Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe ( PACE ) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe , a 47-nation international organization dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Council of Europe is an older and wider group of nations than the 28-member European Union – it includes, for example, Russia and Turkey among its member states – and oversees the European Court of Human Rights .

The Assembly is made up of 324 parliamentarians from the national parliaments of the Council of Europe’s member states, and meets regularly for a year-long plenary sessions in Strasbourg . It is one of the two statutory bodies of the Council of Europe, along with the Committee of Ministers , with which it holds an ongoing dialogue. However, it is the Assembly which is usually considered as the „motor“ of the organization, holding governments to account for human rights issues,

The Assembly held its first session in Strasbourg on August 10, 1949, making it one of the oldest international assemblies in Europe. Among its main achievements are:

• ending the death penalty in Europe
• making possible, and shaping, the European Convention on Human Rights
• high-profile reports exposing violations of human rights in the Council of Europe member states
• assisting train Soviet countries to embrace democracy after 1989
• inspiring and helping to shape many progressive new national laws
• helping member states to overcome conflict or reach consensus on divisive political or social issues

Powers

• action by the 47 Council of Europe governments, who – acting through the organization’s executive body
• probe human rights violations in any of the member states
• Question Prime Ministers and Heads of State on any subject
• send parliamentarians to observe elections and mediate over crises
• The Council of Europe, through its power of veto
• inspire, propose and help to shape new national laws
• request legal evaluations of the statutes and constitutions of member states
• sanction a member state by recommending its exclusion or suspension

Of the European Court of Human Rights , the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights and its Secretary General , and the members of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture .

In general the Assembly meets the times in Strasbourg at the Palace of Europe for a week-long plenary sessions. The standing committees of the Assembly meet in their respective fields of expertise.

The Assembly sets its own agenda, but its debates and reports are primarily focused on defending human rights , promoting democracy , protecting minorities and upholding the rule of law .

Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights

Judges of the European Court of Human Rights are elected by the European Convention on Human Rights . A 20-member committee – meeting in camera – interview all candidates for judging and voting. ^[1] . Judges are elected for a period of nine years and may not be re-elected. The terms of office of judges expire when they reach the age of 70 but they must stay in post until replaced. A judge may not be dismissed from the office of the other judge by a majority of two-thirds that the judge has fulfilled the required conditions. ^[2]

Although the European Convention does not require a resolution, it is necessary to make a number of recommendations. each sex „unless there are exceptional circumstances. ^[3] As a result, one of the three leading judges of the world , making the Court a leader among international courts on gender balance.

Members

The Assembly has a total of 648 members – 324 senior members and 324 substitutes ^[4] – who are appointed or elected by the parliaments of each member state . Delegations must reflect the balance in the national parliament While not full members, the parliaments of Kyrgyzstan , Jordan , Morocco and Palestine hold „Partner for Democracy“ status with the Assembly, and there are also observers from the Canadian , Israeli and MexicanParliaments. The population of each country is determined by the number of votes. This is in contrast to the Committee of Ministers, the Council of Europe’s executive body, where each country has one vote.

Some notable train members of PACE include:

• form Sir Winston Churchill , train German Chancellor Helmut Kohl , train Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi , train Turkish President Abdullah Gül , train Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides , train Finnish President Tarja Halonen , train Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili , Albanian President Sali Berisha , and many others. ^[5]
• Dick Marty ( Switzerland ), appointed in late 2005 as rapporteur to investigate the CIA extraordinary renditions scandal and organ theft in Kosovo by the Kosovo Liberation Army from the Kosovo war , in 1998-2001 ^[6]
• Marcello Dell’Utri ( Italy ), convicted for complicity in conspiracy with the Mafia ( Italian : concorso in associazione mafiosa ), a crime for which he was found guilty on appeal and sentenced to 7 years in 2010. ^[7]

Composition by parliamentary delegation

Parliaments with Partner for Democracy status

Parliaments with Partner for Democracy The status of some of the basic values ​​of the Council of Europe. In return, they are able to send delegations to take part in the work of the Assembly and its committees, but without the right to vote.

