On 19–22 April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE, held their spring session. The issues debated at the session included the need for a reform of the electoral system in Belarus, Armenian prisoners-of-war and the way democratic systems function in Turkey.
The PACE session was held as a hybrid plenary session and members were able to participate both on location in Strasbourg and on line from the member states. The Riksdag delegation consists of six ordinary members and six deputy members who participated on line.
Developments in Belarus on the agenda
On Wednesday, there was a joint debate on the need for international investigations into human rights violations and the need for a reform of the electoral system in Belarus. From the Swedish delegation, the chair of the delegation Boriana Åberg (Moderate Party) participated in the debate. On Wednesday, there was also a debate on an examination of the maintenance of democracy, human rights and the principles of the rule of law in Montenegro. Azadeh Rojhan Gustafsson (Social Democratic Party) participated in this debate as a representative of the PACE Monitoring Committee.
Other resolutions that were considered during the week were about the Assembly’s strategic priorities for the Council of Europe, the protection of national minorities and the discrimination of people on long-term sick leave. In addition to this, a debate was held about preventing financial injustice and the OECD’s work on taxation and digital economies, in which the OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría participated.
Urgent debate on Navalny and Turkey
On Thursday, an urgent debate was held on the way democratic systems function in Turkey. Thomas Hammarberg (Social Democratic Party), one of the Assembly’s two rapporteurs for Turkey, introduced the debate by presenting his report. Markus Wiechel (Sweden Democrats) and Azadeh Rojhan Gustafsson (Social Democratic Party) also participated in this debate. The question that Turkey has left the Istanbul Convention came up in the debate, a question that had also come up in earlier debates in the week. On the same day, an urgent debate was held on the arrest of Alexei Navalny in Russia. From the Swedish delegation, Annicka Engblom (Moderate Party) participated in the debate.
The Assembly had also decided to hold two current affairs debates. On Tuesday, there was a debate on COVID passports, vaccination certificates and the protection of human rights in connection with this. On Wednesday, there was a current affairs debate on Armenian prisoners-of-war, other prisoners and displaced persons.
Angela Merkel held an address
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel participated in the spring session and held an address in which she emphasised the importance of continuing to safeguard peace, human rights and the freedom of expression. Merkel then answered questions from members of the Assembly. A number of guests participated in the spring session, including the President of Moldava Maia Sandu, the President of the European Parliament David Sassoli, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović and the German Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth.
The Council of Europe’s Secretary-General Marija Pejčinović Burić also participated in the session in a question-and-answer session, in which Momodou Malcolm Jallow (Left Party) also asked the Secetary-General a question.
In conjunction with the session, the PACE prize for the promotion of human rights, the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, was awarded for 2020. The prize was awarded to Loujain Alhathloul, a Saudi Arabian women’s rights activist. A new judge for the European Court of Human Rights was also appointed at the session, this time from Belgium.
source riksdagen.se