13.10.2023
During an urgent debate, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), meeting in Strasbourg in plenary session, called on Türkiye to “comply with binding judgments” of the European Court of Human Rights, and “to immediately release Osman Kavala, who remains unlawfully detained in Turkey”, emphasising that this case “is undermining the basis of the Convention system”.
Adopting a resolution based on the report by Petra Bayr (Austria, SOC), PACE deplored the fact that the Turkish authorities had, up until now, not released the human rights defender and philanthropist, “in spite of a clear judgment by the European Court of Human Rights in 2019 requiring his immediate release”.
13.10.2023
“The environment clearly has an impact on the development of breast cancer,” said Professor Carole Mathelin, a Hospital Practitioner specialising in breast cancer surgery, who has developed a research project to establish the link between the environment and breast cancer. She was speaking at an exchange of views on this issue, organised by the Network of Parliamentarians for a Healthy Environment and the Women@PACE group, as part of Pink October.
However, she added, “the notion of environment is complex, and covers several risk factors, such as lifestyle and behaviours (physical activity, sedentariness, overweight), cultural and social influences (alcohol consumption, smoking, hormonal treatment), reproductive life (age of first pregnancy, number of children, breastfeeding, late pregnancies), not forgetting chemical agents such as pesticides, industrial pollutants and metals. She stressed that the most important risk factors were obesity, alcohol consumption and sedentariness.
21.03.2023
“Each year, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is a chance to take stock of the situation in Europe and to realise that there is still a long way to go in the fight against racism. Discrimination based on ‘race’, ethnic or national origin, skin colour and religion continues to pose significant challenges, undermining our peaceful living together.
14.03.2023
“Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp on 27 January 1945, is the day to honour the victims of the Nazi regime and their allies and collaborators. In doing so, we remember the deaths of over two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish community and of vast numbers of Roma and Sinti people, LGBTI people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, persons with disabilities, politicians, and Resistance members.
26.01.2023
“Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp on 27 January 1945, is the day to honour the victims of the Nazi regime and their allies and collaborators. In doing so, we remember the deaths of over two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish community and of vast numbers of Roma and Sinti people, LGBTI people, Jehovah’s Witnesses, persons with disabilities, politicians, and Resistance members.
24.01.2023
PACE today strongly condemned conflict-related sexual violence, which is “a war crime in international law”, can be a constitutive element of genocide, and is used as a means of ethnic cleansing. However, the parliamentarians believe that this phenomenon is not an inevitable consequence of war and can be combated “through concerted international action”, protective national policies, strictly enforced punishment for perpetrators, and survivor-centred reparation programmes.
01.12.2022
Conflict-related sexual violence, “which can be a constitutive element of genocide”, is a preventable phenomenon, which can be combated through “concerted international action, protective national policies and strictly enforced punishment for perpetrators”, PACE’s Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination said today.
22.06.2022
Deeply concerned by the rise in hatred and violence against Jewish people in Europe, and particularly by online antisemitism, the Assembly has called on Council of Europe member States to adopt strategies or national action plans to prevent and combat antisemitism, and to allocate sufficient financing to put them into effect.
17.06.2022
“Today we mark the first ever International day for countering hate speech. I warmly welcome this UN initiative and I hope it will become an annual reminder of our shared commitment to stamping out hate speech, racism and intolerance, a daily combat for us all.
08.04.2022
“Fifty-one years after the first World Roma Congress of 8 April 1971, racism and discrimination against Roma and Travellers remain alarmingly rife in Europe,” declared Petra Bayr, the Parliamentary Assembly’s General Rapporteur on combating racism and intolerance, on the occasion of International Roma Day 2022.
26.06.2020
All types of modern contraception, including long-acting reversible contraception “should be accessible and affordable for everyone”, irrespective of their sex, social or national origin and any other status, and should be “accompanied by reliable advice and information”, the PACE Standing Committee said today.
05.06.2020
Sexual and reproductive healthcare have been among the first services to be negatively impacted during the COVID-19 crisis. Women have often been left without access to essential medical services such as contraception, testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections, and reproductive cancer screenings. And some Council of Europe member States have “used the emergency situation to try to curtail women’s rights”.
04.12.2019
Contraception increases women’s decision-making power and autonomy, as individuals and within the household, and helps them to strike a better balance between private and work life. Access to contraception is therefore a crucial factor of women’s empowerment.
03.10.2019
It is common knowledge that every third European woman is a survivor of violence. It's an inconvenient truth of course but it's a fact. It's a known fact and it's evidence-based and because of that we can react. You can act. We can decide about laws or measures that tackle the issue. For instance, implementing this simple Convention.
02.10.2019
Thank you very much, Mr President. Ombudsman institutions are important bodies to provide people with their individual access to human rights and fundamental freedoms.
I would like to make three points.
25.06.2019
Thank you, Mrs President.
Both reports are extremely important for the lives of millions of women, for more than half of our population.
08.04.2019
The Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination congratulates Mr Adão Silva (Portugal, EPP/CD), rapporteur of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, on his report examining the co-operation of the Council of Europe with the United Nations for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is a comprehensive report presenting concrete proposals for strengthening co-operation and addressing current challenges to multilateralism which may affect the work of both the United Nations and the Council of Europe.
28.06.2018
Forced marriage, especially if it enslaves young girls, is equal to theft. Girls are deprived of their sexual and reproductive rights, and of their rights to be a child, to attend school, to play and to take decisions about their bodies, fertility, integrity, maternity and lives.
27.06.2018
Dieser hervorragende Bericht von Piet De Bruyn zeigt auf, dass es manifeste Beweise für weit verbreitete, lang anhaltende und schwere Verletzungen von Menschenrechten in Tschetschenien gibt: Verfolgung, Folter, Diskriminierung bis hin zur Tötung von Menschen, speziell von LGBTIQ-Personen.
