11/03/2005 | President
"I am extremely concerned to learn of the serious deterioration in the health of the Belarusian opposition leader and political prisoner Mikhail Marynich," said PACE President René van der Linden in an urgent appeal today. "I call on the authorities to transfer him immediately to a civilian hospital, with facilities for providing all necessary medical care, to allow immediate and unconditional access to him by his family, legal representatives and members of the diplomatic community, and to conduct a full, open and independent enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the sudden deterioration in his health."
10/03/2005 | President
"A clear and unambiguous message: the European Union should make full use of the experience, institutions and instruments of the Council of Europe", PACE President René Van der Linden underlined addressing a dinner-debate organised on 9 March in Strasbourg by the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the Council of Europe.
10/03/2005 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Vice-Chair of PACE’s Culture Committee Josef Jařab (Czech Republic, LDR) today opened the 7th European Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy in Kyiv by hailing the role of the Ukrainian media during the Orange Revolution. In Prague during the Velvet Revolution as in Kyiv, he said, “it was the media that quickly manifested dramatic changes in their work and attitudes, and it was the media that helped the revolutionary spirit to spread and gain the needed momentum”. Stressing that media policy could enhance democratic development, Mr Jarab also pointed out that a truly pan-European media policy – based on the conference’s themes of integration and diversity – could only be achieved via the Council of Europe.
09/03/2005 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Minodora Cliveti, (Romania, SOC), Chair of PACE's Committee on Equal Opportunities, said she was shocked by the pictures of members of the police forces striking women and young people demonstrating in Istanbul last Sunday. “Such pictures are not only unacceptable for the excessive use of violence they portray, but are also harmful for Turkey’s image in our member states. It is a matter of deep regret that the extraordinary process of reform being implemented by the Turkish authorities, including in the field of women’s rights, should be tarnished by acts which have no place either in Europe or anywhere else in the world,” said Ms Cliveti.
09/03/2005 | News
On the eve of his departure for a working visit to Moscow from 10 to 11 March, PACE President René van der Linden said he hoped that the death of Aslan Maskhadov would not trigger more violence and lead to a deterioration of the situation in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation. "PACE is committed to building a broader basis for dialogue aimed at achieving a political solution in Chechnya," he said. "This is why our Political Affairs Committee is organising a Round Table in Strasbourg on 21 March which should bring together the broadest possible spectrum of representatives of the Chechen Republic and the Russian Federal authorities." The President said he regretted it had not been possible to bring Aslan Maskhadov to trial in accordance with Council of Europe principles.
08/03/2005 | President
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President René van der Linden is making a working visit to Moscow from 10 to 11 March. After meeting the authorities of the Council of Europe’s host country, France, this is the President’s first visit to a member state. He is meeting with the Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly Boris Gryzlov, the Chairman of the Federation Council Serguei Mironov, the Special Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Russian President Serguei Prikhodko and Foreign Minister Serguei Lavrov.
07/03/2005 | Election observation
The 6 March parliamentary elections in Moldova were generally in compliance with most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and other international election standards. They did however, fall short of some key commitments, particularly regarding campaign conditions and media access, concluded the International Election Observation Mission, in a statement today. “We regret that Moldova has not lowered its threshold as the Council of Europe recommended already in 2001. This has influenced the result and the balance of the new Molovan parliament,” said André Kvakkestad, who headed the PACE delegation.
04/03/2005 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting in Paris on 3 March, adopted the following declaration: “The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights notes with satisfaction that the United States Supreme Court, in its judgement of 1 March 2005 in Roper v. Simmons found the application of the death penalty against persons who were minors at the time of the crime unconstitutional. The Supreme Court held that the execution of minors constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment” within the meaning of the 8th Amendment, according to the “evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society” that the Court had already referred to in earlier judgements restricting the application of the death penalty against the mentally handicapped and minors under 16 years of age..."
04/03/2005 | News
PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting in Paris on 3 March, adopted the following declaration: “The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe notes with grave concern the recent trial and imprisonment of Mr Mikhail Marynich. Mr Marynich is an opposition politician in Belarus, who had stood against the current President in the 2001 presidential elections, and a former ambassador of Belarus to various European countries. Mr Marynich was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment on charges relating to the theft of computer equipment from the US embassy in Belarus, despite the fact that the US State Department itself made clear that it had no complaints against him ..."
01/03/2005 | Monitoring
Co-rapporteurs Jerzy Smorawinski (Poland, EPP/CD) and Soeren Soendergaard (Denmark, UEL) return to Albania from 28 February to 3 March to assess progress following the Assembly’s last assessment, with a focus on parliamentary elections in the summer.
01/03/2005 | Election observation
A 30-member PACE delegation, headed by André Kvakkestad (Norway, EDG), will observe the parliamentary elections to be held in Moldova on 6 March 2005 as part of an International Election Observation Mission (IEOM). The parliamentarians will arrive in Chişinaŭ on 3 March to meet with party representatives, the Chair of the Central Electoral Commission, journalists and NGOs. On election day, they will be deployed in the capital and in towns around the country. A PACE “pre-election” delegation said it was concerned by the lack of a clearly visible election campaign and called for broad and impartial coverage in the mass media as well as measures to facilitate the voting of all Moldovans, including those in Transnistria.
01/03/2005 | News
"There is something which all migrant women have in common: the two-fold discrimination to which they may be subjected in their host countries, on the grounds of both gender and origin, increasing their vulnerability, especially in the labour market". Minodora Cliveti (Romania, SOC) was speaking this morning at the opening of the hearing. Jointly organised in Paris by two PACE committees, the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men and the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, the hearing should afford an opportunity to look at three main themes: access to rights, obstacles to integration and participation in public and political life.