vendredi 28 juin 2024 matin
2024 - Troisième partie de session Imprimer la séanceVidéo(s) de la séance 1 / 1
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:02:49
Ladies and gentlemen,
The meeting is now open.
I remind you that you must insert your voting card to speak or vote.
If you wish to request the floor, please also press the "request" button once and only once.
The next item is the presentation of the report "Safeguarding the human rights of future generations" (Doc. 15999) by Mr Simon MOUTQUIN, on behalf of the Social, Health and Sustainable Development Committee.
The opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights will be presented by Mr Pablo HISPÁN (Doc. 16016).
Mister MOUTQUIN, I would remind you that you have 7 minutes to present your report and 3 minutes to reply to speakers at the end of the general discussion.
Mister MOUTQUIN, you have the floor for 7 minutes.
Belgique, SOC, au nom de la commission des questions sociales, de la santé et du développement durable.
10:03:45
Thank you, Mister Chairman.
I'm delighted to present what is probably my last report, or rather not mine but that of Mr Pedro CEGONHO, and very happy to have you as Chairman of this session.
Today I have the honour of presenting to the Assembly a report entirely dedicated to future generations, who are one of the cornerstones of the concept of sustainable development. I'd like to begin by saluting my former colleague Mr Pedro CEGONHO and his inspiration for this theme, as well as his dedication to the subject of future generations, but more generally to ecology, over a number of years.
The report starts from the observation that today's political decisions will have lasting impacts on future generations and respect for their human rights. It also notes that many constitutional texts contain very clear references to future generations, and that the notions of future generations, equity, and intergenerational solidarity are increasingly used before national and international courts in environmental disputes.
The Parliamentary Assembly has on several occasions considered the impact of current political actions on the rights of future generations. In particular, I would like to recall Resolution 2396, which I was able to pass, "Anchoring the right to a healthy environment: need for reinforced action by the Council of Europe", but also Resolution 2545, "Realising the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment through the Reykjavík process", which recalls the responsibilities of member states to protect and improve the environment for present and future generations, and calls on the Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe to be demanding in terms of transparency, ethics, accessibility, responsibility, efficiency and reliability.
The report encourages states to make a more ambitious commitment to safeguarding future generations. It calls for an integrated approach, taking into account not only environmental concerns but also the issues of growing socio-economic inequalities, public health emergencies, wars, conflicts and rapid technological progress. Equity and intergenerational solidarity must be the guiding principles in all decisions involving today's young people and the generations who will inherit our planet.
In the Reykjavík Declaration, the Council of Europe recognised the need to move forward in safeguarding human rights for future generations; it emphasised that the Council of Europe is part of a wider international order, and stressed the importance of strengthening dialogue with other international organisations, and working together in particular to implement the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. In this respect, the Summit for the Future to be held in New York in September 2024 is a major event that will propose multilateral solutions for a better future, a pact for the future.
The report aims to take stock of the progress and limitations resulting from the recent case law of the European Court of Human Rights on climate issues. Whatever the potential of these advances in case law, the rapporteur points out that the Court's protection of the environment is, by definition, indirect, since it depends on the infringement of the human rights recognised by the Convention.
Moreover, the Court finds it impossible to consider that the obligations imposed on states in relation to climate render them competent in respect of persons outside their territory. This approach, as we have long been aware of in our work, leaves a major gap that places the Convention system below the environmental stakes for future generations, and sets it apart from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in particular, which has recognised the extraterritorial nature of states' human rights obligations arising from environmental damage. It is now more necessary than ever to continue to reflect on the efforts required to advance existing norms towards safeguarding future generations in environmental matters.
The report proposes to build on existing work, such as the Maastricht Principles on Human Rights for Future Generations. These principles were drafted by a group of experts from around the world who examined and clarified the landscape of international law, human rights as they apply to the rights of future generations. They highlight that human rights have no temporal limits, that future generations are intrinsically covered by the existing body of human rights law, and that respecting, protecting and defending the rights of future generations is simply a matter of defending a fundamental human rights concept: equality and non-discrimination.
The report calls on the member states of the Council of Europe to seize this momentum to demonstrate leadership and a firm commitment to this imperative, putting forward a discourse that reaffirms the importance of respecting the rights of future generations, exploring the potentials and limitations of recent climate jurisprudence to develop less anthropocentric environmental standards. In fact, this report by my colleague Mr Pedro CEGONHO is at once a synthesis, a summary and a conclusion of the various reports I have been able to present over the past five years in this Assembly, both of which concern the right to a healthy environment.
In our political action, we are defining the degree of suffering or happiness of future generations. It's not the ecologists who are saying it. It's not the progressives who are saying it. It's the scientists. Today, our actions, whether here in the Assembly or in our national parliaments, will define the future of future generations. Unfortunately, all the forecasts today show that this future is very bleak.
Another report I was able to have voted for, on natural disasters, explained that natural disasters – I had the opportunity to visit Türkiye, the disaster of the century that killed tens of thousands of people – will intensify both in frequency and intensity due to climate disruption, and will raise questions in terms of protecting citizens and future generations that will be gigantic.
Another report that is perhaps directly linked to this question of future generations is the one on the mental health of young people. Today's young generations are also tomorrow's future generations. These young people, dear colleagues, need to be listened to. We need to hear the fear they have, fear about the future of the climate, fear about job opportunities, fear about respect for human rights. I'm thinking in particular of the young people who are today under Putin's bombs in Ukraine. I'm thinking of all those young people who suffer socio-economic inequalities. I'm thinking of those young LGBTQIA+ people across the continent. All these young people live in fear of the future. It's up to us, the leaders here in the Assembly but also in our national parliaments, to ensure that these young people, the future generations, have a future, whether here in Strasbourg or in our national capitals.
Thank you very much.
[Applause]
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:11:02
Thank you, Mr MOUTQUIN.
I now give the floor to Mr Pablo HISPÁN to present the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.
You have 3 minutes.
Espagne, PPE/DC, au nom de la Commission des questions juridiques et des droits de l'homme
10:11:17
Dear Mr President,
Dear colleagues,
Integrating the rights of future generations into legal and policy frameworks encourages the development of laws and regulations that prioritise long-term benefits over short-term gains. It lies at the heart of responsible governance.
The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights welcomes the timely report prepared by our former colleague Mr Pedro CEGONHO and the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development. Our rapporteur for opinion, Ms Gala VELDHOEN, unfortunately could not join us today and asked me to present the opinion on her behalf.
We fully subscribe to the proposal put forward in the draft Resolution. Ms Gala VELDHOEN's opinion, which was unanimously adopted by the Committee, proposed three amendments to strengthen the draft Resolution and emphasise the momentum that is being developed by this organisation.
Firstly, we would like to build up on the leading role of the Council of Europe in identifying and mitigating risks associated with rapid technological advancement, in particular, the development of artificial intelligence.
Last month, the Committee of Minister adopted the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, a subject of our Assembly's excellent opinion prepared under the rapporteurship of Mr Davor Ivo STIER. Directly, the Committee of Ministers did not decide to include the amendments put forward by the Assembly. But this should not stop us in our efforts to maximise the instrumental potential.
Furthermore, it is proposed to add a reference to one of the Council of Europe's greatest achievements in the field of environmental protection: the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, commonly known as the Berne Convention. The loss of diversity is one of the most menacing threats facing humanity. We consider it imperative that the Assembly expresses its support for the actions of the Standing Committee of the Berne Convention, which has just adopted its first strategic plan, which sets out goals for helping the decline in biodiversity.
The Amendment also refers to a well-established rule of customary international law that obliges states to prevent activities on their territory causing significant harm or damage to the environment of another state or areas beyond national control.
I am very pleased to hear that all these three Amendments were unanimously adopted by the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development.
I look forward to our discussion.
Thank you.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:13:56
Thank you, Mister HISPÁN.
We will now move on to the general discussion.
I would remind you that speaking time is limited to 3 minutes per speaker.
We'll begin with the speakers on behalf of the political groups. I give the floor to Lord David BLENCATHRA for the European Conservatives Group.
You have 3 minutes.
Royaume-Uni, CE/AD, Porte-parole du groupe
10:14:18
The report is extensive and morally well intentioned.
By "extensive", I mean it calls for human rights protections for a wide variety of things from growing socio-economic inequalities, public health emergencies, wars and conflicts, rapid technological advances, intergenerational inequality and a less anthropocentric view of the environment.
I agree that preventing the loss of plant and animal species is vitally important. When a species is wiped out, it is gone forever, and one day that species could be vital to our survival. I therefore support Amendment 3 in the Bern Convention.
However, before we worry about the human rights of animals, around the world the human species is being murdered, tortured, and abused, and that is increasing – not diminishing. They are being abused by the millions in China, Iran, North Korea, Burma, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan, and dozens of other countries.
Of course, everyone in this room, in this Assembly, and in our Western liberal democracies deplores that, but what are we doing to stop it? We still trade and carry on normal relations with many of those countries, so what sort of signal does that send to future generations.
This week we have discussed human rights abuses in Ukraine, real human rights abuses with men, women and children being murdered, raped, and tortured.
I wonder what Ukrainian survivors or their relatives would think if they ever heard that we are sitting here in our comfortable surroundings and talking about the new so-called human rights abuses of intergenerational inequality, when their generations have been murdered.
Since when have socio-economic inequalities become an abuse to be corrected by human rights laws?
I am afraid the more causes we add, the less we will do. Politicians and governments will then talk for evermore on these new issues and neglect the millions suffering genocide, murder, rape, and false imprisonment.
I suggest that if everything is a human right then genocide, rape, and murder will just disappear in the fog. If we keep adding to a future wish list, but are failing to stop the current atrocities, then we are not doing any service to future generations, no matter how good and how meritorious the causes in this report are.
I submit that future generations will not thank us if we in the Western world make our old and young people equal and have equal rights and equal pensions and an equal part of society, but around the world and in Europe, we have let millions die because of our neglect of the human rights abuses of genocide, rape, torture and so on.
Thank you, Mister Chairman.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:16:58
Thank you.
On behalf of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, I now give the floor to Mr Gusty GRAAS.
You have 3 minutes.
Luxembourg, ADLE, Porte-parole du groupe
10:17:09
Mr Chairman,
Dear colleagues,
Allow me to begin by thanking Mr Pedro CEGONHO for his in-depth report and Mr Simon MOUTQUIN for presenting it.
Future generations will undoubtedly bear the burden of the most persistent challenges we face today: climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and soil degradation will have a profoundly destructive impact on their future.
As individuals and as a society, we have a moral and ethical obligation to protect them from these threats. With this in mind, this report has the merit of highlighting two essential elements.
Firstly, and rightly so, it is imperative to recognise the principle of intergenerational equity as an essential guiding pillar of any environmental policy. This means that all decisions taken today must take into account the needs and rights of future generations, thus guaranteeing them sustainable and eco-responsible development. Recognition of this principle requires a profound altruism, ensuring that natural resources and ecosystems are preserved for the benefit of our descendants.
Secondly, it is crucial to abandon any anthropocentric perspective. We need to reconsider our actions within a vision that encompasses all the components of the ecosystem. We need to rethink our practices and recognise the interdependence of all life forms. Only a holistic approach will be able to consider the impact of our actions on the environment as a whole.
Adopting a new vision requires significant transformations: to move towards practices that respect biodiversity, it is essential to implement profound changes, affecting the educational, legal and institutional spheres.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear colleagues,
The right to a clean and healthy environment is fundamental to the well-being and future of our young people. It is a necessity that transcends generations and borders.
Thanks to the determined efforts of Swiss KlimaSeniorinnen, a new case law has emerged, setting an historic precedent: the recognition of environmental protection as a human right. This breakthrough paves the way for a future that is more respectful of our planet and all its inhabitants. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is convinced that the Council of Europe has the potential to play a leading role in environmental protection.
In conclusion, I am delighted to announce that a parliamentary conference dedicated to the environment and human rights will be held in the spring of 2025. This conference will take place during the Luxembourg Presidency and will be organised jointly by our Assembly and the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies.
Thank you very much.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:20:29
Thank you for this announcement and for your country's commitment.
I now give the floor to Mr Paul GAVAN for the Group of the Unified European Left.
You have the floor.
Thank you, Mister Chairperson.
On behalf of the Group of the Unified European Left, I want to congratulate the rapporteur on an excellent report on a topic that deserves a much higher billing on this week's schedule.
