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SUBJECT Russian State Duma decides on non-participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2019
DATE 2019-01-18
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PHOTO: State Duma

 

At the plenary meeting on January 17, 2019, members of the State Duma adopted a statement “On the Situation around Russian Participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)” on the non-participation of Russia in PACE in 2019.

 

State Duma members emphasized that they have reached such a decision for the interests of the citizens of the Russian Federation and the Russian state.

 

More specifically, members of the State Duma felt that the PACE grossly violated the rights of the Russian Federation as a member of the Council of Europe, depriving the Russian delegation the opportunity to vote and attend meetings, participate in PACE governing bodies, to be rapporteurs, to take part in PACE delegations for observation of elections, and to represent the PACE both in the bodies of the Council of Europe and outside this organization.

 

They added that more than half of the judges of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights were elected by PACE without the participation of Russian representatives, which raises doubts on the legitimacy of the decisions in relation to Russia.

 

The Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Petr Tolstoy said that until the Regulations of the Parliamentary Assembly are changed and brought in line with the Statute of the Council of Europe, which proclaims the equal rights of all 47 states in this organization, Russia will not return to PACE.

 

The 47-nation human rights body is split on how and when Russian delegates could return to the parliamentary assembly. Russian deputies walked out of the assembly in 2014 after losing their voting rights following the annexation of Crimea.

 

Petr Tolstoy added that if amendment of the Regulations of the Parliamentary Assembly occurred rapidly, Russia could resume work at PACE as early as January 2020.

 

 

 

BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr)