Standing Committee to meet in Baku

The Standing Committee  of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will meet in Baku on Friday 23 May 2014 in the context of the Azerbaijani Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers (14 May - 13 November 2014), says a press release form the Council of Europe.

After the opening of the meeting by PACE President Anne Brasseur, Ogtay Asadov, the Speaker of the Milli Mejlis will address participants. The parliamentarians will then hold an exchange of views with the Azerbaijani Minister for Foreign Affairs, Elmar Mammadyarov, who will chair the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers for a six-month period. The discussions will focus on Azerbaijan’s priorities during its Chairmanship and other issues in the framework of the Assembly’s ongoing political dialogue with the Committee of Ministers.
The themes on the agenda include the fight against AIDS among migrants and refugees, the rights of migrant children on reaching their majority, and the alternatives to Europe’s substandard IDP and refugee collective centres.

Other topics of discussion will be the draft Council of Europe Convention against the manipulation of sports competitions, the improvement of co-operation between National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and Parliaments in addressing equality and non-discrimination issues, and the conclusion of the ONE in FIVE Campaign.

The meeting of the Standing Committee, which is open to the press, will take place on Friday 23 May 2014 from 9 am to 4 pm at the Parliament of Azerbaijan (1, Parliamentary Avenue, Baku).

(*) The Standing Committee, which acts on the Assembly’s behalf between plenary sessions, is made up of the President and Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, the chairpersons of political groups, the chairpersons of national delegations and the committee chairpersons, totalling some 60 parliamentarians. -02D-