The key theme of safeguarding human rights for future generations has never been more important given the global threats of war, climate change and the political drift to tooth-and-claw capitalism and authoritarian right-wing governments across so much of Europe.
There are two central recommendations here that our Group fully support.
Firstly, that states adopt an integrated approach that takes into consideration environmental concerns, along with economic, social and cultural development. And second, that intergenerational equity must be a guiding principle in any decision making involving children and youth and the generations that will inherit the Earth.
From our perspective, the implications of these recommendations are that Europe cannot continue to be dominated by an adherence to market-led neoliberal policies, which always put the needs of the markets and the few before the needs of the many and in recent years has become a key driver to war and conflict across our world.
One of the key progress points in the Reykjavík Declaration was the recognition of the need to move forward in safeguarding human rights for future generations. The rapporteur highlights Resolution 2545 from last year "Mainstreaming the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment with the Reykjavik process". This Resolution takes on added importance in the context of the recent European election results and the very real danger of a row back on the new Green Deal which has taken so much time to construct.
The rapporteur also rightly highlights the woeful failure to date to achieve the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals alongside growing socio-economic inequalities, public health emergencies as well as war and conflicts.
We do indeed need reinvigorated multilateralism but also a realisation that our adherence to a capitalist economic model is entirely at the heart of current failures regarding future generations and an ever-less regulated economic model based on greed is leading the entire world to disaster.
Before I finish, I do want to respond briefly to Lord David BLENCATHRA's comments. I have to say that in a week when the UK government has submitted an illegal argument that the International Criminal Court should only have jurisdiction over Hamas and not the Israeli government in order to protect Israeli war criminals, I honestly don't think he's in the position to offer lectures on human rights to anyone in this Chamber.
Well done to the rapporteur. It's good to finish on a positive note this week.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:23:24
Thank you, Mister Paul GAVAN.
For the Socialist Group, I give the floor to Ms Edite ESTRELA.
You have the floor.
Portugal, SOC, Porte-parole du groupe
10:23:34
Thank you, Mister Chairman.
Dear colleagues,
It is my duty, and I do so with pleasure and friendship, to underline the enthusiasm and competence of Mr Pedro CEGONHO in the preparation of this report. I would also like to thank Mr Simon MOUTQUIN for presenting the report.
The rapporteur of this important report is not present as he would like and deserves to be. We all know that political life is unfair and doesn't always reward the best. This is the confusion and perplexity of the world, as described by the great Portuguese poet Luís de Camões.
Thank you, Pedro. You are absent, but you will not be forgotten.
Dear colleagues,
In an ever-changing world, it is imperative to think about the future and ensure that future generations can enjoy the same rights and freedoms as we do. These rights include the right to a clean and healthy environment, to education, to justice, and to participation in the decisions that affect their future. The effects of climate change compromise fundamental rights such as the right to health, clean water and a healthy environment.
It is essential to take drastic measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energies. The right to a healthy environment must be given concrete form, notably through the adoption of an Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, as called for by our Assembly. As the rapporteur points out, the courts are increasingly strengthening the protection of future generations, particularly in cases concerning the environment and nuclear testing.
On the other hand, the rapid evolution of technology raises questions about privacy, data security, and the ethics of artificial intelligence. It is essential to create regulations that protect digital rights, while encouraging responsible innovation.
Because we're talking about the future, new generations must not only take part in debates, but also in political decision making. For example, why not create platforms where young people can express their concerns and propose solutions?
In conclusion, safeguarding the human rights of future generations is a collective responsibility that requires immediate and concerted action. As parliamentarians, we have a duty to legislate and implement policies that will protect the rights of our children and future generations.
Many thanks to all of you.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:27:00
Thank you.
I now give the floor, on behalf of the Group of the European People's Party, to Mr Gonzalo ROBLES.
Espagne, PPE/DC, Porte-parole du groupe
10:27:07
Thank you very much, Mister President.
First of all I would like to thank you for this opportunity.
By virtue of this report we can discuss one of the most burning issues: climate change and the rights of future generations.
We also need to talk about consolidated rights and the ongoing work.
We belong to a generation. We should remember it was our forefathers who worked to establish these rights: socio-economic rights, cultural rights, human rights, gender rights, which are now a reality, but entailed a great deal of work.
That is why it is a challenge for present day generations.
There is a clear challenge to us all to fight against climate change, to fight for the environment, and make sure we have a sustainable environment to hand down to our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and generations to come. The pace of destruction and change is alarming.
In the light of everything that is being said, it is important that we realise that the challenge of climate change and the environment is at the heart of everything we do for a sustainable world. Therefore, we have to look at our lifestyles and whether they are sustainable.
That is why we have to work both for and with younger generations. We have to realise that they are amongst us now and that it is up to them to work towards a better world and a better future.
Everything that contributes to global warming, such as waste, plastics, and life, affects all of us. Because when we eat fish these days, we are ingesting micro-plastics. That is going to have a very harmful effect on our health and cause all types of new diseases.
Then, of course, we have migratory flows, people who are quite simply forced to leave their homes because there is no water, because of climate change. That causes all kinds of social repercussions.
Climate change, ingesting plastics, migratory flows, all kinds of challenges that we have to face up to.
This report is designed to beef up our leadership, make sure that globally we work both with and for future generations. This is the challenge that faces us, and we need to realise that all of these problems are going to affect future generations, so we shouldn't be selfish and do nothing, contemplate nothing without being mindful of the effects they will likely have on future generations.
Climate change, air quality, health, desertification, microplastics are right now the challenge in the fight for a world, a planet, and we have no other and which is a wonderful and imperfect world, which is respect for creation. It should be our and future generations' goal.
Once again, thanks to the rapporteur.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:30:14
Thank you, Sir.
We have now heard the speakers on behalf of the political groups.
We'll now take the list of speakers, starting with Mr Yunus EMRE from Türkiye.
Thank you, Mister President.
Dear Colleagues,
First of all, I would like to extend my gratitude to the rapporteur for his insightful report.
In today’s world, humanity faces a multitude of complex threats like climate change, geopolitical conflict, the erosion of democracy and human rights, rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, poverty, exclusion, and discrimination. It is crucial to understand that our current actions and policies have profound implications for the fundamental rights of those who will be born decades, and even centuries, into the future. The actions of present generations inevitably impact future generations.
