Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) congratulates President Obama, welcomes suspension of Guantanamo Bay tribunals

PACE President congratulates President Obama on his inauguration, welcomes his request to suspend tribunals at Guantanamo

 

Strasbourg, 21.01.2009 – The President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Lluís Maria de Puig, has congratulated President Barack Obama on his inauguration, and invited him to address a plenary session of the Assembly in the near future.

 

Mr de Puig said that the arrival of the new US administration marked a fresh start for relations between Europe and America. “We need the full support of the United States when it comes to promoting our shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. President Obama’s values and principles largely coincide with those of the Council of Europe, which will enable us to work together closely in the future,” he said.

 

Mr de Puig warmly welcomed President Obama’s swift action – on his first day in office – to request the suspension of all military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, and his pledge to close the detention centre altogether as soon as possible. “This shows the new President’s apparent determination to return America to its traditional role as an upholder of the highest standards of international law,” he said.

 

“Guantanamo was always an aberration, a sad deviation from the ideals of justice, and the military tribunals were never going to deliver fair trials. I hope the new Administration will now seek to try the accused in US courts and free those against whom there is no evidence of wrongdoing. For our part, we in PACE will do our best to ensure that Council of Europe member states accept those Guantanamo detainees who have been cleared for release but are unable to return to their home countries because their lives or physical integrity would be at risk.”

 

Mr de Puig said the arrival of a new administration in Washington was also an opportunity for those European countries which had turned a blind eye to, or actively aided, the CIA’s kidnapping and torture of suspected terrorists to come clean once and for all about their part in it, and put in place the safeguards proposed by the Assembly so that such things never happen again.

Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe (PACE) to discuss Gaza at Winter Session in Strasbourg Jan. 29

Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe (PACE) to discuss Gaza, the war between Russia and Georgia, Armenia, at Winter Session in Strasbourg Jan. 26-30

 

January 16, 2009

 

PACE winter session: consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia, situation in Gaza and the global financial crisis

 

Strasbourg, 15.01.2009 – The implementation of Resolution 1633 on the consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia, adopted in October 2008, and the humanitarian consequences of the conflict will be one of the highlights of the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which will take place in Strasbourg from 26 to 30 January 2009.

 

The parliamentarians will discuss the reports by Luc Van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD) and Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE), co-rapporteurs of the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee, and Corien W.A. Jonker (Netherlands, EPP/CD), rapporteur of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, following their visits to these countries.

 

The PACE Bureau has proposed (*) a current affairs debate on the situation in Gaza and an  urgent debate on the consequences of the global financial crisis.

 

The Assembly will also discuss Armenia’s implementation of Resolutions 1609 and 1620, which PACE adopted in April 2008, and will give its opinion on a proposal by the PACE Monitoring Committee to suspend the Armenian delegation’s voting rights. The committee considers it “unacceptable” that persons could be charged and deprived of their liberty for political reasons and asks the Assembly to suspend the delegation’s voting rights until the authorities have clearly demonstrated their political will to resolve this issue.

 

The Prime Minister of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero [subject to confirmation], has been invited to address the Assembly on Tuesday 27 January. In the context of the Spanish chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos will address the parliamentarians on Wednesday 28 January. Philippe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), will make a speech on Tuesday 27 during a debate on co-operation with the ICC. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, will report on the state of the Organisation on Monday 26 January.

 

The agenda also includes attitudes to memorials open to different historical interpretations, private military and security firms and the erosion of the state monopoly on the use of force, the investigation of crimes allegedly committed by high officials during the Kuchma rule in Ukraine and access to rights for people with disabilities.

 

(*) The Assembly will decide on its final agenda at the opening of the session.

 

Draft order of business

 

Monday 26 January 2009 (opening at 11.30am)

 

·          Opening of the first part of the 2009 Ordinary Session

·          Election of the President and Vice-Presidents of the Assembly               

·          Progress report of the Bureau of the Assembly and the Standing Committee

·          Communication from Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, on the state of the Council of Europe

·          Access to rights for people with disabilities and their full and active participation in society

 

Tuesday 27 January  2009

 

·          The implementation by Armenia of Assembly Resolutions 1609 (2008) and 1620 (2008)  (Doc. 11786)

·          Address by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain [to be confirmed]

·          Co-operation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its universality and statement by Philippe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court

·          Investigation of crimes allegedly committed by high officials during the Kuchma rule in Ukraine – the Gongadze case as an emblematic example

·          Nomination of candidates and election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights

 

Wednesday 28 January 2009

 

·          The implementation of Resolution 1633 (2008) on the consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia

·          The humanitarian consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia

·          Communication from the Committee of Ministers to the Parliamentary Assembly presented by Miguel Ángel Moratinos, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Co-operation of Spain, Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers

·          Palliative care: a model for innovative health and social policies

·          The regulation of audiovisual media services

 

Thursday 29 January 2009

 

·          Possible current affairs debate: the situation in Gaza

·          Possible debate under urgent procedure: the consequences of the global financial crisis

·          Private military and security firms and the erosion of the state monopoly on the use of force

·          Attitude to memorials exposed to different historical interpretations in Council of Europe member states

 

Friday 30 January 2009

 

·          Electronic democracy

·          Feminicides

·          Environmentally induced migration and displacement: a 21st century challenge

Practical information

 

Press conferences:

 

Lluís Maria de Puig, PACE President, will give a press conference on Monday 26 January at 10.45 am. Other press conferences will be announced on the spot.

 

Further details: see the Assembly’s website, http://assembly.coe.int. Additional information may also be found on the Council of Europe web portal, http://www.coe.int/PAsession.

 

For TV planning Units: videos in broadcast quality summing up PACE highlights can be downloaded for free at http://dl.coe.int 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: Directorate of Communication :

 

Danielle Schreiber-Somoza, danielle.schreiber-somoza@coe.int, tel. +33 3 88 41 25 44