PACE rapporteur calls on Thailand to end the death penalty
[30/07/2010]PACE’s rapporteur on the death penalty has called on Thailand to abolish capital punishment, where more than 70 per cent of death row prisoners face execution for drug-related offences. Speaking in Bangkok at a seminar on “Drugs and the death penalty”, Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) pointed out that drug-related cases were particularly prone to human error and manipulation, leading to miscarriages of justice. There was no evidence the threat of execution had any deterrent effect on drug trafficking, sales or usage, she said. Following two executions in Japan, she also welcomed the Japanese Justice Minister's call for a debate on the use of the death penalty in the country.(more..)
José Mendes Bota: Parliaments are key players in promoting gender equality and combating violence against women
[27/07/2010]“National parliaments are key players in promoting gender equality. Progress has been made, but much remains to be done. It is time to bridge the gap between de jure and de facto equality. Drafting and adopting laws is not enough. Parliamentarians should also be accountable for the implementation of the laws and responsible for controlling the effective implementation of the laws”, José Mendes Bota, Chairperson of PACE’s Committee on equal opportunities, today said in Beirut addressing the Regional Workshop for Arab Parliaments organised by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, the IPU, the Lebanese Parliament and the UNDP.
PACE President: 'The renewal of politics requires responsiveness, accountability and transparency'
[20/07/2010]“The renewal of politics requires greater responsiveness and accountability, as well as transparency, on the part of those who govern, and on the part of civil society actors who participate in the political debate,” said Mevlüt Çavusoglu, speaking today on the occasion of the 3rd World Conference of Speakers of Parliament organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva. The broad theme for the 2010 conference (the two previous ones were held in New York in 2000 and 2005 respectively) is “Parliaments in a world of crisis: securing global democratic accountability for the common good”.
Georgia: PACE rapporteurs welcome democratic developments but stress need for continued efforts to maintain public trust
[20/07/2010]Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC) and Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Georgia, have expressed their satisfaction with the positive political developments that have taken place following the recent local elections in Georgia. At the end of a five-day visit to Tbilisi (12-16 July 2010), the co-rapporteurs said: “The efforts of both authorities and part of the opposition to maintain a constructive dialogue and to secure the opposition’s rightful place in the governance of the country are an important step for the consolidation of democracy in Georgia.” But they underscored that the planned electoral and constitutional reforms should be based on an all-inclusive process.(more..)
Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Dick Marty: Natalia Estemirova's murderers have still not been punished
[15/07/2010]Dick Marty, PACE rapporteur on the human rights situation in the North Caucasus, has pointed out that the murderers of Natalia Estemirova, a member of Russian NGO Memorial, in Chechnya on 14 July 2009 have so far escaped punishment. "The Russian authorities must do everything possible to achieve justice in this emblematic case, as well as in others such as the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, so as to send a clear signal that the cycle of abuse and impunity will no longer be tolerated in the Chechen Republic." (more..)
Dick Marty strongly critical of the Chechen President’s new threats to the staff of Memorial
[09/07/2010]The Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the human rights situation in the North Caucasus, Dick Marty (Switzerland/ALDE) has described as "unacceptable and unworthy" the words of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who publicly described the staff of Russian human rights NGO Memorial as "enemies of the people, enemies of the law, enemies of the state".(more..)
PACE and EP cooperation in the field of women’s rights: towards common standards
[14/07/2010]Evoking the drafting of the future EU directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, today expressed his concern “regarding duplication of Council of Europe and the European Union’s work, and a possible proliferation of monitoring processes”, while addressing the EP Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality in Brussels.(more..)
Monitoring visit by PACE co-rapporteurs to Georgia
[09/07/2010]Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC) and Michael Jensen (Denmark, ALDE), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Georgia, will make a fact-finding visit to this country from 12 to 15 July, as part of their ongoing assessment of the honouring of Georgia’s Council of Europe obligations and commitments. Discussions should focus on the reform of the justice sector, human rights protection, decentralisation and local self-government, media pluralism as well as the fight against corruption.(more..)