Today, the failure to ensure fundamental rights for future generations is shaping the future as a major problem. Therefore, the risk of facing serious difficulties in issues such as the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for future generations, effective democracy, and respect for human rights increases.
Individuals, states, and the international community must recognise their responsibility to address current global challenges in an environment of increased international co-operation. We must also create the necessary conditions to ensure that the needs and interests of future generations are not put at risk by the policies and actions of the current generation.
As a first condition, we must accept the universality of human rights norms for future generations as well. That is, human rights must apply equally to all people, regardless of place and time.
In addition, individual States and the international community as a whole must respect, protect and fulfil their obligations to future generations. These obligations include preventing threats to fundamental rights, protecting natural ecosystems, taking steps to minimise the negative effects of climate change, preventing the erosion of democracy, preserving peace, and ensuring sustainable development.
The multiple and interconnected crises facing the world today threaten the rights of both present and future generations. Therefore, states must adopt an integrated approach that takes into account environmental challenges as well as economic, political, social, and cultural policies.
Even though a perfect world does not exist, we can work for a better future.
Thank you very much.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:33:29
Thank you, Sir.
It's now Ms Agnes Sirkka PRAMMER's turn, from Austria.
You have 3 minutes.
Thank you very much, Mister Chairman.
This report, in its brevity, clearly expresses the principle of what we all stand for here, namely that human rights apply universally to everyone and at all times. This clearly means that we must also preserve for the generations of our future everything that we have now and that seems important to us now, because this is the only way we can ensure that they too can lead a life in peace and security.
Anyone who, like one of the previous speakers, denies that it is important to deal with this issue and that we actually have more important issues to talk about now has not understood the principle, the principle of universally applicable human rights. It is of immense importance that we deal with the problem in the future now.
Human rights cannot be weighed against each other, and we cannot say that because we have problems now, we ignore the problems we create for the future. It is important that we preserve all these rights that we enjoy now for our future generations. To do this, it is essential that we keep this planet worth living on, that we preserve it in all its diversity and that we also ensure that future generations have healthy food to eat, clean water to drink, and clean air to breathe, because only this makes the basis of life possible. This is the only way you, too, can live in peace and freedom. Only in this way can you continue to fight and stand up for the protection of human rights – your own and those of future generations. For those who live in poverty, who have no way of making a living, who live in an environment that has been destroyed, where food no longer grows, where there is no water to drink, they truly have other concerns than looking after the rights of their neighbour, because they only care about themselves. Where people only care about themselves, that's where human rights are lost.
That is why it is now our task to ensure that these foundations are not destroyed. If we keep our planet healthy now, if we ensure now that future generations can live in an intact environment, in an intact ecosystem, but also in an intact, legal, democratic system, only then will we really ensure that future generations can also live in freedom, security, and health. Only we can do this, because we create the rules, we create the systems within which people work, within which people live and within which people can protect and make use of their rights.
The European Court of Human Rights has already understood this. It is time for everyone here to understand it too. I am pleased that there is a very, very large consensus here that this must be our greatest task, because this is the only way we can preserve the opportunities we have now for our future generations.
Thank you very much.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:36:45
Thank you, Madam.
I now give the floor to Mr Pavlo BAKUNETS, from Ukraine.
Mister Chairman,
Dear rapporteurs,
Dear members of the Assembly,
It's a great honour for me to be here in this symbolic place where the highest values – democracy and the rule of law – are appreciated. And it's very beautiful to think about future generations under peaceful skies in Europe. I want to underline, it's a great blessing that most European countries today are living in peace and care about future generations.
I absolutely agree with the rapporteur that the future of the next generations will depend on the decisions of politicians today. And it's very good if people who make decisions at the highest level are guided by the rule of law, principles of democracy and international law of common sense.
Unfortunately, not all leaders are like that. There are dictators and terrorists living next to us who want to create a totalitarian empire, who commit genocide against entire nations. I'm talking about Russia and its desire to destroy Ukraine, to destroy life in Ukraine.
To conclude, it's a great happiness that most European countries live in peace today. It's the result of the work of the brave Ukrainian army, which stopped Russia's invasion of Europe in Eastern Ukraine. It's also the result of large-scale support for Ukraine from all of your countries, from all different partners, from the United States, from Canada, from every one of you. Thank you.
And if Europe wants to have future generations in peace and the values of democracy and the rule of law, Europe should be united, Europe must support Ukraine. We appreciate your support. Thank you for your support, dear partners – every one of you.
And thank you, Mister Rapporteur, for this report.
Thank you very much.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:39:25
Thank you, Sir.
I now give the floor to Ms Luz MARTINEZ SEIJO, from Spain.
Madam MARTINEZ SEIJO, you have the floor.
Thank you, Mr President.
First of all I would like to commend all the work done by our rapporteurs that really leads us to think in an age in which a wave of extremism threatens to wipe out everything that we have achieved in recent decades in Europe, a continent whose hallmark is the defence of human rights, particularly this institution, the first created in the wake of the Second World War to defend human rights.
Now, repeatedly, debates have shown that there is rejection of migrants, an attempt to scale back the rights of women, negation of climate change, ultra-liberalism which threatens the welfare state and therefore the provision of basic services such as education, health, social services, the harassment of the LGTBI community, and other attacks on rights without forgetting the hate speech and violence which have come increasingly to dominate our lives via social media.
That is why we need the kind of Europe that is governed by the principles of human rights. Let this be our identity. This means that we have to throw the brakes on all of these extremisms. That is why we, as Council of Europe member states, need to enact legislation to consolidate these rights in our respective constitutions, and implement this legislation, without forgetting that new technologies involve new rights, new risks and therefore will require new legislation.
This report focuses on the need to protect our planet as well as our environment, to hand down a healthy world as an inheritance. It is quite clear that climate change is affecting all of our countries, some more than others. In Spain, for example, we have far more widespread and longer heatwaves as well as less rainfall, less snow, and increasing desertification.
It is clear, therefore, that we must protect this right and leave to future generations a positive inheritance, and not simply debt, which is generated by an ultra-liberal system. Above all, we must guarantee them an inheritance of a welfare state: rights to education, health and culture. We need to armour plate basic rights in a charter of human rights which can never be allowed to disappear as these rights are protection for the future of society.
