18/11/2004 | Elections
A 20-member delegation of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) will observe the second round of the presidential election to be held in Ukraine on 21 November 2004. The parliamentarians will arrive in Kyiv on 19 November to meet with the two candidates and the Chair of the Central Electoral Commission. On election day, they will be deployed in the capital and throughout the country. The observation will be carried out in the framework of an International Election Observation Mission (IEOM), composed of delegations of Council of Europe, OSCE and NATO Parliamentary Assemblies, the European Parliament and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE-ODIHR).
17/11/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The circumstances surrounding the arrest and prosecution of leading Yukos executives strongly suggest that they were “arbitrarily singled out” by the Russian authorities, according to PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee. The state's action went beyond the mere pursuit of justice to include such elements as “to weaken an outspoken political opponent, intimidate other wealthy individuals and regain control of strategic economic assets”, said the committee, adopting a report by Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Germany, LDR) today in Paris. The report is due for plenary debate by the Assembly in 2005, possibly at its January session.
17/11/2004 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE’s Political Affairs Committee has called on the Parliament of Israel, which holds observer status with the Assembly, to facilitate the proper conduct of the forthcoming Palestinian presidential election, in particular the free movement of persons. Adopting a statement during a meeting in Paris, the committee also said the Assembly should observe the election. The coming period was “crucial for the Palestinian people”, the parliamentarians said.
16/11/2004 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE's Political Affairs Committee has spelled out a series of steps Armenia and Azerbaijan could take to fulfill their commitment to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully. But in a report adopted this week, the committee also expressed concern at the creation of "mono-ethnic areas which resemble the terrible concept of ethnic cleansing" and said displaced persons should be able to return to their homes safely and with dignity. The report may be discussed at the Assembly's January session.
15/11/2004 | President
"The Council of Europe is the guardian of what has been called 'democratic security'. This may be seen as a complement to military security, and I would say an equally essential pre-requisite for the continent’s freedom, stability and peace", PACE President Peter Schieder said addressing the 50th annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Venice today. He stressed that it was perhaps time to consider extending the death-penalty-free zone of the 46 Council of Europe member states to the whole North Atlantic area, which is supposed to be, after all, a community of shared values.
12/11/2004 | President
Assembly President Peter Schieder yesterday offered his condolences to the Palestinian people, “who have lost their historic leader”. He paid tribute to Yasser Arafat for his “unerring support for the Palestinian cause and for striving throughout his life to enable his people to exercise their fundamental rights, as recognised by the United Nations, and live on their land, in peace with their neighbours, in a Palestinian state.” He finally expressed the hope that, despite the current deadlock, Palestinian and Israeli political leaders will meet their responsibilities and that the peace process will resume.
12/11/2004 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“Yasser Arafat successfully ensured that the international community accepted the principle of an independent sovereign state of Palestine”, said the Chair of PACE’s Sub-Committee on the Middle East Lord Kilclooney. “A great memorial to his life would be the creation of a democratic Palestine.” He added: “Personally, I will always recall the warmth and courtesy which he extended to our committee members on our visits to his presidential compound in Ramallah.”
12/11/2004 | News
It is time for national parliaments in South-East Europe to take the lead in overseeing the Stability Pact, according to the head of the PACE delegation to a conference on the Pact’s efforts to fight organised crime in the region. Addressing the fifth conference of the Parliamentary Troika – which brings together the parliamentary bodies of the Council of Europe, OSCE and European Union to support and oversee the Pact – Tony Lloyd (United Kingdom, SOC) said: “Our conferences sometimes amounted to speaking about countries directly affected by the Pact, not with them.” He also called for more focused meetings on narrower subjects.
10/11/2004 | News
A seminar for senior legal advisers from the parliaments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, organised at the initiative of PACE Secretary General Bruno Haller, concluded in Strasbourg yesterday with expressions of warm appreciation from all three delegations. The Assembly’s Director of Interparliamentary Relations Jan Kleijssen said the seminar – the first of its kind, which included briefings on monitoring procedures, ratification of Council of Europe treaties, human rights standards and the work of the Court – had been intended to “respond to practical needs” in a key area of parliamentary work, and pledged further assistance in the future.
08/11/2004 | Elections
The 7 November referendum in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on the redrawing of municipal boundaries was generally consistent with OSCE and Council of Europe standards for democratic electoral processes, international observers concluded today. "The referendum was an opportunity to confirm the maturity and self-confidence of all the people of this country for the consolidation of democracy," said Zekeriya Akcam, head of the PACE observer delegation.
05/11/2004 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
A centre to commemorate victims of deportations, mass expulsions and population transfers should be created under the auspices of the Council of Europe, according to a draft report of PACE’s Migration Committee discussed in Geneva on 5 November. Presenting the idea to the committee, Mats Einarsson (Sweden, UEL) said such a centre – which could be endorsed by European heads of state at the Council of Europe's Third Summit in May – would raise public awareness and promote research on mass deportations past, present and future in the Council of Europe’s 46 member states, carried out "due to a political decision".
05/11/2004 | President
PACE President Peter Schieder today welcomed the signing by President Putin of the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement intended to combat global warming. He welcomed the role which the Assembly had played in the process of implementation of the Protocol, which, following ratification by Russia, would finally be able to come into force. Russia’s signature came just before the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (Buenos Aires, 6-17 December 2004), at which the Assembly would be represented. The Protocol had been ratified by the Duma on 22 September and approved by the Federation Council on 27 October.