Information documents SG-AS (2020) 02 3 February 2020 ———————————————— Communication by the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly at the 1366th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies1 (5 February 2020) ———————————————— 1 This document covers past activities of the Assembly since the meeting of the Bureau on 27 January 2020 (Strasbourg) and future activities up to the meeting of the Bureau on 5 March 2020 (Paris). I. First part-session of 2020 (27 – 31 January 2020) A. Election of the President of the Assembly 1. At the opening of the part-session, the Assembly elected Mr Hendrik Daems (Belgium, ALDE) as its President for the 2020 Ordinary Session. B. Election of the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly 2. On 27 and 28 January 2020, the Assembly elected its Vice-Presidents (Appendix 1). C. Election of the bureaux of the Committees of the Assembly 3. The Assembly Committees elected their Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons (Appendix 2). D. Election of a judge to the European Court of Human Rights 4. On 28 January 2020, the Assembly elected Mr Mattias Guyomar as judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of France. E. Joint Committee 5. A meeting of the Joint Committee was held on Thursday 30 January 2020. F. Personalities 6. The following personalities addressed the Assembly (in chronological order): Mr David Zalkaliani, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia, President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Ms Salome Zourabichvili, President of Georgia Mr Igor Dodon, President of the Republic of Moldova Ms Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Ms Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights 7. Their speeches can be found on the web site of the Assembly: http://assembly.coe.int. G. Debate under urgent procedure and current affairs debate 8. The Assembly held one debate under urgent procedure on “International obligations concerning the repatriation of children from war and conflict zones” and one current affairs debate on “Recent developments in Lybia and in the Middle East: what consequences for Europe?”. 2 H. Media coverage The Winter Session 2020 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) generated considerable media coverage, with some 86 journalists (+15 per cent compared to the Winter session 2019) who turned up in Strasbourg to report on it, and 844 articles appearing in the international press (+60 per cent). With 264 articles, the Russian Federation leads the list of media coverage, followed by Ukraine (131) and Georgia (45). Media attention focused on the debate on the “Challenge, on substantive grounds, of the still unratified credentials of the parliamentary delegation of the Russian Federation”, and the election of a Vice-President in respect of the Russian Federation (Sputnik, Ria Novosti, Interfax, TASS, Ukrinform, Ukrainian News …), as well as the election of Rik Daems as the new President of the Parliamentary Assembly and the addresses by the Presidents of Georgia and the Republic of Moldova. The debates on “Threats to media freedom and journalists’ security in Europe” (The Guardian, Ansa, NTV, TVE…) and on “The functioning of democratic institutions in Poland” were also highlights of the session. This was an above-average session on social media, with some 480,000 impressions over the week on Twitter and around 60,000 post engagements on Facebook. The top tweets concerned the Assembly’s report on media freedom – and particularly its call for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to be released – and the election of a new President. The MediaBox, a web-TV studio available to all those making news at the Assembly, once again proved its usefulness for both Assembly members and journalists: 74 interviews with parliamentarians and participants in side-events were recorded (+12 per cent compared to the last session). The teleprompter facility, installed last year, proved its usefulness and helped increase the number of statements made by MPs, and therefore institutional visibility, together with growing use of the tool put in place by the Communication Division which allows MPs and others to download and share clips of their interventions in the plenary on social media etc. 3 I. Adopted texts 9. Further to debates, the Assembly adopted the following texts: Resolution 2316 (2020) The functioning of democratic institutions in Poland Recommendation 2168 (2020) Threats to media freedom and journalists’ security in Europe Resolution 2317 (2020) Threats to media freedom and journalists’ security in Europe Resolution 2318 (2020) The protection of freedom of religion or belief in the workplace Complementary joint procedure between the Committee of Resolution 2319 (2020) Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly in response to a serious violation by a member State of its statutory obligations Challenge, on substantive grounds, of the still unratified credentials Resolution 2320 (2020) of the parliamentary delegation of the Russian Federation International obligations concerning the repatriation of children Recommendation 2169 (2020) from war and conflict zones International obligations concerning the repatriation of children Resolution 2321 (2020) from war and conflict zones Recommendation 2170 (2020) Reported cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan Resolution 2322 (2020) Reported cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan Concerted action against human trafficking and the smuggling of Recommendation 2171 (2020) migrants Concerted action against human trafficking and the smuggling of Resolution 2323 (2020) migrants Recommendation 2172 (2020) Missing refugee and migrant children in Europe Resolution 2324 (2020) Missing refugee and migrant children in Europe The progress of the Assembly's monitoring procedure (January- Resolution 2325 (2020) December 2019) Recommendation 2173 (2020) Combating trafficking in human tissues and cells Resolution 2326 (2020) Democracy hacked? How to respond? Resolution 2327 (2020) Organ transplant tourism 10. All these texts can be found on the web site of the Assembly: http://assembly.coe.int. 4 J. Hearings and exchanges of views organised during the part-session Monday 27 January 2020 ► Public Hearing on “Impact of labour migration on left-behind children” 2–3 pm Room 7, Palais in the context of the report prepared by Mr Viorel Badea (Romania, EPP/CD), with the participation of: Committee on Social Affairs, • Ms Elena Madan, Country Director, Terre des hommes Moldova Health and Sustainable • Ms Tatiana Puiu, Member of the European Committee of Social Rights of the Development Council of Europe 2.30–3 pm Room 9, Palais ► Exchange of views with Ms Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy Tuesday 28 January 2020 ► Hearing on “The continuing need to restore human rights and the rule of law in the North Caucasus region” in the context of the report prepared by Mr Frank Schwabe, (Germany, SOC) with the participation of: 8.30 –10 a • Ms Neamat Abumuslimova, Witness Room 10, Palais • Mr Amin Dzhabrailov, Witness, (video conference) • Mr Ibragim Yangulbayev, Witness Committee on Legal Affairs • Mr Oleg Petrovich Orlov, Head of Human Rights Center Memorial’s program “Hot spots”, Moscow and Human Rights ► Exchange of views on “The implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights – 10th report - Russian Federation” in the context of the report prepared by Mr Constantinos Efstathiou (Cyprus, SOC), with the participation of: • Mr Piotr Tolstoy, Chairperson of the delegation of the Russian Federation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe ► Hearing on “Violence against women with disabilities” with the participation of: 9–10 am • Ms Ana Peláez Narváez, Member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Room 3, Palais Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Vice-President of the European Disability Forum and Executive Vice-President of CERMI Women’s Foundation Committee on Equality and • Ms Claire Desaint, Co-President of Femmes pour le Dire, Femmes pour Agir Non-Discrimination (FDFA), Paris • Ms Sarah Woodin, Senior Research Fellow at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Visiting Fellow at the School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds 5 Tuesday 28 January 2020 ► Hearing on the “Need for democratic governance of artificial intelligence” 9–10 am in the context of the report prepared by Ms Deborah Bergamini (Italy, EPP/CD) with the Room 9, Palais participation of Mr Dario Fumagalli, legal expert in the field of privacy protection Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy 2.15–2.45 pm ► Exchange of views on the “Impact of the implementation of the Istanbul Room 3, Palais Convention” with the participation of Ms Elisabeth Walaas, Chair of the Committee of the Parties to the Committee on Equality and Istanbul Convention, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Non-Discrimination Representative of Norway to the Council of Europe Wednesday 29 January 2020 2.30– 3.30 pm Room 3, Palais ► Exchange of views with Ms Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination ► Exchange of views on “Rights and obligations of NGOs assisting refugees and 2.45–3.10 pm migrants in Europe” Room 8, Palais in the context of the report prepared by Mr Domagoj Hajduković (Croatia, SOC), with the Committee on Migration, participation of with Mr Jeremy McBride, Chairperson of the Expert Council on NGO Law Refugees and Displaced Persons Thursday 30 January 2020