Parliaments with observer status

Parliamentarians with observer status

Composition by political group

The Assembly has six political groups. ^[19]

Languages

The official languages ​​of the Council of Europe are English and French , but the Assembly also uses German , Italian , Russian and Turkish as working languages. ^[20]

Presidents

The Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have been:

The Assembly elected Wojciech Sawicki ( Poland )  ^[21]  as its Secretary General in 2010 for a five-year term of office which began in February 2011. In 2015 he was re-elected for a second-year term, which began in February 2016.

Achievements

The European Convention on Human Rights

At its very first meeting, in the summer of 1949, the Parliamentary Assembly adopted the essential blueprint of what has become the European Convention on Human Rights . The Council of Europe’s Ministerial Body , with some changes, was adopted by the Council of Europe in 1953. Today, more than sixty years later, the European Court of Human Rights- shape and form during the post-war debates – is considered as a global standard-bearer for justice, protecting the rights of citizens in the European Union and beyond, and paving the way for the gradual convergence of human rights practice across the continent. The Assembly continues to elect the judges of the Court.

Exposing torture in secret CIA prisons in Europe: the „Marty reports“

In two overs for the Assembly in 2006 and 2007, Swiss Senator and train Prosecutor Marty Revealed convincing evidence [1] That terror suspects being white Were transported to or held-and tortured in CIA-run „secret prisons“ on European soil. The evidence in his first report [2] in 2006 – gathered with the help of investigative journalists and plane-spotters among others – suggested that a number of Council of Europe members states had permitted CIA „rendition flights“ across their airspace, enabling the secret transfer of terror suspects without any legal rights. In a second report [3]In 2007, Marty showed how two member states – Poland and Romania – had been secreted in allowing „secret prisons“ to be established on their territory, where torture took place. His main conclusions – more confirmed in a series of rulings by the European Court of Human Rights , a more comprehensive US Senate report – threw the first real light on a dark chapter in US and European history in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, kicked off a series of national probes, and

Controversies

Sanctions against the Russian delegation

In April 2014, after the Russian parliament’s backing for the occupation of Crimea and Russian military intervention in Ukraine , the Assembly decided to suspend the Russian delegation to the rights of members of the Assembly in election observation missions. However, the Russian delegation remains members of the Assembly. The sanctions applied throughout the remainder of the 2014 session and was renewed for a full year in January 2015, lapsing in January 2016.

In response, the Russian parliamentary delegation suspended its co-operation with PACE in June 2014, and in January 2016 – despite the lapsing of the sanctions – the Russian parliament decided not to submit its delegation credentials for ratification, effectively leaving its empty seats. It was so again in January 2017, leaving empty seats in the Assembly for a further year.

The sanctions applied only to Russian parliamentarians in PACE, the Council of Europe ’s parliamentary body. Russia continues to be a full member of the Council of Europe, and retains full rights in the organization’s other bodies, including its statutory executive body, the Committee of Ministers .  ^[22]

Alleged corruption

In 2013, the  New York Times  reported that „some council members, notably Central Asian states and Russia, have tried to influence the organization’s parliamentary assembly of lavish gifts and trips“.  ^[23]  According to the report, this member states also has the right to criticize their human rights records.  ^[24]  German news magazine  Der Spiegel  had previously revealed details about the strategies of Azerbaijan’s government to influence the voting behavior of members of the Parliamentary Assembly.  ^[25]

In January 2017, following a series of critical reports by the European Stability Initiative (ESI) NGO, and concerning the Assembly of the Assembly, independent, external investigation body. In May 2017, Sir Nicholas Bratza , President of the European Court of Human Rights ; Jean-Louis Bruguière , a French trained anti-terrorist judge and investigator; and Elisabet Fura, to form the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman and Judge on the Strasbourg Court.  ^[26] The investigation body, which has appealed for anyone with information to its mandate to come forward , was originally due to report the end of 2017, but this deadline has been extended to 15 April 2018.

Cultural divisions

Although the Council of Europe is a human rights watchdog and a guardian against discrimination, it is widely regarded as being part of a larger society. .  ^[27]  In 2007, this became apparent when the Parliamentary Assembly was debated by Liberal Democrat Anne Brasseur on the rise of Christian creationism , bolstered by right-wing and populist parties in Eastern Europe.  ^[27]

See also

• Council of Europe
• Committee of Ministers
• European Human Rights Prize

References