ID :
210777
Mon, 10/03/2011 - 07:59
Auther :

PACE to study human rights in Ukraine, Belarus, Mideast situation.

STRASBOURG, October 3 (Itar-Tass) -- The human rights situation in
Ukraine and Belarus and a deteriorating situation in the Middle East will
be high on the agenda on an autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) that will open here on Monday.
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas will
deliver a key speech at a PACE plenary meeting, which will be devoted to
the current situation in the Middle East. His participation in the PACE
plenary meeting is already confirmed, a PACE spokesperson told Itar-Tass.
The PACE will put up for voting a partner status for democracy to the PNA
this week. The partner status allows sending representatives to PACE
sessions but without a vote.
"This issue will be put on the PACE final vote," Chairman of the State
Duma International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachyov told journalists
on the eve of the PACE session. The Russian deputy believes that it is
highly probable that the PACE will approve a broader partnership with the
PNA. "I believe that regardless the results of the UN debates the Assembly
will vote for a partner status to Palestine," Kosachyov said.
Meanwhile, the PACE will have urgent debates on the situation in the
'post-revolutionary' countries in North Africa, namely Egypt, Tunisia and
Libya, as well as the problem of the inflow of refugees from these
countries to Europe. The leadership of the Egyptian political parties will
be on a visit in Strasbourg at the invitation of PACE rapporteur on the
cooperation with the emerging democracies in the Arab world Jean-Charles
Gardetto (Monaco). The PACE deputies will discuss with their Egyptian
colleagues upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in the
country and the progress of making up a new constitution.
The PACE may have urgent debates on an ongoing trial against the
former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko. "Such an initiative was
made, but it was not passed to the PACE Bureau yet," the head of the
Russian delegation said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Konstantin
Grishchenko is to deliver a speech at the PACE session, Kosachyov went on
to say. "I do not rule out that he will be asked very unpleasant questions
about the Timoshenko criminal case," he noted.
Meanwhile, the Political Affairs Committee, which is the key PACE
body, will study the human rights and freedom of speech situation in
Belarus. The PACE committee may also debate the prospects of granting a
special guest status to the republic. In the mid-nineties of the previous
century Belarus was deprived of this status and the republican
presidential elections were recognized undemocratic.
An Estonian deputy Andres Herkel, who is a new rapporteur on Belarus,
is expected to deliver a speech at a meeting with representatives of the
Belarussian opposition.

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