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'Courageous work in monitoring and bringing to light human rights abuses'
The panel praised the organisation’s “courageous and outstanding work in monitoring and bringing to light human rights abuses, and its fight against impunity in Northern Ireland”. The prize will be awarded at a ceremony in Strasbourg on the occasion of a special debate on “the state of human rights in Europe” during the Assembly’s summer plenary session (22-26 June 2009). (More) PACE President calls for access to water to be recognised as a basic human right
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Call for 'greater co-operation from authorities' Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), former rapporteur of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees in Europe, made a statement in Berlin to the Bundestag Committee of Inquiry responsible for investigating the possible involvement of the German authorities. (More)
Russia has made “measurable progress” in several areas in fulfilling its obligations to the Council of Europe, but this is “less important than we had hoped for and expected after a nearly five-year period”, especially on some key commitments, according to a new assessment by PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs. (More)
“The media have enormous potential to foster gender equality, but they tend to perpetuate negative portrayals of women, focusing for the most part on their physical or emotional attributes and confining them all too often to stereotypical roles”, said Doris Stump (Switzerland, SOC) at a hearing held in Paris by the PACE’s Equality Committee. (More)
“Following my visit to South Ossetia, I am greatly concerned by the humanitarian consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia, and the humanitarian scars left by the conflict,” said Corien Jonker, Chair of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), at the end of her two-day visit to the region on 13 and 14 March 2009. (More)
“An increasing number of scientific studies are showing the links that exist between certain pollutants and given types of illnesses, such as allergies, respiratory disorders, reproductive problems or diseases of the central nervous system,” said Jean Huss (Luxembourg, SOC), rapporteur of the PACE Committee of the Environment. (More)
With the crisis upon us, protection of social and economic rights has priority 'Social peace is sorely tried in all our countries by the current financial and economic crisis,' the Assembly President pointed out in Strasbourg when addressing the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. 'Closer co-ordination and greater solidarity among our member states are essential', he said. (More)
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British Irish Rights Watch has been selected as the winner of the first ever Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Human Rights Prize, which honours “outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights in Europe”. This independent non-governmental organisation has been monitoring the human rights dimension of the conflict in Northern Ireland, and latterly the peace process, since 1990. 
“Access to water should be recognised as a fundamental human right. A rights-based approach to water would be a very important means for civil society to hold their governments accountable for ensuring access to an adequate quantity of good quality water as well as sanitation,” said PACE President, Lluís Maria de Puig, speaking ahead of World Water Day on 22 March. 