02/10/2019 | 10:46:51 Thank you very much, Mr President. Ombudsman institutions are important bodies to provide people with their individual access to human rights and fundamental freedoms. I would like to make three points. First of all, I would like to mention that Mr Werner AMON, who was until recently the head of the Austrian delegation here in the Parliamentary Assembly, has been elected to one out of the three Ombudsman we have in Austria, the so-called Volksanwalts. As he was a long-standing parliamentarian... 25/06/2019 | 16:04:42 Thank you, Mrs President. Both reports are extremely important for the lives of millions of women, for more than half of our population. I want to thank on behalf of my faction, the SOC faction, Elvira and Zita for their critical endeavour for the self-determined and fulfilled life for all women in Europe, free from coercion, violence and every bond. There is circulating a lot of intentional misinterpretation of the Istanbul Convention. Some argue the Istanbul convention destroys values of... 12/04/2019 | 11:52:26 Social media is part of the world we are living in. We have to be clear that the same rules and laws that apply in the real world should apply to the virtual world, but a lot of people do not see things that way. They use social media to spread hatred, to defame people and to say things they would not say directly to people’s faces. A lot of digital platform companies take no responsibility for the messages spread on their platforms. They say the issue is down to implementing codes of conduct... 10/04/2019 | 16:51:23 Hate speech appears in all our lives, as we heard from impressive witnesses and testimonies that lasted for hours. It is in all our societies and all our countries. These two reports focus on the spheres of sport and politics but, wherever hate speech or the incitement to hatred occurs, it has the same elements in common. It is deeply rooted in discrimination and the belief that some groups of people are of greater value than others. It dehumanises people because they are a member of a... 09/04/2019 | 16:16:26 I would like to underscore the importance of the report and sincerely thank Ms De Sutter for it. Human rights, the rule of law, and democratic governance are too important to be allowed to suffer as a result of duplication, fragmentation, turf wars or inconsistent application. Paragraph 15 calls on the European Union to sign up to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption. We debated the 2030 sustainable development goals agenda in this Chamber only... 09/04/2019 | 10:17:26 Our committee was asked for a report of opinion, and our report adopted unanimously yesterday clearly focuses on the issues we usually deal with daily: gender equality and the fight against domestic violence and gender-based violence; the inclusion of people living with disabilities; and the protection of the rights of minorities. These topics also reflect the work of our three sub-committees. In the fight for a life free from violence, the Istanbul Convention plays a crucial role and is a... 23/01/2019 | 18:30:29 The two resolutions before us today depict a kind of labour that is paid and is very much controlled. I thank both rapporteurs for their work, but of course the meaning is not the same for people who are born into families without massive inheritances and with no incomes. In the worst possible cases, these people can be exploited and used in unsafe environments; sometimes it can even be lethal. It is very difficult for them to enjoy teamwork or creativity, because that depends on what type of...