11/06/2004 | News
A recommendation to end the monitoring of Turkey, measures to combat the “domestic slavery” of au pairs and mail-order brides and a call for an end to political interference in the media in Italy are among issues to be debated during the Parliamentary Assembly’s summer session (Strasbourg, 21-25 June 2004). Other subjects due for discussion include a Europe-wide ban on corporal punishment of children, the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution, the Italian law on legitimate suspicion and the honouring of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina – the first assessment since the country joined the Council of Europe in 2002.
11/06/2004 | Monitoring
Jerzy Jaskiernia (Poland, SOC), co-rapporteur on Armenia of the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee, makes a fact-finding visit to the country (11-15 June) to assess the state of Armenia’s honouring of its obligations and commitments. He will meet parliamentarians, representatives of political parties and senior members of the government including President Robert Kocharyan, who is also due to address the Assembly in Strasbourg on 23 June. In April, the Assembly called on both government and opposition to engage in peaceful dialogue without preconditions.
11/06/2004 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Latchezar Toshev (Bulgaria, EPP/CD), who is preparing a report on “the parliamentary contribution to the implementation of the Stability Pact in South-East Europe” on behalf of the Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, visits Brussels on 14 June for talks with Pact officials.
11/06/2004 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Miroslav Ouzký (Czech Republic, EDG), who is preparing a report on “the presence of the Council of Europe in Northern Ireland” on behalf of the Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, visits Dublin (15-16 June) for discussions with Irish authorities, and possibly border areas in the Republic. His visit is a follow-up to earlier visits to London and Belfast.
11/06/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The Assembly’s Economic Affairs Committee, meeting at the headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, is to approve its annual report on “The OECD and the world economy” prepared by Abdülkadir Ateş (Turkey, SOC). The report is due to be debated at the autumn session by the so-called Enlarged Assembly, which has served as the OECD’s parliamentary forum since 1962 and which includes parliamentarians from OECD countries not members of the Council of Europe.
08/06/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On 8 June the Assembly’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights held a parliamentary hearing in Berlin on the concept of “nation” in the framework of a report on the subject being prepared by György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD). The day before, the committee is due to hold an exchange of views with German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries in the framework of a report on cross-border crime in Europe.
08/06/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
From 8 to 12 June, Lord Russell-Johnston (United Kingdom, LDR), who is preparing a report on “the cultural situation of the Kurds” on behalf of the Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education, will visit cultural centres in Diyarbakir, Mardin and Hakkari, and a Kurdish language centre in Van. In Ankara he will meet Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, Education Minister Hüseyin Çelik and the minister responsible for Turkish radio and television Beşir Atalay (to be confirmed). In Istanbul, he will visit the Kurdish Institute and the Mesopotamia Cultural Centre as well as meeting the press.
08/06/2004 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
On 11 June, the Sub-committee on Population of the Assembly’s Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population will take part in a meeting in Strasbourg of the Council of Europe’s inter-governmental group of population experts, the European Population Committee, and will discuss preparations for a parliamentary seminar in Bratislava in September on demographic challenges for social cohesion, with special focus on central and eastern Europe.
01/06/2004 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) and Rudolf Bindig (Germany, SOC), rapporteurs on the political and human rights situations in the Chechen Republic respectively, ended their fact-finding visit to Moscow, Grozny and Nazran today. They aimed to evaluate the situation in Chechnya following the assassination of Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov. They met senior government and legal representatives, parliamentarians and civil society representatives in both Moscow and Grozny, and visited settlements for displaced persons in Nazran.
28/05/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
"Human rights apply to rich as well as poor – everyone is equal before the law," said Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Germany, LDR), speaking at the end of a three-day fact-finding visit to Moscow to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest and prosecution of Yukos executives. "Everyone is entitled to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, or acquitted in a fair trial," she added. Though unable to meet any of the three detained executives in prison, she met prosecution and defence lawyers, Justice Ministry officials and human rights activists. Her report is due before the autumn.
25/05/2004 | Bureau
The honouring of obligations and commitments by Turkey and by Bosnia and Herzegovina, domestic slavery and the electronic media in Italy are among subjects provisionally scheduled for debate during the Assembly’s summer session (21-25 June 2004). Other items on the draft order of business, adopted on Monday by the Assembly’s Bureau, are a Europe-wide ban on corporal punishment of children and the Euro and the Greater Europe. The Assembly itself will decide the final order of business only on the first day of the session.
25/05/2004 | President
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities acts as a “laboratory of democracy” at local and regional levels, Parliamentary Assembly Peter Schieder said today, addressing the Congress during its opening session. “Your intiatives, debates and projects have served to water and fertilize the grass roots, especially where the seeds had fallen on long untended ground. And the Congress is looking more and more into how the grass is growing. Its country-by-country monitoring in the light of the European Charter of Local Self-Government is an important complement to the monitoring carried out by the Parliamentary Assembly,” said Mr Schieder.