“The Armenian authorities need to implement the reforms recommended by the ad hoc Committee of the National Assembly of Armenia on the events of 1 and 2 March 2008, without further delay,” concluded the co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) and Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD), following an exchange of views in the PACE Monitoring Committee last week.

“The reforms recommended by the ad hoc Committee, in combination with those contained in the relevant PACE resolutions, if implemented in good faith, could comprehensively address the circumstances that led to the events of 1 and 2 March 2008,” the co-rapporteurs said. They stressed that these recommendations therefore needed to be implemented without further delay, especially those related to the reform of the police - including the establishment of an independent oversight and complaints body - and the long overdue reform of the electoral code. The co-rapporteurs announced that they would send a letter to the Armenian P. (more)

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, will speak at the opening of a seminar on "Fundamental rights in the European Union in view of the accession of the Union to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms" to be held on 2-3 February.
 
The seminar is organised by the Spanish Presidency of the European Union and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. The participants will discuss EU accession to the Convention, the potential benefits for people of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the protection of fundamental rights before the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice.
 
Francisco Caamaño, Minister of Justice of Spain, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Minister of Justice of Germany, Francisco Fonseca, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Spain, Ilze Brands Kehris, Chairperson of the Management Boa. (more)