16/03/2004 | President
“The UN Commission on Human Rights, meeting in Geneva from 15 March to 23 April, is due to consider a resolution put forward by Brazil on sexual orientation and human rights. The resolution is of great importance as it would be the first general statement opposing discrimination based on sexual orientation at the global level,” Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder stressed in an open letter published today.
15/03/2004 | Elections
The Russian Presidential Election on 14 March was generally well administered and reflected the consistently high public approval rating of the incumbent president but lacked elements of a genuine democratic contest. In addition to a dearth of meaningful debate and genuine pluralism, the election process failed to meet an important commitment concerning treatment by the state-controlled media, in particular television on a non-discriminatory basis. Those are the conclusions of the International Election Observation Mission.
12/03/2004 | President
In a letter sent to the Speakers of the two chambers of the Spanish Parliament, Luisa Fernanda Rudi and Juan José Lucas, Assembly President Peter Schieder firmly condemned the bomb attacks in Madrid: "We democrats all feel horror and anger at such a display of inhumanity and hatred. Nothing can ever justify those who defend terrorism," he said.
12/03/2004 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
A its meeting in Paris on 10 March, the Migration Committee approved a report on “a European migration observatory/agency” – due for debate in the Assembly’s April session – and one on “the situation of refugees and displaced persons in the Russian Federation and other selected CIS countries”, both by Tadeusz Iwiński (Poland, SOC). The committee also approved a report on “human mobility and the right to family reunion” by Rosmarie Zapfl-Helbling (Switzerland, EPP/CD).
12/03/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Assembly Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights held a hearing on the human rights situation in Kosovo in Paris on 16 March. The discussion focused on three themes: political authority and current institutional structures, human rights protection mechanisms and implementation of Council of Europe standards. The hearing will contribute to a report by Tony Lloyd (United Kingdom, SOC), who should propose ways of making application of the European Convention on Human Rights more effective in Kosovo.
12/03/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Sub-Committee on Science and Ethics (of the Committee on Culture, Science and Education) will hold an exchange of views in Paris on 17 March on “Parliaments and the knowledge society” with the participation of Claude Birraux, Chairman of the French Parliamentary Office for Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Options (OPECST) and Antonios Trakatellis (*), Chairman of the European Parliament Scientific and Technological Options Assessment (STOA). (*) to be confirmed
12/03/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The agenda of the meeting of the Committee on Culture, Science and Education on 18 March includes approval of an opinion prepared by Majlene Westerlund Panke, (Sweden, SOC) on the Draft Additional protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, on Biomedical Research, and of an information report on Kosovo’s cultural heritage. Members will discuss diaspora cultures (Eleonora Petrova-Mitevska, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", SOC), education for Europe (Ghiorghi Prisacaru, Romania, SOC) and religions and intercultural dialogue (André Schneider, France, EPP/CD). They will also hold an exchange of views with Gottfried Wagner, Director of the European Cultural Foundation. The next day, the committee members will visit the French city of Lille, European capital of culture 2004.
12/03/2004 | News
Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder will address participants of the conference organised on 18 March in Strasbourg to mark the 10th anniversary of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).
10/03/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is to hold a hearing on the human rights situation in Kosovo in Paris (Council of Europe Office, 55 avenue Kléber) on Tuesday 16 March 2004. The hearing will be opened at 9am by the first Vice-Chairperson of the committee, Dick Marty (Switzerland, LDR). Participants will include Bajram Rexhepi, Prime Minister of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) of Kosovo; Marek Antoni Nowicki, Ombudsperson; Petr Ivantsov, Political Director of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK); Carsten Weber, Director of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the OSCE Mission (OMIK), and Alvaro Gil-Robles, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
10/03/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
At a joint press conference in Strasbourg on 10 March, Michel Hunault (France, EPP/CD), rapporteur for the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly on the situation of European prisons and pre-trial detention centres, and Maurizio Turco, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the rights of prisoners in the European Union, called for the drawing up of a European Prisons' Charter. This joint initiative by the two institutions will equip Europe with a permanent monitoring system in the judicial and penal field, ensuring supervision of all the players in the judicial and penal system.
09/03/2004 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On Wednesday 10 March, 11 a.m., Assembly rapporteur Michel Hunault (France, EPP/CD) presented his report on the situation of European prisons and pre-trial centres together with Maurizio Turco, European Parliament rapporteur on the rights of prisoners in the European Union at a joint press conference at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (Louise Weiss Build., room N -1/201). In his report, Mr Hunault stresses that living conditions in many prisons and pre-trial detention centres are incompatible with respect for human dignity.
05/03/2004 | Elections
A 9-member, cross-party Assembly delegation headed by Rudolf Bindig (Germany, SOC) observed the presidential election in Russia on 14 March as part of an international election observation mission. The delegation met presidential candidates and the Chair of the Central Election Commission as well as journalists who have been covering the campaign and representatives of civil society, before deploying around the country on election day to observe polling.