been challenged at the start of the week-long plenary session in Strasbourg. Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), one of two co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, made the challenge on substantial grounds saying that Azerbaijan's recent election was not in line with Council of Europe standards. He was supported by at least ten members of the Assembly belonging to at least five national delegations. The Assembly will now decide – on the basis of a report by the Monitoring Committee – whether or not to ratify Azerbaijan’s credentials, or to ratify them but to suspend some of the delegation’s rights. The debate is due on Wednesday 25 January at around 3.30 p.m.
23/01/2006 | News
René van der Linden was re-elected President of PACE for a further one-year term, at the opening of its winter session. The Parliamentary Assembly also today elected its Vice-Presidents:
23/01/2006 | Session
PACE President René van der Linden, in his opening speech to the winter part-session of the Parliamentary Assembly, today demanded full cooperation with Mr Marty’s enquiry into alleged secret detentions. “Fighting terrorism is of the highest priority. It is a common fight, in our common interest. But all of our partners must respect the international rule of law,” he said. “I encourage all members of this Assembly to take further action at home to discover the truth of this affair.” Whilst the fact of a determined and high-profile European investigation would itself act as a deterrent to such practices occurring in future, Mr van der Linden stressed the need for concrete measures.
23/01/2006 | News
“The UN stands to gain much from a stronger and more systematic relationship with parliamentarians, the elected representatives of the member states”, the President of the sixtieth session of the UN General Assembly, Jan Eliasson, said addressing the PACE. “As we all know, structural reform of the UN is a comprehensive and, I know, labour intensive and complicated undertaking. For it to succeed, the broadest possible agreement must be reached between member states. This will require time, energy and creative and forward-looking thinking and to this you have certainly contributed”. Mr Eliasson took part on a debate on the parliamentary dimension of the United Nations.
23/01/2006 | News
At this crucial time for the UN, with agreement on reform proving difficult, PACE today called for renewed impetus in the reform process. As a first step, there should be progressively greater involvement of parliamentarians in UN activities, including the setting up of a parliamentary committee with consultative functions for one or more committees of the General Assembly. If successful, this could eventually inspire the establishment of a full UN parliamentary assembly, based on national delegations, with consultative functions for the plenary General Assembly.
23/01/2006 | News
In his communication on the state of the Council of Europe, the Secretary General recalled the Organisation’s priorities for 2006: stamping out all forms of discrimination and all forms of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment; fostering a true culture of democracy. ''Fighting terrorism also represents one of our major priorities – terrorism is one of the most dangerous threats to democracy and human rights,'' he added.
23/01/2006 | News
Outgoing Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly, Bruno Haller, in his address to members of the Assembly, told them “for me there is no doubt, if the Council of Europe did not exist, we would have to invent it.” “I am well aware of the criticisms made in some quarters about its lack of real power and practical action. We must heed such criticism so that we can further develop what we do on the ground – which, by the way, is what we are doing more and more – and increase our influence in the process of European construction, a goal pursued with great determination by this Assembly. However, these critcisms should not lead us to doubt our role which is one related to values, ethics, thought and the very purpose of living in society.” Mr Haller will be leaving his post on 31 January. In October 2005, the Assembly elected Mateo Sorinas as the new PACE Secretary General.
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.