We need to involve young people in order to protect human rights. We need to improve their education to include human rights education, because these rights are the guarantee of dignity and a future in peace and equity. Education on civic spirit, values, sustainable education. Education isn't a silver bullet, far from it, but it helps a lot of course but requires social committent.
Finally, also the right to freedom of expression but we need to be mindful that misuses of this rise causes populism, violence, disenchantment with politics. Something we are seeing in the fact that more and more people, including many young people, are unwilling to participate. This is a serious risk for democracy.
I would like to end mentioning three basic concepts which I think sum up my message to you:
That is, we should protect young people with good education, political determination and the necessary protection.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:43:04
Thank you very much, Madam.
I now give the floor to Mr Mustafa CANBEY, from Türkiye.
You have the floor.
Dear President,
Dear colleagues,
I would like to thank the rapporteur for his report, highlighting important points concerning safeguarding human rights for future generations.
Firstly, I would like to talk to you about climate change because it is an issue that affects the lives of not only today but also future generations. The future of our children, grandchildren, and all of humanity is shaped by the decisions that we make today.
Today, climate change poses a serious threat worldwide. Increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are causing rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and damage to natural life.
However, despite this dark picture, I believe that we need to take solution-oriented steps instead of despairing. This is where renewable energy comes into play.
Renewable energy sources are derived from natural resources such as sun, wind, water, and biomass. These resources are unlimited and do not harm the environment.
In the context of renewable energy, Türkiye is an important example with eco-friendly policies among European countries. As Türkiye, we have increased the share of our renewable energy capacity in total installed capacity to 55%.
In this context, our country ranks 12th in the world and 5th in Europe. We rank first in Europe in geothermal installed capacity and second in Europe in hydroelectric power plant installed capacity.
Thanks to the steps we have taken in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 90 million tons of carbon have been prevented annually.
Finally, a transformation towards renewable energy is needed to tackle climate change and build a sustainable future. We must all play a role in this transformation and act together.
Thank you.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:45:46
Thank you, Sir.
Now it's the turn of Mr José María SÁNCHEZ GARCÍA, from Spain.
I don't think he's here.
We'll now go to Ms Jennifer O'CONNELL for Canada.
You have the floor, Madam.
Honourable colleagues,
I would first like to thank the rapporteur for this excellent and very important report and for those who have prioritised this issue here at the Council.
As he points out in the report, the climate crisis is the biggest existential threat facing human kind, and he states “human rights and the environment are intertwined.”
In Canada, we recognise as well “the importance of understanding the links between climate change and human rights.” Particularly given that climate change can “create competition and conflict over basic resources, leading to scarcity-driven human migration.”
As a fundamental element of human rights, we believe that, “Everyone should have a healthy, clean, and sustainable environment.” Just as this Assembly has reminded us.
In this regard, in June 2023, Canada recognised through our modernised Canadian Environmental Protection Act, that every individual in Canada has a right to a healthy environment.
On this, Canada’s Minister of Health has stated that developing an implementation framework for the right to a healthy environment “will have great impacts on generations to come.”
As we have seen more intense and frequent forest fires in Canada as one example, we are also seeing the direct and long-term health impacts due to poor air quality as a result of climate events.
In addition, as rightly mentioned by the rapporteur, “the policy decisions that we take today will have long-lasting impacts on future generations and their human rights fulfilment.”
This report also raises the socio-economic risk for future generations. I would argue that the economic burden faced by future generations will be significantly impacted due to climate change, because the cost of inaction will outweigh the investments necessary today to meaningfully address the climate crisis.
Communities across Canada and around the world understand the financial impacts they face when they have to rebuild and are displaced from fires or floods and when local economies are devastated when industries that support entire communities, like our fisheries, are at risk due to the impacts of climate change.
We cannot ignore the long-term economic impacts that climate change creates.
In closing, a reality I’d also like to mention briefly, which was not mentioned in the report, is that Indigenous, racialised, or other marginalised communities in future generations will be the most affected by climate change and by the insidious phenomenon of environmental racism.
We are on the verge of passing a bill in Canada for the development of a national strategy to assess, prevent, and address environmental racism and to advance environmental justice, that will contribute to a healthier and, above all, fairer environment for future generations.
Thank you.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:49:01
Thank you very much, Madame.
And now, most certainly in French, where she's making great progress, Ms Anna-Kristiina MIKKONEN from Finland.
Thank you, Mister Chairman.
Dear colleagues,
Today's political decisions will have a lasting impact on future generations and respect for their human rights. Intergenerational equity must be a guiding principle in all decisions involving children and young people, and the generations who will inherit the planet. We need an integrated approach that takes account of environmental concerns as well as economic, social and cultural development. A sustainable world doesn't just mean meeting the needs of the present generation. It must also ensure that future generations can meet their needs too.
The world is currently facing multiple, overlapping crises that threaten the lives, livelihoods, and rights of current and future generations. The climate crisis has been identified as the greatest existential emergency, but we must not overlook other important risks to the rights of future generations, such as growing socio-economic inequalities, public health emergencies, wars and conflicts, and rapid technological advances, which add to concerns about intergenerational solidarity and justice.
It is internationally recognised that current generations have a responsibility to halt and prevent developments that could threaten the survival of future generations. We, the political decision makers, are responsible for improving collective well-being for the benefit of present and future generations.
We politicians must take into account the children and young people, as well as the unborn generations, who will inherit the world after us. In the Finnish Parliament, there's a statue by Wäinö Aaltonen where a woman looks at us, the decision makers, with a little baby in her arms, and reminds us that we make decisions for her. Let's remember this in everything we do.
Thank you for your attention.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:52:11
Thank you very much and, once again, bravo for your French.
We'll now go to Ms Olena MOSHENETS, from Ukraine.
You have the floor, Madam.
Thank you.
Dear colleagues,
We thank you for addressing a critical, important and relevant topic to ensure that there will be future generations.
Today, Ukraine marks its Constitution Day. This document aims to establish a fair and peaceful life for Ukraine and its people. It's symbolic that we talk about future generations on such a day.
Striving to provide a decent life for its future generations, Ukraine is resisting the Russian aggression which is depriving millions of children of their right to social protection, education, a healthy environment and life.
