23/03/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“The issue of consent in sexual relations, considered for too long a taboo, has made the headlines of mainstream media and debates,” a committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has stressed, warning that consent “can no longer be sidelined or undermined.” Adopting...
23/03/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Expressing concern at the growing manifestations of exclusion and intolerance on grounds of religion across Europe, the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, meeting on 20 March in Paris, emphasised that freedom of religion or belief – which includes the right not to hold a religious...
23/03/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
PACE’s Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination has welcomed the Assembly’s landmark achievement of gender parity – for the first time since its creation in 1949 – while issuing a strong call to action on the multiple threats facing women and girls worldwide. In a statement adopted following...
23/03/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Twelve years after the Istanbul Convention entered into force, the report prepared by Zita Gurmai (Hungary, SOC) outlines where implementation is falling short. While the convention has had a “positive impact on the ground,” the draft resolution adopted by the committee, calls for “renewed...
23/03/2026 | President
PACE President Petra Bayr, accompanied by the members of the PACE Presidential Committee - comprising the Chairpersons of the five PACE political groups and PACE Secretary General Despina Chatzivassiliou - today held an exchange of views with Nikos Christodoulides, the President of Cyprus, on...
20/03/2026 | Monitoring
Victoria Тiblom (Sweden, ECPA) and Yunus Emre (Türkiye, SOC), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Serbia, will make a fact-finding visit to the country on 23-24 March. In Belgrade, the co-rapporteurs are...
20/03/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
On the eve of the International Day for the Eradication of Racial Discrimination (21 March), Francesco Verducci (Italy, SOC), General Rapporteur on combating racism and intolerance, made the following statement: The Sharpeville Massacre of 21 March 1960, in apartheid South Africa, saw peaceful...
19/03/2026 | President
“Protecting social rights is not a secondary political agenda. It is the very foundation of democratic stability,” said PACE President Petra Bayr today, addressing the High-Level Conference on Social Rights and the European Social Charter, organised in Chisinau by the Council of Europe and the...
18/03/2026 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Social dumping and labour exploitation, which at its worst includes forced labour and trafficking in human beings, “represents a grave violation of human dignity and fundamental rights,” warns a draft resolution adopted by PACE's Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development...
18/03/2026 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
A committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has expressed “deep concern” at ongoing legislative proposals before the Israeli Knesset that would expand the death penalty in Israel. Approving a draft resolution based on a report by Gala Veldhoen (Netherlands, SOC...
18/03/2026 | President
PACE President Petra Bayr made the following statement today, after a side-event held in the margins of the High-Level Conference on Social Rights (Chisinau, 18–19 March 2026): “On the occasion of the High-Level Conference on Social Rights – the European Social Charter, and at a time when these...
17/03/2026 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Lord Michael German (United Kingdom, ALDE), PACE General Rapporteur on European Migration and Asylum Policies, ending a series of meetings with officials from other international organisations dealing with migration, has urged European lawmakers to uphold international law in migration policy...