23/01/2013 Session
Strasbourg, 23.01.2013 – With regard to the drafting of the Council of Europe convention against trafficking in human organs, PACE today recommended that the Committee of Ministers complete the provisions of the draft convention relating to measures for the prevention of organ trafficking, the protection of victims and national and international co-operation against such trafficking. PACE also called for the establishment of an “independent, strong and effective” Committee of the Parties to ensure the stringent monitoring of the convention.
The adopted text, based on a report by Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE), underlines the utmost importance of “protecting vulnerable persons, in particular persons deprived of their liberty and persons who are unable to give full and valid consent to an intervention for reasons either of their age (in the case of minors) or their mental incapacity”.
The Assembly also welcomes the provision made in the draft convention for its opening to signature by States that are not members of the Council of Europe, even prior to its entry into force, which will foster the broadest possible geographical scope, and recommended that the Committee of Ministers decide on a roadmap for the preparation of an additional protocol against trafficking in human tissues and cells.