Armenian MP Arusyak Julhakyan Elected PACE Vice-President

STRASBOURG — Armenian MP Arusyak Julhakyan has been elected Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Nineteen Vice-Presidents are elected annually at the beginning of an ordinary session and remain in office until the opening of the next session.

PACE winter session kicked off in Strasbourg on Monday, January 27, and will continue through January 31.

Debates on the humanitarian crisis concerning women, children and the hostages in Gaza; and on the need for a renewed rules-based international order – with a statement by Marko Bošnjak, President of the European Court of Human Rights – are among the highlights of the winter plenary session.

The Assembly will also hold urgent debates on the “Opinion on a draft convention for the protection of the profession of lawyer”, “The urgent need for free and fair elections in Belarus” and the “European commitment to a just and lasting peace in Ukraine”.

The Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden, will address the parliamentarians and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Chair of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, Xavier Bettel, will present his communication to the Assembly and take questions from members in the framework of Luxembourg’s Presidency.

His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will also address the Assembly, and Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, will present a communication to the parliamentarians.

The presentation of a report on multi-perspectivity in remembrance and history education will be followed by a ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in the Chamber.

Other highlights on the agenda include the observation of the parliamentary elections in Georgia; immigration as one of the answers to Europe’s demographic ageing; the risks to human rights and the rule of law posed by mercenaries and private military companies; regulating content moderation on social media to safeguard freedom of expression; and age-based discrimination against older persons.