Since February 2022, 550 Ukrainian children have been killed. Serhii from Zaporizhzhia became the youngest casualty of this war. His life was cut short after just two days by a Russian missile. Our children experience traumatic events and stress, which have a psychological impact on their future well-being. They are left with no choice but to stay in bomb shelters during air raids which negatively impacts their lives.
Since the start of the full-scale war, more than 5 000 cases of environmental damage have been recorded – estimated at more than €57 million. While fires across 4% of Ukraine's territory are destroying natural carbon sinks making it so much more difficult for our children to adapt to the outcomes of climate change. In addition, 70% of freshwater tanks was lost as a result of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant explosion and people in up to 80 settlements lost their homes, jobs and essential services like kindergartens and schools.
The list goes on and on. Urgent action is imperative. Ecological safety is the eighth point of President Zelenkyy's peace formula which calls on the international community to hold Russia accountable for environmental damage as well as to restore and reconstruct, including demining.
Therefore, we are sincerely grateful for the launch of the international Register of Damage. This truly historic event may become a precedent for the entire world in tackling environmental damage.
We call upon the global community to join this important initiative. This only shows the solidarity of the free and democratic world that the Ukrainians can receive fair compensation for the way they were forced into war.
We support the resolution and repeat the need to improve existing standards to protect the rights of future generations and ensure the proper functioning of environmental human rights.
Thank you.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:55:25
Thank you, Madame.
It's now Ms Petra BAYR's turn, for Austria.
Thank you very much, Mr President,
Mr Simon MOUTQUIN quite rightly mentioned in his introduction that the Council of Europe is part of a larger multilateral system. And I would like to mention the United Nations in two different ways.
Firstly, you probably know that the Summit of the Future will take place in New York in September this year, which of course also has future generations specifically in mind in the document that has been presented so far. And what I found very interesting is that future generations are definitely not understood as young people. We must always bear in mind that future generations naturally also include older people. And I found this train of thought – which I actually found expressed there for the first time in this clarity – very helpful, because there will be more and more older people. So we must also consider them in the future and safeguard their living conditions and human rights.
The second process underway at UN level is the Sustainable Development Goals – a guide to how we as nations, as the world's grandchildren, can develop in a fit way, how we can live in the future in such a way that a liveable environment and a decent life are possible for future generations. And since these cannot be implemented at international and national level, it is particularly important at national level to ensure that we are aware of the current indicators that are important and consider them internationally – in other words, what is the impact that we are having with our laws and budgets on these 169 Sustainable Development Goals.
And it is precisely for this reason that the Austrian National Council made a very wise decision 15 months ago, in my opinion, to carry out an impact assessment for new legislative proposals, but also for our budgets, and to see what effect this has on the SDGs, where there may be conflicts between individual measures and how to deal with these conflicts.
And despite this very wise decision by the National Council and the request by Minister Brunner to do this, he has done exactly nothing - for 15 months. He now wants to become an EU Commissioner. And I think he will have to face two questions from the EU Parliament. Firstly, why is he ignoring parliaments? Why is he ignoring parliamentary resolutions? And secondly, how is it possible that a finance minister – in this case in a very central position for sustainability for future generations – can make such a policy ignoring the future and simply completely ignore important issues such as the SDGs and sweep them under the carpet for 15 months?
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
10:58:39
Thank you, Madame.
I now give the floor to a great speaker from the United Kingdom, Lord Leslie GRIFFITHS.
The great speaker stands up to present himself at the height of the introduction, but he's going to speak in Shakespeare's language. Is that all right?
I'm most grateful for the report, most grateful for tracing initiatives that seem to have the objectives set in mind.
Earlier in our debates, from Spain, we heard about a law on memory. We must learn from the past. I want to speak about a law that already exists, and it comes from my own little country, that very rarely gets mentioned in this august Assembly, namely Wales.
It passed an act of parliament in 2015 entitled the "Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act" and is already doing what most people who spoke here thus far have pointed to and suggested.
It sets out a process. There are regular stakeholder gatherings, including young people and anyone else who's committed to the programme going forward, to evaluate all legislation passed in the Welsh Parliament against the criterion of enhancing the well-being of future generations.
It has established a continuous learning and improvement system. From time to time, paths of the way forward are set aside and looked at and evaluated, and I have with me indeed the continuous learning and improvement plan for the period 2023 to 2025, where we can look at whether the government has done what it said it was going to do. We can address government ministers about the need to do better if necessary.
Under these procedures, a future generations commissioner, a kind of ombudsman, has been appointed whose task it is to monitor all developments in this field.
Now, I believe this is a framework. It's flexible. It can include and indeed does include all the themes and the subjects and the goals that we have been talking about.
It avoids what I call the shopping-list approach to compiling a convention where we've left something out so we must put it in, we've forgotten the salt, let's add it to the list, and so on and so forth, and gives us the liberty to enrich the fields of consideration as time passes.
I think this is worth mentioning. I would say to Ms Petra BAYR that if she goes to the United Nations Assembly, as she suggested, that she takes an example of this with her and tells them that it is already being done.
I quote just one sentence to conclude from the report in my hand.
"The Well-being of Future Generations continuous learning and improvement plan is a reminder that continuous learning and improvement are part of a journey that requires commitment, deliberate effort, and sustained leadership to succeed. Through this process and the annual updates, we have committed to provide, we are strengthening our sustainable working culture to deliver better outcomes for the people of Wales now and in the future."
So, as le dernier souffle de cette assemblée, let me say, not in French, not in English, but in Welsh "Cymraeg am byth!" ["Welsh forever!"]
I wish you well.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
11:03:08
Thank you, Lord GRIFFITHS.
I now give the floor to Mr Don DAVIES, from Canada.
You have the floor.
Dear colleagues,
Earlier this month, on World Environment Day, the United Nations Secretary-General spoke about the climate crisis, emphasising that now “is our moment of truth;” that “tomorrow it will be too late.”
Echoing that call to action, I’d like to pay tribute to the rapporteur’s work, which highlights the need to question what kind of environment we’re leaving future generations, and above all, how we can protect them today so that they can have a greener tomorrow.
The climate crisis is an existential issue of the highest order. As pointed out by the rapporteur, the last decade has seen an explosion of climate change litigation around the world. Canada is no exception. Several climate change-related challenges have been brought before Canadian provincial and federal courts in recent years. However, few of them have explicitly targeted the protection of future generations, which is the aim of this report.
