24/01/2005 | News
Adopting its order of business on the first day of the session, the Assembly decided to hold an urgent debate on “Europe and the Tsunami disaster” at 3pm on Thursday 27th, with the participation of Yvette Stevens from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A second urgent debate on “Prospects for peace in the Middle East” was also agreed, to take place at 10am on Wednesday 28th, with the participation of representatives of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Israeli Knesset. The debate on Georgia’s honouring of its obligations and commitments will now take place on Monday afternoon, and the debate on the draft Council of Europe Convention against trafficking in human beings on Wednesday afternoon. Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis will make his address on “the state of the Council of Europe” on Thursday at noon.
19/01/2005 | News
Addresses by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili are among highlights of the winter session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), which takes place in Strasbourg from 24 to 28 January 2005. Mr Yushchenko will speak provisionally on Tuesday afternoon, and Mr Saakashvili on Wednesday morning. Another highlight is a debate during which the Assembly will put forward its proposals for the coming Third Summit of the Council of Europe.
14/01/2005 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Parliamentary Assembly member Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold (Switzerland, SOC), who is responsible for presenting an opinion on the Council of Europe’s draft Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, and Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the 46-member Organisation, on 14 January made an pressing appeal for better protection of victims. “The draft convention is unsatisfactory; it gives the impression that states refuse to distinguish between illegal migration and trafficking in human beings”, said Mrs Vermot-Mangold at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men in Paris.
12/01/2005 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
"The disaster in South Asia has made thousands of children and young women an easy target for traffickers of human beings. After drugs and arms, trafficking in human beings is the third biggest form of trafficking worldwide and a scourge undermining human rights that must be stamped out," said Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold (Switzerland, SOC), who has the task of presenting an opinion on the draft Council of Europe Convention on action against trafficking in human beings. The draft Convention is to be presented to the press on Friday 14 January at midday in the Paris Office by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe and Mrs Vermot-Mangold, Assembly rapporteur.
12/01/2005 | President
"Beyond the strong historical and cultural ties between Mexico and Europe, the Council of Europe can build today on the strong commitment of its Latin American partner who shares its common fundamental values and its raison d’être, to defend human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, President Peter Schieder said today, speaking at the plenary session of the Standing Committee of the Mexican Union Congress as part of his official visit to Mexico from 12 to 14 January. He stressed that Europe should be more present on the international scene, right there where issues of global concern are decided. "In my view, Mexico is a privileged partner in this endeavour - for Europe in general and for the Council of Europe in particular," he concluded.
11/01/2005 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE's rapporteur on detentions at Guantanamo Bay, Kevin McNamara (United Kingdom, SOC), has welcomed the impending release of the four remaining British detainees, but again called on the United States to return or release all other Council of Europe nationals and residents – of which there could be more than thirty from ten countries. Their detention was "equally unlawful", he said. Mr McNamara is currently preparing a report on the legality of detentions at the US base.
10/01/2005 | Elections
A delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), lead by Lord Kilclooney, former Minister at Home Affairs in Northern Ireland, observed the 9 January election of the President of the Palestinian Authority. The delegation was satisfied with the efficient organisation of this election. The overall high voter turnout clearly signals the belief of the Palestinian electorate in the democratic process. With the election of the new President, a new window of opportunity is opened for a renewed dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis.
06/01/2005 | President
During his official visit to Mexico from 12 to 16 January, Peter Schieder will meet the President and Foreign Minister, party leaders and parliamentarians to discuss Mexico’s relations with the Council of Europe, where it holds observer status. He will also address the Mexican Senate.
05/01/2005 | Elections
A 15-member PACE delegation, lead by Lord Kilclooney, former Minister at Home Affairs in Northern Ireland, will observe the election of the President of the Palestinian Authority to be held on 9 January 2005. During their stay in Ramallah and Jerusalem, from 7 to 10 January, the parliamentarians will meet with the candidates for the Presidency, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, the Chair of the Central Electoral Commission and the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, as well as with representatives of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and NGO’s.
03/01/2005 | President
"The people of Ukraine are to be congratulated for having made a clear decision in the presidential election", Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President Peter Schieder said on 28 December. "They should now unite behind the new President in meeting the considerable challenges facing the country, including its modernisation and reform and its fulfilment of the obligations and commitments undertaken when it joined the Council of Europe. I shall be inviting the new President to address the Parliamentary Assembly at its next plenary session in January 2005" President Schieder concluded.
27/12/2004 | Elections
The repeat second round of the presidential election in Ukraine on 26 December brought Ukraine substantially closer to meeting international standards. Throughout the election an engaged civil society demonstrated an active interest in the democratic process, concluded the International Election Observation Mission in a preliminary statement released today in Kyiv. The Head of the delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr. Tadeusz Iwinski, said: “The Council of Europe did not have a candidate in this election. We respect the choice the people of Ukraine have made and the expression of that choice was clear and democratic. Without prejudging the outcome of the official count, I am pleased to announce today that the Bureau of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly is extending an invitation to the new president of Ukraine to address its plenary session in late January.”
23/12/2004 | Bureau
Relations between Europe and the United States, Genetically Modified Organisms and the Third Summit are among items provisionally scheduled for debate at the Assembly’s winter session (24-28 January 2005). Other reports on the draft order of business, adopted last week by PACE’s Bureau, include observation of presidential elections in Ukraine and the Palestinian Authority, the circumstances surrounding the arrest and prosecution of leading Yukos executives, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the protection of human rights in Kosovo and Georgia’s honouring of its obligations and commitments. The Assembly itself will decide its own final order of business only on the first day of the session.