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'Enlarged' Standing Committee to debate gender in foreign policy and threats to academic freedom

17/11/2020 | Standing Committee

Highlights of PACE’s Standing Committee, meeting by video-conference on 20 November in its enlarged format, include reports on the gender dimension of foreign policy and on threats to academic freedom. German Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth will present Germany’s priorities for its...

Standing Committee

‘Enlarged’ Standing Committee: debates on the impact of COVID-19 and the challenges of artificial intelligence

23/10/2020 | Standing Committee

The Standing Committee (*) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) met successively on 12 and 13 October, then on 22 and 23 October, by video-conference. This “enlarged” meeting replaced the October part-session of PACE and allowed all PACE members to take the floor...

Ankara / Parliament / Turkey

PACE strongly condemns new crackdowns on political opposition and civil dissent in Turkey

23/10/2020 | Standing Committee

PACE’s Standing Committee has strongly condemned new crackdowns on political opposition and civil dissent in recent months in Turkey and urged the Turkish authorities to “take meaningful steps” to improve standards in the field of democracy, rule of law and human rights. Approving a resolution...

Lawyer
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Ensuring effective protection of the profession of lawyer: call for a legally-binding instrument

23/10/2020 | Standing Committee

PACE’s Standing Committee today expressed its concern at the numerous cases of violations of lawyers’ rights, including attacks on their safety and independence, in recent years. Lawyers continue to be targeted for their involvement in human rights-related cases, or for their work denouncing...

Artificial intelligence / AI
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Justice by algorithm? PACE urges smart regulation of AI in criminal justice to avoid unfairness

22/10/2020 | Standing Committee

PACE is calling for national legal frameworks to regulate the use of Artificial Intelligence in police and criminal justice work, based on core principles of transparency, fairness, safety, privacy, and the clear attribution of human responsibility for all decisions in this area. While the use of...

Artificial intelligence / AI
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Establishing a ‘legally binding instrument’ for democratic governance of AI

22/10/2020 | Standing Committee

The Standing Committee, meeting by videoconference, stressed the need for a global regulatory framework for AI, based on the protection of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, and proposed that the Committee of Ministers support the elaboration of a “legally binding instrument” governing...

Artificial intelligence / AI
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Artificial intelligence: act now to prevent discrimination

22/10/2020 | Standing Committee

Many uses of artificial intelligence (AI) can have a direct impact on equality of access to fundamental rights, including the right to private life and access to justice, employment, health and public services. Considering that such uses of AI may cause or exacerbate discrimination in these...

Miltiadis Varvitsiotis / Greece / Committee of Ministers

Miltiadis Varvitsiotis holds second exchange of views with parliamentarians

22/10/2020 | Standing Committee

After a first participation that took place on 12 October, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, and Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, held today a second exchange of views with the parliamentarians in the framework of the meeting...

Jobs / IA
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Anticipating the effects of AI on the world of work through rights-compliant national strategies

22/10/2020 | Standing Committee

According to the Standing Committee, meeting by videoconference, member States should anticipate the effects of AI on human work and devise national strategies to accompany this transition towards more man-machine types of work, where AI is used as an enabler for working in more flexible ways...

Brain / AI
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Fostering ethical and legal frameworks for the research and development of neurotechnology

22/10/2020 | Standing Committee

By adopting a resolution today, based on the report by Olivier Becht (France, ALDE), the Standing Committee recommended “a sensitive and calibrated approach to regulation of emerging neurotechnology”, including brain-computer interfaces (BCI), encompassing ethical frameworks and binding legal...

Car / AI
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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...

Health / AI
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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...