Effectiveness of the Court raised during discussions in Bern
[20/11/2009]In their addresses at the opening of PACE Standing Committee today in Bern, Chiara Simoneschi-Cortesi, President of the National Council of the Swiss Confederation and Micheline Calmy-Rey, Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Foreign Affairs Department, recalled the major contribution of the Council of Europe and its Assembly to peace and progress in Europe. Further efforts must be made to guarantee the long-term effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights and specifically of individual petitions, they stressed. (more..)
[20/11/2009]Irrespective of her origin or background, any victim of gender-based violence residing in Europe must be able to receive protection and rehabilitation, said PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig, in a statement issued ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. "In this context, the Assembly forcefully and resolutely perseveres with its commitment to promote the drafting of the future Council of Europe convention to prevent and combat violence against women, including domestic violence," he said.
PACE President reacts to Russian Constitutional Court decision on death penalty
[19/11/2009]“This is good news – and another step in the right direction,” said PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig, reacting to today’s decision by Russia’s Constitutional Court concerning the death penalty. “However Russia promised, when it joined the Council of Europe thirteen years ago, to abolish the death penalty in law and ratify Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights. It remains the only Council of Europe country which has not done so.”(more..)
President
Lluís Maria de Puig congratulates new EU President and Foreign Affairs Chief
[20/11/2009]PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig has written to the new President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and the new EU Foreign Affairs High Representative Baroness Ashton to congratulate them on their election. In his letters, he stressed the “common aim” of the two bodies, the EU and the Council of Europe, to create a stronger European identity, built around common values, and invited them to address the Assembly soon.
Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights: PACE rapporteur to visit Italy
[20/11/2009]Christos Pourgourides (Cyprus, EPP/CD), rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of PACE, will make a fact-finding visit to Rome on 23 and 24 November as part of the preparation of his report on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
This is the third, after Bulgaria and Ukraine, in a series of visits intended to bring parliamentary pressure to bear on states where the execution of the Court’s judgments meets with delays or difficulties.(more..)
[19/11/2009]PACE President, Lluís Maria de Puig, will be making an official visit to Hungary from 23 to 25 November. He is scheduled to hold meetings with President László Sólyom, the Speaker of the National Assembly Béla Katona, Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, the State Secretary in the Foreign Ministry Vilmos Szabó, and with the State Secretary, Head of the Foreign Affairs’ Office Péter Sárdi.(more..)
Election observation
PACE delegation makes pre-electoral visit to Ukraine
[20/11/2009]An eight-member, cross-party delegation from PACE, led by Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE), will carry out a pre-electoral mission to Kyiv on 24-26 November, ahead of the presidential election in Ukraine on 17 January 2010, to assess the electoral framework and campaign so far. The delegation intends to meet candidates, including Volodymyr Lytvyn, Yuliya Tymoshenko, Viktor Yanukovich and Viktor Yushchenko. It will also meet the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, election officials and representatives of civil society and the media.(more..)
Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Former PACE rapporteur calls for clarity over death in prison of Russian lawyer
[19/11/2009]Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Germany ALDE), the former Rapporteur on "politically-motivated abuses of the criminal justice system in Council of Europe member states", today expressed her dismay at the death in a remand prison in Moscow of the lawyer Sergey Magnitsky, who had defended Hermitage Investment/HSBC against fraudulent manoeuvres allegedly involving high Russian officials, as described in the report adopted by the Assembly in October 2009.(more..)
PACE hearing: which solutions for the forceful comeback of piracy?
[17/11/2009]“Over the past few years we have been witnessing a strong resurgence of piracy at sea, and European states are comparatively powerless to cope with the scale of this phenomenon,” Birgen Keles (Turkey, SOC) emphasised at a hearing held today in Brussels by the PACE Political Affairs Committee. “Military deterrence has had a definite impact in curbing attacks, but cannot be the sole solution to the problem of piracy,” she added. (more..)