In this respect, rapporteur Mr Pedro CEGONHO raises a very interesting question: “how to go beyond the anthropocentric nature of human rights” and “rethink the approach that centres on individual rights.”
Recently, in Canada, in what is known as the La Rose case, 15 children and youth between the ages of 10 and 19 submitted a novel and interesting claim against the Government of Canada that could challenge how we understand the fundamentally anthropocentric nature of human rights.
They argued that Canada breached its obligations originating from a “public trust doctrine,” which they described as Canada’s “duty to preserve and protect inherently public resources – bodies of water, the air, and the permafrost – so that current and future generations may access, use, and enjoy these resources.”
In other words, through different laws and policies, they argued that the Government of Canada had failed to exercise supervision over these resources, but also “to protect the public rights to their use and enjoyment and to ensure their integrity for future generations.”
Although the trial judges concluded that the “public trust doctrine” was not yet justiciable in Canada, because it was not yet recognised by Canadian law, I am of the opinion that it could in some respects present an alternative to the traditional way that we look at human rights.
This doctrine invites us to rethink legal avenues to protect those who are not yet with us, human integrity and the integrity of ecosystems. But more than rethink legal avenues, I believe that now a paradigm shift is necessary.
There is a famous concept from Canada's indigenous people, who say that we must think of the impact of our actions today on seven generations from now. This is wise.
Dear colleagues, we’ll need to be more creative, because right now, across the globe, intergenerational injustice is real, especially when it comes to climate change.
I look forward to getting together and to hear more of your perspectives on this issue, including what we can do as legislators to ensure justice for all who are here today, and all species and ecosystems and future generations in our planet tomorrow.
Thank you, colleagues.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
11:06:35
Thank you for your attention.
As last speaker, I call on Mr José María SÁNCHEZ GARCÍA from Spain.
Thank you, Mister President.
I'm surprised to see that in this session, speaking to this debate, and about this report, the European far-left should bring up human rights, and their violation under certain political regimes, when until 1989, as far as I'm aware, human rights were being violated in Eastern Europe, under far-left governments. And in Western Europe subversive far-left terorism also violated human rights, and those rights continue to beviolated in other parts of the world, such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and North Korea, and so on. I don't need to explain this reality to you.
So I really don't think the far left have any right to be making those sort of moral lectures here in this Assembly. And not just the far left: in Spain, as you know, the Socialist Party is in government in coalition with the extreme left.
So you should keep your comments on this matter to a minimum, because you are not the greatest authority on how to do it correctly.
Having said that, when it comes to the report in itself, actually, there is one fundamental error at the heart of it.
That is that neither this Assembly, the European Parliament, national parliaments, nor even the European Court of Human Rights can create new human rights. This is a dogmatic mistake, from a legal point of view. .
Whoever says they can, either hasn't studied law or hasn't made a good study of it. National legislatures can create rights, but not fundamental rights, which they can only recognise. Because those fundamental rights pre-exist, pre-date anything legislation can do.
On 9 April 2024, the European Court of Justice erred. Because it wanted to create a fundamental right but, because it knows it can't, it dishonestly decreed that the right to the environment actually forms part, is one of the powers, of the right to a private life, invoking Article 8 of the Convention.
This, as I say, is subterfuge. Because they know that they cannot do what they were asked to do by those who appealed against it. So it is in the wake of this legal error where we see the aim of expanding so-called environmental rights. Yes, they may be rights, of course they may, but they are not fundamental rights on a par with recognised rights. They are not created, rather, they are recognised and they are there, prior to the European Convention on Human Rights, that dates back to 1950. And in all other international or national conventions on fundamental rights.
If that were not the case, then the only conclusion to be drawn would be that, prior to the judgment, there would have been constant violations of fundamental environmental rights all throughout Europe. And of course, no-one is going to accept that.
All that remains for me to say is thank you very much, indeed, President, for having allowed me to speak last.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
11:10:21
Thank you for your attention.
That concludes the list of speakers.
I call for the Commission's reply.
Mister MOUTQUIN, you have 3 minutes to reply to the speakers.
Belgique, SOC, au nom de la commission des questions sociales, de la santé et du développement durable.
11:10:34
Thank you, Mister Chairman.
First of all, I'd like to thank you on behalf of my colleague Mr Pedro CEGONHO. I'll pass on to him all your applause, your thanks, all the passages that have highlighted his immense work.
I'd also like to thank Ms Edite ESTRELA for reminding us that Mr Pedro CEGONHO is one of those people who are missing in politics, a fine person whom the world should have much more of. In any case, I'll pass on your comments to him.
Let me come back to a few comments.
Madam Agnes Sirkka PRAMMER, you were right to point out the universality of rights, especially in response to a rather off-the-wall intervention comparing today's rights with tomorrow's rights, which I won't comment on because you did it very well.
Mister Gonzalo ROBLES, you spoke of reviewing our lifestyle, while Mr Paul GAVAN spoke of the capitalist system as a source of inequality and danger for future generations.
I would like to highlight the excellent contributions of our Canadian colleagues. Thank you for being here, thank you. Your speeches demonstrate the usefulness of our joint work.
Madam, you talked about environmental racism, and that's exactly something we need to emphasise. Climate disruption is going to affect the vulnerable, be they indigenous peoples, women, children or people in precarious situations. Let's not forget they will be the first victims of climate change, and they already are today.
Mister Don DAVIES, you spoke of the limits of this anthropocentric vision, and I think you're absolutely right. It's quite astonishing because, in the end, your two speeches are complementary, since the first peoples, the indigenous peoples, are ultimately the ones who are thinking about this ecocentric question of the right to the environment. Human beings don't protect the planet for themselves, but for the planet itself, and I think it was very interesting to hear what you had to say.
Mister SÁNCHEZ GARCÍA, I'd like to thank you, firstly because you remind me of a Belgian king, Leopold II – it must be the beard – but also because your speeches reminded me of the meaning of politics. We're so contradictory, so opposed to each other that whatever my future holds, I know I'll have to keep fighting, especially against the ideas you put forward in this House. I would like to remind you of one thing. In our democracy, as you may not be familiar with, we have what is known as the separation of powers. When you judge an opinion of the European Court of Human Rights, you are, as a politician, judging the body called "the judiciary". Our role is to make laws, not to judge the judgments of people who are part of the judicial world.
