STRASBOURG, JANUARY 26 (ONASA) – Members of the Delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PSBiH) to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PSCE) participated in the first part of the regular plenary session of the PSCE, which was held this week in Strasbourg.
Delegation member Snježana Novaković – Bursać was elected vice-president of PSVE for this year. As vice-president of PSVE, Novaković – Bursać presided over the debate on “Allegations of systematic torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in detention units in Europe.”
Saša Magazinović, chairman of the BiH Delegation, was elected vice-president of the Group of Socialists, Democrats and Greens (SOC) in PSVE, while Delegation member Sabina Ćudić was elected vice-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) political group. These appointments of members of the PSBiH Delegation to PSVE represent a step forward in the work of the Delegation and open up opportunities for the voice of our country to be heard more loudly in this important institution.
MP from the Republic of Greece Theodoros Rousopoulos was elected as the new president of PSVE. He succeeded Tiny Kox from the Netherlands in that position. MP Rousopoulos is the 35th president of PSVE since 1949 and is the first Greek citizen to hold that position.
In his opening speech, the newly elected PSVE president emphasized that his priority during his presidency will be Ukraine and the effort to punish all crimes committed on the territory of that country. “Our Council faces daily the lack of concern for human rights, the oppression caused by the lack of democratic ideals, even in countries that democratically elect their leaders,” Rousopolos said. “We are here to remind them of what they have undertaken as an obligation by ratifying the European Convention on Human Rights and numerous other documents,” he said. The newly elected president of PSVE also announced that he will pay special attention to the topic of artificial intelligence, environmental protection and elimination of social, professional, economic and other forms of inequality.
PSVE members also elected a new human rights commissioner during the session. With a majority vote in the second round of voting, the candidate of the Republic of Ireland, Michael O’Flaherty, was elected to a six-year term. In that position, he will replace Dunja Mijatović from Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose six-year term in this prestigious position has expired. Dunja Mijatović left a strong mark on the Council of Europe and brightened the face of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was assessed in Strasbourg.
At this session, PSVE members also elected judges in the European Court of Human Rights from three countries. Gediminas Sagatysa – judge from Lithuania, Stéphane Pisani – judge from Luxembourg and Diana Petrova Kovacheva – judge from Bulgaria were elected. In the following period, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is expected to send the Council of Europe candidates for judges of the European Court of Human Rights from Bosnia and Herzegovina so that the PSVE can elect a new judge from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European Court of Human Rights.
During the first part of the PSVE plenary session, among other things, the situation in the Middle East, migration and asylum in election campaigns and the consequences for migrants’ rights, globalization in times of crisis and war and the role of the OECD in light of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the situation in where the children of Ukraine are, the democratic future of Belarus, and the guarantee of media freedom and the safety of journalists.
PSVE members were addressed by the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, President of Montenegro Jakov Milatović, and Daniel Risch, Prime Minister of Liechtenstein, the country that chairs the Committee of Ministers.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, as well as the former Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatović, had their addresses at the plenary session.
The next regular plenary session of PSVE is planned for mid-April this year.