Cyprus MPs to attend PACE summer session

MPs Nicos Tornaritis (Head of delegation), Yiorgos Loukaides and Kostis Efstathiou, members of the Cypriot delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will be travelling to Strasbourg to attend the summer plenary session of the Assembly, taking place from 24 to 28 June.

On 27 June, the members will discuss the report by Italian deputy Piero Fassino titled ‘’Call for Varosha’s return to its lawful inhabitants’’, a press release by the Cyprus Parliament said.

MP Loukaides will also present an Opinion on behalf of the Political Affairs and Democracy Committee in the Plenary Assembly on the subject of reconciliation and compensation procedures, as effective ways of dealing with conflicts and building a common and peaceful future.

The agenda includes, among other issues, the strengthening of democracy through participatory processes and the prospect of further connecting youth with the work of the Convention, the protection of women human rights defenders in Europe, safeguarding human rights against the processing of asylum applications, Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and the destruction of cultural identity in war times.

The Assembly will be addressed by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić.

Elections will also be held to elect the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe for the next five years.

The Assembly will also award the first ever Vigdís Prize for Women's Empowerment, which rewards outstanding initiatives to promote the empowerment of women in all their diversity in Europe and beyond.

(Source: CNA)