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‘Autonomous’ vehicles: towards regulation in line with Council of Europe standards

22/10/2020 | Standing Committee

“The criminal law, civil law and human rights implications of the development and introduction of autonomous vehicles must be regulated in accordance with Council of Europe standards,” according to PACE’s Standing Committee. In a resolution based on a report by Ziya Altunyaldiz (Turkey, NR), the...

AI in health care – time for a binding legal instrument with global reach

22/10/2020 | Standing Committee

PACE’s Standing Committee is calling for a “dedicated legal instrument”, preferably binding and with global reach, to ensure Artificial Intelligence respects human rights principles, particularly in health care. It would lay down benchmarks in areas such as privacy, confidentiality, the safety of...

Measures restricting human rights taken to address health crises must be ‘lawful, proportionate and non...

13/10/2020 | Standing Committee

“All measures restricting human rights taken in response to a public health emergency must be ‘lawful, proportionate and non-discriminatory’,” said the PACE Standing Committee, meeting today by videoconference. According to the parliamentarians, these restrictive measures should be reviewed in...

Democracy, human rights and the rule of law must not become the pandemic’s ‘collateral damage’

13/10/2020 | Standing Committee

As states reintroduce extraordinary measures to deal with recent increases in the COVID-19 virus, PACE’s Standing Committee has again warned that “democracy, human rights and the rule of law cannot be allowed to become the collateral damage of the pandemic”. While supporting States and public...

Dunja Mijatović: 'The COVID-19 pandemic has been an accelerator of the problems we were already facing'

13/10/2020 | Standing Committee

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been an accelerator of the problems we were already facing but were refusing to address. We now have no excuses. We can no longer procrastinate in realising human rights for all”, today said Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, presenting...

Governments must be more inclusive in dealing with future pandemics, say parliamentarians

13/10/2020 | Standing Committee

PACE has urged governments to avoid “one size fits all” responses to pandemics or other similar crises, and ensure they always act inclusively and take account of the diversity of society when shaping emergency measures in future. Approving a resolution based on a report by Petra Stienen...

The COVID-19 pandemic has doubly affected migrants and refugees

13/10/2020 | Standing Committee

By adopting a resolution today, based on the report by Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC) on the humanitarian consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for migrants and refugees, the Standing Committee, meeting by videoconference, said that these vulnerable groups were “doubly affected” by the...

Miltiadis Varvitsiotis: ‘In times of pandemic, human life and public health should be kept at the top of...

12/10/2020 | Standing Committee

“In times of pandemic, human life and public health should be kept at the top of our priorities regardless of the problems in the economic activity and by trying also to minimize the negative consequences for democracy, the rule of law and human rights,” said Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, the Greek...

OECD chief Angel Gurria on dealing with COVID: ‘Don’t stop the stimulus too soon’

12/10/2020 | Standing Committee

OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria has appealed to the world’s nations not to stop the extra economic stimulus provided during the period of the COVID pandemic too soon. In an exchange of views by teleconference with members of the Parliamentary Assembly’s ‘enlarged’ Standing Committee, the OECD...

Current affairs debate on the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan

12/10/2020 | Standing Committee

The ‘enlarged’ Standing Committee, meeting today by videoconference, held a current affairs debate on the ‘Armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, failure of peaceful conflict resolution and a risk to regional stability’. Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE) opened the debate and twenty...

PACE urges EU to end ‘Malta deadlock’ which is undermining the fight against manipulation in sport

12/10/2020 | Standing Committee

PACE is urging the European Union to rapidly resolve the “institutional deadlock” imposed by Malta over the definition of ‘illegal sports betting’ which is preventing the Union and its member States from ratifying a Council of Europe convention aimed at tackling the manipulation of sport...

Towards a human rights and public health approach to drug control policies

12/10/2020 | Standing Committee

Member States must “optimise human rights protection in the implementation of drug control policies”, while adopting “a public health approach”, the PACE Standing Committee said today, meeting by videoconference. There is strong evidence suggesting that purely repressive policies have been...