16/09/2004 | Monitoring
The Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), meeting in Paris on 15 September 2004, adopted the following statement: "The October 31 presidential elections are an opportunity for Ukraine to ensure full respect for the principles of pluralist democracy, human rights and the rule of law. A credible democratic election could give the country a chance to anchor itself more firmly in the family of European democracies."
16/09/2004 | Prizes
The 2004 Europe Prize was awarded to Oudenaarde in Belgium during a ceremony in the town today. The prize, created by the Parliamentary Assembly in 1955, is awarded every year to a European town or territorial authority for its active promotion of the European ideal through activities such as twinnings, events or exchange visits.
16/09/2004 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Final agreement within the World Trade Organisation on the so-called “Doha development agenda” is urgently needed if the quickening process of globalisation is to benefit all the world’s population, PACE’s Economic Affairs Committee said in a draft report approved yesterday. The report, by Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD), welcomed the interim agreement reached by WTO members in Geneva in July 2004. WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi will take part in the plenary debate on the report, provisionally scheduled for Monday 4 October 2004.
16/09/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Assembly's Legal Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris, has said it is outraged at today’s arrest of Tatiana Reviaka and Garry Pogoniaïlo in Belarus. According to a report by AFP, the two human rights activists were arrested today in Minsk while distributing copies of a PACE report by Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD) which accuses several high representatives of the Lukashenko regime of being responsible for the murder of opposition figures.
15/09/2004 | Monitoring
Four years after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia and Montenegro is a country that has changed enormously, but not yet enough, Milos Budin (Italy, SOC) and Jonas Cekuolis (Lithuania, LDR) conclude in their report on the functioning of democratic institutions in Serbia and Montenegro, due for debate in the Assembly’s October session. A draft resolution, submitted by the two Assembly rapporteurs and adopted by the Monitoring Committee in Paris today, therefore concludes that the Assembly should continue to monitor the honouring of commitments and obligations by Serbia and Montenegro.
14/09/2004 | President
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President Peter Schieder today expressed great concern over the Belarusian President’s decision to hold, in parallel with the parliamentary elections on 17 October 2004, a referendum on allowing a president to run without limitations in future presidential elections. “While we cannot deny the right of the Belarusian authorities to hold a referendum in this context, we urge them to ensure that it be held in conformity with Council of Europe standards, as also stressed by the EU Council," he said.
14/09/2004 | Elections
A ten-member Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) delegation led by Tana de Zulueta (Italy, SOC) is to observe the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan on 19 September. The president of the Central Electoral Commission issued the invitation to the Assembly in the framework of the co-operation agreement concluded by the Kazakh Parliament and PACE in April 2004 to promote parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the country.
14/09/2004 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) today made public a report on the humanitarian situation of the Chechen displaced population, prepared by Tadeusz Iwinski (Poland, SOC), which stresses that the situation of refugees and internally displaced persons remains very precarious. While recognising the efforts undertaken by the Russian authorities in order to advance the reconstruction of the destroyed republic, the committee agreed that the security and humanitarian situation remained unsatisfactory.
13/09/2004 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
European faiths can still do much more to promote women's rights, according to four specialists representing the German Council of Evangelical Churches, the Moscow Orthodox Patriarchate, the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) and the NGO "Catholics for a free choice". They were taking part in a hearing on women and religion in Europe, held in Paris on Friday by PACE's Equality Committee. Manuela Aguiar (Portugal, EPP/CD) is preparing a report on the subject.
10/09/2004 | Bureau
An urgent debate on the challenge of terrorism in Council of Europe member states, as well as a joint debate on the political, human rights and humanitarian situation in the Chechen Republic, are among items provisionally scheduled for debate at the Assembly’s autumn session (4-8 October 2004). Other items on the draft order of business, adopted on Tuesday by the Assembly’s Bureau, include the honouring of obligations and commitments by Armenia and by Azerbaijan, global warming and women’s participation in elections. The accession ceremony for Monaco is also due to take place during the session. The Assembly itself will decide the final order of business only on the first day of the session.
10/09/2004 | Bureau
The Assembly’s Bureau approved a series of proposals for assistance to the Parliaments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia this week – as well as a plan for a possible “Youth of the South Caucasus” conference next year in Tbilisi. Other ideas included organising more seminars and hearings in the region, further study visits and training for staff from the three parliaments, and encouraging contacts between political forces in the three countries. The proposals follow a visit by PACE Secretary General Bruno Haller to the region in July.
10/09/2004 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The three PACE rapporteurs on the situation in the Chechen Republic will give a press conference on Tuesday 14 September at 1.30 p.m. in the CoE Paris office (55, avenue Kléber, Métro Boissière). The rapporteurs are Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) on the political situation, Rudolf Bindig (Germany, SOC) on the human rights situation and Tadeusz Iwinski (Poland, SOC) on the humanitarian situation. On this occasion, Mr Gross and Mr Iwinski, who made a fact-finding visit to the region from 28 to 31 August, will present their reports (which will be adopted by their respective committees in Paris on 13 and 14 September). Mr Bindig’s report will be adopted on 16 September. The three reports will be debated in Strasbourg during the next PACE plenary session (7 October). Press contact: Micaela Catalano (mobile: 06 08 56 40 65) and Lucas Delattre, Council of Europe Office, Paris, tel. 01 44 05 33 60.