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PACE summer session: the state of human rights in Europe
Strasbourg, 12.06.2009 – A biennial debate on "the state of human rights
in Europe", focusing on the need to eradicate impunity and the progress
of the Assembly’s monitoring procedure, is a highlight of the summer
session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in
Strasbourg on 22-26 June 2009. The first ever PACE Human Rights Prize is
due to be awarded at a ceremony on this occasion.
Irish President Mary McAleese and Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor
will address the parliamentarians. Other speakers include the Chairman
of the Committee of Ministers, Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel
®bogar, and Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis.
The election of the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe is on
the draft agenda. The Assembly will adopt its agenda at the opening of
the session. There has also been a request for an urgent debate on the
process for electing the Secretary General.
The Assembly will debate a proposal that its Bureau restore Special
Guest status to the Belarus Parliament, and will discuss the latest in a
series of reports on the functioning of democratic institutions in
Armenia.
Parliamentarians will also discuss the challenges of the financial
crisis to the world economic institutions, as well as the activities of
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 2008, with a
statement by its President Thomas Mirow.
They are also due to decide on the establishment of a "partner for
democracy" status with the Assembly, aimed at the parliaments of
neighbouring countries who wish to espouse Council of Europe values.
Finally, the Assembly will consider a challenge to the credentials of
the Ukrainian delegation on substantial grounds, made by 20 members of
the Assembly.
****
The Assembly will adopt its final agenda at the opening of the session.
Draft agenda
Monday 22 June 2009 (opening at 11.30 am)
* Opening of the session and statement by the President
* Adoption of the agenda
* Progress report of the Bureau of the Assembly and the Standing
Committee
* Statement by Theo-Ben Gurirab, President of the Inter-Parliamentary
Union
* Communication from the Committee of Ministers to the Parliamentary
Assembly presented by Samuel ®bogar, Minister for Foreign Affairs of
Slovenia, Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers
* Statement by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of
Europe
Tuesday 23 June 2009
* Election of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe
* Situation in Belarus
< 3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11939.htm>
* Address by Mary McAleese, President of Ireland
* Election of a judge to the European Court of Human Rights with
respect to San Marino
< D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11940.htm>
* The activities of the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) in 2008: reinforcing economic and democratic
stability
< ain.asp?link=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11 938.htm> , and statement by EBRD President Thomas Mirow
* The challenges of the financial crisis to the world economic
institutions
< Main.asp?link=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC1 1944.htm>
* Reconsideration on substantial grounds of previously ratified
credentials of the Ukrainian delegation (Rule 9 of the Assembly’s Rules
of Procedure)
Wednesday 24 June 2009
* Election of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe
(possible second round)
* The state of human rights in Europe: the need to eradicate
impunity
< n.asp?link=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC1193 4.htm> , and statement by Antonio Cassese, President of the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon and former President of the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
* Ceremony to award the 2009 Human Rights Prize of the Parliamentary
Assembly to the NGO British Irish Rights Watch
* Election of a judge to the European Court of Human Rights with
respect to San Marino
< D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11940.htm> (possible second round)
* The state of human rights in Europe and the progress of the
Assembly’s monitoring procedure
< k=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11941.htm> , and statements by Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty
International, and Holly Cartner, Director for Europe and Central Asia
of Human Rights Watch
* Europe’s forgotten people: protecting the human rights of
long-term displaced persons
< 3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11942.htm> , and statement by Walter Kälin, Special Representative of
the UN Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced
persons
* The functioning of democratic institutions in Armenia
Thursday 25 June 2009
* Possible urgent debate or Lobbying in a democratic society
(European Code of conduct on lobbying)
< k=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11937.htm>
* Address by Borut Pahor, Prime Minister of Slovenia
* The funding of public service broadcasting
< link=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11848.htm& gt;
* Renewable energies and the environment
< ink=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11918.htm&g t;
* Nuclear energy and sustainable development
< ink=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11914.htm&g t;
Friday 26 June 2009
* Establishment of a "Partner for democracy" status with the
Parliamentary Assembly
< =3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11913.htm>
* History teaching in conflict and post-conflict areas
< /Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11919.htm>
* The urgent need to combat so-called "honour crimes"
< link=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11943.htm& gt;
* Draft Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local
Self-Government on the Right to Participate in the Affairs of a Local
Authority
< sp?link=3D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11935.h tm>
* Draft Protocol No. 3 to the European Outline Convention on
Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or
Authorities concerning Euroregional co-operation groupings (ECGs)
< D/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11936.htm>
Practical information
Press conferences: Lluís Maria de Puig, PACE President, will give a
press conference on Monday 22 June at 10.45 a.m., to be broadcast live
on the Assembly’s website at
Other press conferences will be announced on the spot.
Further details: see the Assembly’s website,
< t/> . Additional information may also be found on
the Council of Europe web portal,
For TV planning units: videos in broadcast quality summing up PACE
highlights can be downloaded for free at
<; no later than two hours after the event.
Contact: PACE Communication Unit: tel. +33 3 88 41 31 93;
pace.com@coe.int
For accreditation: Danielle Schreiber-Somoza, Directorate of
Communication, danielle.schreiber-somoza@coe.int
<mailto:danie lle.schreiber-somoza@coe.int> , tel. +33 3 88 41 25 44
Press Release
Parliamentary Assembly – Communication Unit
Ref: 464a09
Tel. +33 (0)3 88 41 31 93
Fax +33 (0)3 90 21 41 34
Internet:
e-mail: pace.com@coe.int <mailto:pace.com@coe.int>
The Parliamentary Assembly brings together 318 members from the national
parliaments of the 47 member states.
President: Lluís Maria de Puig (Spain, SOC) – Secretary General of the
Assembly: Mateo Sorinas.
Political groups: EPP/CD (Group of the European People’s Party); SOC
(Socialist Group); EDG (European Democrat Group);
ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe); UEL (Group of the
Unified European Left).