01/03/2005 | News
“The European Court of Human Rights has 11 female and 33 male judges – which means that only about a quarter of the judges are women. There’s still a glaring imbalance between women and men, even though the PACE, which elects the judges, made it a rule in 2004 that lists of candidates must have at least one candidate of each sex. This discrepancy between women and men is a threat to the Court’s legitimacy and authority”, declared Vera OSKINA (Russia, EDG) at a meeting of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in Paris on 28 February.
01/03/2005 | News
In his intervention at the opening of the hearing, John Wilkinson (United Kingdom,EDG) stressed this morning that migrant women face a host of different challenges in terms of their migration and integration to those of men, and policy must reflect these issues and challenges. "In view of restrictions on immigration in European countries, many women have to resort to clandestine status making it more likely that they become victims of gender-specific forms of abuse, including sexual exploitation", he added.
01/03/2005 | News
"Securing the fundamental rights of migrant women is an inseparable condition of their integration in the Council of Europe member states,” Gülsün Bilgehan (Turkey, SOC), rapporteur for the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, pointed out in her concluding remarks at a hearing on the subject held today in Paris. She also emphasised that national legislation must look after the enforcement of the law of the country of residence and resolute measures to combat all forms of violence undergone by migrant women.
28/02/2005 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
"The draft Convention on action against trafficking in human beings is still far from guaranteeing the effective and adequate protection for victims which was the Committee of Ministers' objective when it instructed a group of experts to draft a convention which would have the added value of protecting the rights of the victims as human beings". Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold (Switzerland, SOC) was speaking in Paris on 28 February during a meeting of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. The PACE’s opinion on this draft Council of Europe Convention, based on a report by Ms Vermot-Mangold and adopted unanimously in January this year, called for 50 amendments to be made. Only two of these amendments - concerning victim protection and the binding nature of the Convention - have been incorporated into the text, however.
25/02/2005 | President
The next Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government (Warsaw, 16-17 May) was top of the agenda when PACE President René van der Linden visited Paris on 23 and 24 February. Mr van der Linden argued for a clarification of the roles of the Council of Europe and the EU and warned against the danger of duplicating – at a higher cost and over a smaller geographic area – tasks already being efficiently carried out by the Council of Europe, particularly in the field of human rights, the prevention of torture and combating racism, intolerance and xenophobia.
24/02/2005 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The integration of migrant women in Europe will be the theme of a hearing to take place on Tuesday 1st March in Paris. Organised by PACE's Equality and Migration Committees, the hearing will bring together around a hundred participants: parliamentarians from 46 European countries, experts and NGO representatives as well as the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Maud de Boer-Buquicchio and the Council’s Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles.
23/02/2005 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Following consultations, a Round Table for the organisation of an exchange of views involving political parties and local politicians from the Chechen Republic and the Russian federal authorities is to take place in Strasbourg on Monday 21 March 2005, organised by PACE's Political Affairs Committee. A spectrum of around 50 invitees will include, among others, Chechen President Alu Alkhanov, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin and President Putin’s Representative in the Southern Federal District Dmitry Kozak.
23/02/2005 | President
"The result of Sunday’s election in the northern part of Cyprus shows the European orientation of Turkish Cypriots, and clearly signals their wish to end the division of the island," said PACE President René van der Linden in a statement today. "I hope these results will contribute to developing the confidence and trust of the Greek Cypriot population in the positive attitude of Turkish Cypriots," he added. Since January of this year, the Assembly has enabled elected representatives of the Turkish Cypriot community to take part in its work.
22/02/2005 | President
René van der Linden today ended a visit to Paris, his first as PACE President, during which he discussed - among other issues - ways of ensuring the success of the forthcoming Third Summit of the Council of Europe (Warsaw, 16-17 May 2005). Accompanied by PACE Secretary General Bruno Haller, he met Senate President Christian Poncelet, National Assembly President Jean-Louis Debré, European Affairs Minister-Delegate Claudie Haigneré, the Chair of the Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee Edouard Balladur and the founding President of “Our Europe” Jacques Delors, among others.
18/02/2005 | Election observation
A PACE delegation visiting Moldova has voiced its concern at the lack of a clearly visible campaign just sixteen days before the parliamentary elections, due on 6 March 2005. "Without a visible campaign, ordinary citizens in Moldova will lack the information necessary to make an informed choice on election day. Vibrant election campaigns are an essential component of truly democratic elections," said the five-member delegation in a statement issued at the end of a visit to the country (16-18 February 2005).
15/02/2005 | President
On the eve of the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, PACE President René van der Linden hailed this event as a crucial first step towards combating climate change. "PACE has made an important contribution towards its entry into force. 45 out of 46 Council of Europe member states are Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and 38 among them, including the Russian Federation, have already ratified the Protocol. Carbon dioxide from Council of Europe members that are also Parties to the Kyoto Protocol amounts to around half of global emissions. This figure illustrates the enormous responsibility that Council of Europe countries have to curb greenhouse gases which cause changes in the climate that are already being felt all over the world," he said.
04/02/2005 | Monitoring
Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) and Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, will make a fact-finding visit to the country from 10-13 February. As well as meeting President Aliyev, they are due to talk to representatives of the media, human rights NGOs, the opposition, election officials and senior judges. They will also meet oil company executives and the representatives of oil workers.