30/09/2024 Session
The award ceremony for the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 2024 - which rewards outstanding human rights defenders around the world - was a highlight of the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), held in Strasbourg from 30 September to 4 October 2024. One winner was selected from three shortlisted candidates. The winner of the 2022 Prize, Vladimir Kara-Murza, recently released from detention in Russia, also made a statement at the ceremony.
Other highlights included debates on the detention and conviction of Julian Assange and its chilling effect on human rights, on propaganda and freedom of information in Europe, and on the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor - Ukraine is once again facing the threat of genocide. There was a joint debate on a common European approach to address migrant smuggling and on clarifying the fate of missing migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
There was an urgent debate on ‘Missing persons, prisoners of war and civilians in captivity as a result of the war of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, as well as topical debates on ‘The deteriorating situation of human rights, rule of law and democracy in Azerbaijan’, and on ‘The situation in the Middle East: escalation of violence and mounting humanitarian crisis, in particular in Gaza’.
The Assembly also held a debate on the ‘Request for waiver of the immunity of Mr Marcin Romanowski’.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Northern Macedonia, Timcho Mucunski, and the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, addressed the Assembly. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, presented the traditional communication from that body and answered questions from members.
The Assembly also debated the situation in Iran and the protection of Iranian human rights defenders in Council of Europe member states; preventing and combating violence and discrimination against lesbian, bisexual and queer women in Europe; and protecting the human rights and improving the living conditions of sex workers and victims of sexual exploitation.
There were also debates on the work of the Council of Europe Development Bank to implement the Reykjavik Declaration, with a statement by the Bank's Governor Carlo Monticelli; on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina; on the risks and opportunities of the metaverse; and on guaranteeing the human right to food.
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Practical information
Media accreditation: please fill in this accreditation form. More details here, or contact the Council of Europe Communications Directorate via [email protected].
PACE website: the agenda, adopted texts, reports to be debated, voting results, speakers lists, video recordings of each sitting (in English, French and original languages), as well as the verbatim record of each sitting (in English, French, German and Italian), are available on the special session page. News items on all debates appear on the Assembly’s home page.
Social media: follow the Assembly’s official accounts via X, Facebook and LinkedIn (#PACEautumn2024).
Webcast: the session is webcast live (in French, English, German, Italian and Spanish) on PACE’s website. Each sitting is also streamed live via the Assembly’s YouTube channel in English, scrollable in mid-stream, with instant replay.
Video clips: an online tool allows video clips from plenary sessions to be edited and downloaded.
Photos: photos from session week can be downloaded from the Council of Europe media library or via the Assembly’s Flickr account.
Contact: PACE Communication Division, tel. +33 3 88 41 31 93, [email protected].