07/10/2004 | Session
PACE holds today a joint debate on the political, human rights and humanitarian situation in the Chechen Republic. Three reports will be discussed. The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Alvaro Gil-Robles, will address the Chamber following his recent visit to the Russian Federation and Chechnya in particular. There will also be a speech by the President of Chechnya, Alu Alkhanov.
07/10/2004 | News
PACE today agreed to proceed with the establishment of a Round Table to organise an exchange of views with political parties and politicians from the Chechen Republic and the federal authorities of Russia in order to follow developments regarding human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the Republic, but decided that those “who refuse to recognise the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, and who declare terrorism a method to achieve goals” cannot be participants. PACE was holding a joint debate on three separate reports on the political, human rights and humanitarian situations in the Republic, with the participation of Chechen President Alu Alkhanov.
07/10/2004 | News
Participating in the debate this morning, the President of the Chechen Republic, Alu Alkhanov, said that the situation in Chechnya was improving, although it was difficult to know if the policy of stabilisation would succeed. President Alkhanov thanked the Council of Europe for its work in the Republic, and said that the authorities welcomed any initiative which would consolidate Chechen society and bring the people involved in the conflict closer together.
07/10/2004 | News
The Commissioner for Human Rights presented the conclusions of his recent visit to the Chechen Republic during the debate on the situation in Chechnya. He announced that he would work with the Federal and Chechen authorities on three key areas over the next six months: preventing and resolving cases of forced disappearances as an absolute priority, reinforcing the role of civil society and combating anti-Chechen sentiment in the rest of the Russian Federation.
07/10/2004 | News
Member states which have ratified the Kyoto Protocol should swiftly implement it, and those which have not yet ratified it should do so as soon as possible, PACE said at the end of a debate on global warming this afternoon. Describing this as “one of the most serious challenges to the sustainable development of our planet”, the parliamentarians also called on European governments to think about giving tax breaks to promote renewable energy, developing public transport and hybrid vehicles, limiting air transport by taxing fuel, building more energy-efficient houses and – above all – raising public awareness of the problem of global warming.
06/10/2004 | News
Women members of the Assembly came together for their first ever meeting, held at the initiative of the Chair of PACE’s Equality Committee Minodora Cliveti (Romania, SOC), with the participation of Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General Maud de Boer-Buquicchio. Around forty women from all political groups discussed gender-balanced representation in the Assembly and the trafficking of women, as well as contacts with women in the European and Pan-African Parliaments. They agreed to meet again in the near future.
06/10/2004 | News
PACE holds today an urgent debate on “the challenge of terrorism in Council of Europe member States”. The Political Affairs Committee will present a report and the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights an oral opinion. The initiative of holding an urgent debate on the subject was put forward in September by Konstantin Kosachev (Russia, EDG) on behalf of the Russian delegation. It was designed as a joint response on behalf of the international community to the challenge of the terrorist threat in Greater Europe.
06/10/2004 | News
"I am convinced that the mains issues of today such as terrorism, poverty, threats to the environment, require a collective local and regional approach, complemented by national policy measures aimed at a globally co-ordinated action to address the challenges we are all facing world wide", today said Giovanni di Stasi, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, addressing PACE.
06/10/2004 | News
"The decision adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly two days ago to include the elected representatives of the Turkish Cypriots in your delibertions is a step in the right direction", Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in his speech before the PACE today. He also encouraged the Council of Europe to play a more active role in the nomative as well as the practical aspects of combating terrorism. In this context, he invited the 46-member organisation to intensify its contacts with the Organization of Islamic Conference, to promote a dialogue between diverse cultures and relgions. "Turkey, as a member of both organizations, is ready to exert the necessary effort to this end", he said.
06/10/2004 | News
PACE elected Ján Šikuta as judge of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of the Republic of Slovakia. Mr Šikuta was born in 1960 and read law at the Comenius University, Bratislava, and the Charles University, Prague. He was a judge of the District Court in Bratislava from 1986 – 1989 and Judge of the Appeal Court from 1990 – 1994. Since 1994 he has been a Legal Officer at the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bratislava. Mr Šikuta’s term of office of six years will begin on 1 November 2004. Judges are elected by PACE from a list of three candidates put forward by the State concerned.
06/10/2004 | News
PACE President Peter Schieder today welcomed a call by Serbian President Boris Tadic to Kosovo Serbs encouraging them to take part in the forthcoming elections. “Boris Tadic took a difficult decision in the best interest of the Kosovo Serbs and other people living in Kosovo
06/10/2004 | News
The Enlarged Parliamentary Assembly, composed of Delegations of OECD and Council of Europe member states, today warned that the current high oil prices could easily derail the economic recovery under way. Parliamentarians said they count “on OPEC and other oil-producing countries to raise production to levels necessary to avoid this.” The adopted resolution on ‘The OECD and the world economy’ welcomes the resumption of a “healthy economic growth” that should assist higher growth also in the major economies in the eurozone, where “insufficient structural reform continues to limit the potential for growth.” The parliamentarians said that globalisation should benefit all the world’s citizens. Herwig Schögl, Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, who took part on the debate, underlined that globalization process has winners but also losers. The governments have the responsibilities that the losers become winners too, he said.