17/11/2005 | President
Speaking at today’s session of the Council of Europe’s executive body, the Committee of Ministers, the President of the 46-nation Organisation’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) called on all member governments, along with the European Commission, to co-operate fully with the recently designated Assembly rapporteur in charge of examining alleged secret CIA detention centres. “This issue goes to the very heart of the Council of Europe’s human rights mandate,” he said. With regard to the recent widespread outbreaks of violence in France, the President underlined that “the fact that these outbreaks have been echoed in neighbouring countries underlines the European nature of the problem. Many of our countries have culturally and socially alienated communities," he said.
16/11/2005 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today saluted the success of the European flag – shared by both the Council of Europe and the European Union – at a ceremony to mark its fiftieth anniversary. “It was always our intention that the flag become the symbol not only of the Council of Europe, but of any European organisation that shared our values. So when the European Community also adopted the flag, we felt renewed pride rather than any sense of loss,” the President said, pointing out that the flag had originally been a decision of the Assembly. “The flag is a symbol of an open community, united by respect for our fundamental values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
16/11/2005 | Monitoring
The head of PACE’s Monitoring Committee György Frunda, during a visit to Moscow, has again called on Russia to abolish the death penalty in law – reminding the authorities that Russia is the only one of the Council of Europe’s 46 member states which has not yet done so. “There have been no executions in Russia for ten years – this is now an accepted fact,” he said. “So why is it so difficult for Russia to ratify Protocol No. 6?” Mr Frunda said he understood that public opinion was against abolition, but pointed out that the same was true for other countries which had taken this step, and called for more public debate on the issue. “The Council of Europe does not blackmail anybody. But every member state has to fulfil its commitments. We have been waiting ten years.”
14/11/2005 | Monitoring
The chairperson of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) monitoring committee, György Frunda (Hungary, EPP/CD), will be in Moscow from 14 to 16 November to discuss prospects for an early ratification of Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights (abolishing the death penalty) with the Russian authorities. Meetings are scheduled with the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Deputy Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly as well as representatives of the State Duma’s Legal Affairs Committee, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly, the Administration of the President and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
14/11/2005 | President
Strasbourg, 14.11.2005 – Referring to the recent events in France, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President René van der Linden warned of the considerable danger of creating a link between religion and social problems caused by exclusion, unemployment and lack of education. “These events also show that setting up an ’Observatory of urban violence’ is more than ever necessary” said Mr van der Linden, adding that he would propose the idea to the Committee of (Foreign) Ministers meeting in Strasbourg next week. This has already been proposed by the Assembly in order to make best use of national practices.
10/11/2005 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Cevdet Erdol, Président de la Commission de la santé et des affaires sociales de l’Assemblée nationale de Turquie, prononcera le 14 novembre à Istanbul l’allocution d’ouverture de la réunion de la Commission des questions sociales de l’APCE. La commission aura notamment des échanges de vues avec les autorités turques sur le trafic d’organes et sur la grippe aviaire dans le cadre de la préparation de deux rapports sur les sujets.
10/11/2005 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Chair of PACE's Sub-committee on Human Rights, Christos Pourgourides, has appealed to Senegal to extradite former Chadian president Hissène Habré to Belgium to face charges of human rights violations allegedly carried out during his rule in the 1980s. In a letter, Mr Pourgourides pointed out that the Council of Europe has long fought against impunity and supported “universal jurisdiction” – which allows trials in third countries – in cases of serious violations. Mr Habré is wanted by Belgian police for instigating thousands of politically-motivated murders and systematic torture during his eight-year rule as well as organising ethnic violence.
09/11/2005 | President
Adressing today the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, PACE President René van der Linden stressed that the results achieved by Turkey have made possible the start of the negotiations on the EU membership, and reminded that, in fact, the so-called Copenhagen criteria are values and standards of the Council of Europe. "I hailed the EU decision to start the negotiations and, in doing so, I declared that Europe must meet its promises and commitments, just as Turkey must fulfill its obligations and commitments. I have strongly argued that Turkey needs and merits the prospect of full EU membership, just as the EU needs and merits Turkey", he said.
09/11/2005 | President
PACE President René van der Linden, who is on an official visit to Turkey from 9 to 13 November, today addressed the Turkish Parliament. The first foreign guest to speak before the Grand National Assembly of Turkey this year, René van der Linden stressed the importance of Turkey for the Council of Europe and for European and world affairs in general. In his speech, the President of PACE pointed in particular to issues such as the major political and legislative reforms accomplished by Turkey. The results achieved made it possible for Turkey to start accession negotiations with the EU. "Turkey needs and merits the prospect of full EU membership, just as the EU needs and merits Turkey" he said.
07/11/2005 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
In the context of its chairmanship of the Parliamentary Troika of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe, the PACE and its Committee on Culture, Science and Education are organising a parliamentary workshop hosted by the Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro in Belgrade on 7 and 8 November. The workshop coincides with European Year of Citizenship through Education 2005 and the 50th anniversary of the Council of Europe’s European Cultural Convention. The Parliamentary Troika is made up of members of the Council of Europe and OSCE Assemblies and the European Parliament.
07/11/2005 | President
Assistance from the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly for the major political and legislative reforms under way in Turkey, the process of accession for this Council of Europe member state to the European Union, the key role to be played by Turkey as a European country with a majority Muslim population in indispensable intercultural and inter-faith dialogue, the situation in Cyprus and the issue of minorities will all be among the topics covered by the President of the Assembly, René van der Linden, on his official visit to Turkey from 9 to 13 November.
07/11/2005 | Election observation
The 6 November parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan did not meet a number of OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards for democratic elections. While there were improvements in some respects during the pre-election period, uncertainty was evident with regard to key aspects of the process such as voter registration, and continued restrictions on the freedom of assembly, a fundamental right, marred the campaign period. The Head of the delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Leo Platvoet, said: “The Council of Europe is the guardian par excellence of democratic principles. These were not fully respected in this election.”