I'd like to tell you that I've met a lot of ambassadors. I've met a lot of ministers. I've met the Pope during these five years, but the most striking encounter was the meeting with these young people from Bagnolet a few days ago, these young people whom we first met in Bagnolet and to whom we thought we could explain the right to the environment, our ideas on food. In fact, by listening to these young people, we learned a lot. These young people were much more knowledgeable than we were about environmental or food issues, and I think that was a very valuable lesson they taught us. Finally, young people also have something to say about their future.
I'm going to take another few seconds, Mister Chairman, if you'll excuse me, to thank you, because this was probably my last speech during the Assembly. I think I've had the best time of my five years here at the Assembly.
Finally, I'd like to thank all the people who bring this Assembly to life. I'd like to thank the interpreters, the photographers, the floor technicians who work so hard to make our Assembly so beautiful. I'd like to thank the security guards, and, of course, I'd like to thank you, dear colleagues. I'd like to thank this incredible secretariat, these women who had the opportunity to accompany me for a few months, who really do an incredible job. I'd like to thank the invisible people for whom I've wanted to work for years, the people we forget, the people whose voice we must speak out for.
Then I'd like to thank you, dear colleagues. I think our exchanges have been fascinating.
This work at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is not sufficiently well known, your work is not sufficiently well-known. You do a wonderful job, so thank you for that.
I'd like to end with a phrase I was told the day after my election defeat.
"You don't get involved in politics because you have something to gain. You get involved because you owe it to future generations, to these women, to these young people. That's the meaning of our commitment. It's not our ego; it's those we serve as politicians."
Thank you very much.
Suisse, SOC, Président de l'Assemblée
11:15:12
Thank you, Mister MOUTQUIN.
I now give the floor to Ms Larysa BILOZIR, who I believe will speak on behalf of the Committee.
You have 3 minutes, Madam.
Ukraine, ADLE, au nom de la Comission
11:15:26
Dear colleagues,
The Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development examined the report on "Safeguarding human rights for future generations" on 3 June in Paris and many members welcomed and underlined that the policy decisions we take today will have a long-term impact on future generations. Yesterday the Committee unanimously accepted all four amendments to the report.
I wish to thank the rapporteur Mr Pedro CEGONHO, who is absent today, and thank the present rapporteur Mr Simon MOUTQUIN for his excellent presentation, and all of you that even on Friday participated in this very important debate.
One of the outcomes of the Fourth Summit of the Council of Europe was the Reykjavík Declaration that affirmed that human rights and the environment are intertwined.
This Assembly is called today to emphasise the crucial responsibility of today's political leaders to protect the rights and well-being of present and future generations.
The world today must deal with multiple crises, wars and conflicts that threaten human lives and rights, and unfortunately we have to deal with Russia as an aggressor that uses nuclear blackmailing constantly. Yesterday the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that the radiation monitoring station, or the biggest in Europe the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station that is occupied by Russia, was destroyed by shelling. And in the future such incident can lead to a real disaster for future and present generation as the largest in Europe nuclear power plant has been turned into a military base.
The climate crisis has also been identified in this report as one of the biggest existential problems facing human kind. But we must not overlook other significant risks to the human rights, such as growing social economic inequalities, increased risk of poverty, public health emergencies, rapid technological advances, and of course wars and conflicts.
The environment has no boundaries. What happens in Ukraine caused by the war, agression affects the whole world. Therefore it is important to criminalise the crime of ecocide.
The terrorist Russian attack on the Kakhovka hydropower plant became an unprecedented example of ecocide. Tens of people and hundreds of thousands of animals died. Elimination of the consequences of flooding will take decades for future generations.
Nature should not be a silent witness and victim of the war. Parliamentary diplomacy is a powerful force. I'm sure that together we will succeed at a parliamentary level in implementing a number of proposals of this report to protect human rights to a clean and safe environment for present and future generations.
Thank you, colleagues, for your attention.
Grèce, PPE/DC, Président de l'Assemblée
11:18:42
Thank you.
I understand that the Chairperson of the Committee wishes to propose to the Assembly that Amendments 1, 2, 3 and 4 to the draft Resolution which were unanimously approved be declared as approved.
Is that so, Mr Simon MOUTQUIN?
Ukraine, ADLE, au nom de la Comission
11:19:00
Yes.
Grèce, PPE/DC, Président de l'Assemblée
11:19:01
OK, yes.
If no one objects, I will consider the Amendments to be approved.
Is there any objection? No objection.
We will now proceed to vote on the draft resolution as amended contained in Document 15999.
The vote is open.
Don't be in a hurry, Mister Pierre-Alain FRIDEZ, you will have time. I'm not going to close the vote yet. We can see that you have been injured. We wish you all the best.
The vote is closed.
I call for the result to be displayed.
The draft resolution as amended in Document 15999 is adopted.
Grèce, PPE/DC, Président de l'Assemblée
11:20:21
The next item on today's agenda is the continuation of the debate on the progress report of the Bureau and the Standing Committee, Document 16007, Addendum 3.
At its meeting this morning the Bureau has proposed several references to committees as set out in Document 16007, Addendum 3.
These references must be submitted for ratification by the Assembly in accordance with Rule 26.3.
Are there any objections to these references?
No objections.
The references are approved.
I now propose that the other decisions in the progress report, Document 16007, Addendum 3, be ratified.
Are there any objections?
No objections.
The progress report is approved.
Dear colleagues, we have now come to the end of our business. I would like to thank all members of the Assembly, particularly rapporteurs of committees, for their hard work during this part-session.
I would like to thank the vice presidents who chaired during this part-session, namely: Ms Bernadeta COMA, Mr Pierre-Alain FRIDEZ, Ms Elisabetta GARDINI, Ms Olena KHOMENKO, Mr Armin LASCHET, Mr Marco NICOLINI, Ms Snježana NOVAKOVIĆ BURSAĆ, Ms Tamara VONTA, Mr Markus WIECHEL.
I would also like to thank the staff and interpreters, both permanent and temporary, who have worked hard to make the part-session a success.
The fourth part-session of the 2024 session will be held from 30 September to 4 October 2024.
Now, I declare the third 2024 part-session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe closed.
The sitting is closed.
Thank you.
