17/04/2024 | 18:01:02 Thank you very much, Madam President. Before I begin my presentation, I'd like to thank the Cecretariat, in particular Ms Sarah BURTON who was a member of the Secretariat, but who has now left to work in other departments, but also Ms Élodie FISCHER who is behind me and who has really masterfully taken over Sarah's role. I'd like to remind all the members of parliament, all the senators, all the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that, while the political impetus... 25/01/2024 | 19:03:14 Thank you, Mister Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, My congratulations to you, Mister President, on your constant improvement in your knowledge of foreign languages. You've improved your accents over the years, and I congratulate you on that. But let's get back to the serious subject of press freedom and how to effectively guarantee the safety and security of journalists. As a trained historian, I'd like to take a step back 200 years. Two hundred years ago, the Belgian Constitution of 7... 23/06/2023 | 11:44:46 Thank you very much, Madam President. My colleague Madam Edite ESTRELA began with a story, a little story. I'm going to tell you a little story too. My dad is 86 years old. He's in a retirement home, his mental faculties are intact, but he has difficulty getting around. He's a victim of the digital divide and a hostage to the banks. Why hostage to the banks? Because he has a bank card. He can no longer make paper payments or transfers. His bank branch has closed, so it's with the help of his... 27/04/2023 | 18:48:10 Thank you, Mr President, And thank you Mr Geraint DAVIES for your excellent report on this subject. Do trade, the invisible hand, the trickle-down theory of money – somewhat frivolous concepts – advance human rights? I don't think so. Regulation has to be something really important to advance progress; progress in environmental rights, labour rights and human rights. In Mr Geraint DAVIES' report, there is a very clear reference to the fact that we need a multilateral investment tribunal under... 27/01/2023 | 10:22:07 Thank you. Do we want to allow fully autonomous robots to kill humans? If I oversimplify, this is the fundamental legal, ethical and, dare I say, humanity question that we must answer. Autonomous lethal weapons systems are a threat; a terrible, terrible and current threat to the values that the Council of Europe stands for. Obviously, the report and the resolution proposed to us today by our colleague Mr Damien COTTIER, whom I would like to thank, provide a series of nuances and definitions... 26/01/2023 | 18:37:30 Thank you, Mister President. Mister President, My Dear Colleagues, I would first like to thank the rapporteurs and especially Mr Pierre-Alain FRIDEZ and welcome the progress made by the Republic of Moldova. I would still like to add some nuances to the chorus of praise that I have heard, because I will be speaking here as general rapporteur on LGBTI people. I would like to remind you that our Assembly is very clear on gender issues and calls on its member States to, and I quote: "develop... 25/01/2023 | 18:28:54 Thank you very much, Mister President, for giving me the opportunity to speak. The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, has been in existence for almost 12 years and is, unfortunately, very often called into question by various States, even though they are members of the Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly. I am, therefore, very grateful to my colleagues, Ms Zita GURMAI, Ms... 13/10/2022 | 15:45:19 Mr President, dear Antonio GUTIÉRREZ LIMONES, I'll begin my statement, that I did not know you were going to be chairing at the moment, by recalling Antonio Banderas in La ley del deseo (The Law of Desire), a wonderful Almodóvar film, 1987, nearly 40 years ago. Banderas said: "I've received more letters insulting me for kissing a man on the lips in this film than for killing him". And that was in 1987, but we can see that in some member states of the Council of Europe, we are still seeing... 22/06/2022 | 17:07:12 Thank you, Mister Chairman. I was surprised because I thought there were still a few speakers before me. Mister Chairman, My Dear Colleagues, It has now become clear that the number of sexual violence and rapes perpetrated by Russians against Ukrainian women is increasingly documented. In addition, information on the difficulties faced by Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced persons in accessing sexual and reproductive health care in Ukraine and the neighboring and transit countries in... 15/03/2022 | 17:26:49 Thank you, Mister President. It is obviously very difficult to succeed our Ukrainian colleague who is fighting on the ground, with his people and with all the resistance fighters of Ukrainian democracy, this outrage and this ignominy which are inflicted on this beautiful country by Vladimir Putin's Russia. "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" Indeed, what an aggressive dynamic of Vladimir Putin and this new Russian imperialism that he embodies. It began with...