16/09/2010 Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Strasbourg, 16.09.2010 – The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is holding a hearing in Skopje on 20 September on human smuggling and trafficking for labour exploitation purposes. This will be followed by a further hearing on the topic of migration and demographic challenges for “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.
The meeting will be opened by Trajko Veljanoski, Speaker of the Parliament of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, and Aleksandar Nikoloski, Chair of the country’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly.
The following day, the committee will adopt a report by Milorad Pupovac (Croatia, SOC) on the situation of Roma asylum seekers in member states. The issue of preventing harm to refugees and migrants in extradition and expulsion cases will also be on the agenda, along with the adoption of a report on the subject by David Darchiashvili (Georgia, EPP/CD).
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Only the hearings on 20 September will be open to the press. These will take place from 9.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2.30 to 5 p.m. at the Assembly of the Republic (11 Oktomvri BB, Skopje).
The committee meeting on 21 September will be held in the same place from 9.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will be followed immediately by a press briefing with Aleksandar Nikoloski, Chair of the delegation of "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" to the Parliamentary Assembly, John Greenway (United Kingdom, EDG), Chair of the Committee on Migration, and Andrej Zernovski, a Macedonian member of the committee who is moderating one of the hearings.