Last Wednesday, the day before the Ascension break, Rik Daems, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), sent a ‘toolkit’ to the speakers of the parliaments of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe (CoE). The toolkit, which is called ‘Guidelines for discussions on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic’ is intended to be used alongside other CoE documents and guidelines on the subject of defending democracy, the rule of law and human rights, which are all part of the Strasbourg-based organisation’s area of expertise.
So far, four legal tools have been disseminated: - the document sent to national governments by Marija Pejčinović Burić, the Secretary General of the CoE, at the end of March (regarding in particular derogations from the European Convention on Human Rights, the limits of states of emergency and the MEDICRIME Convention on the counterfeiting of medicines); - the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on human rights impacts of algorithmic systems ; - the Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Istanbul Convention (combating violence against women and domestic violence); - the Joint Declaration by the Committee of Convention 108 (automated processing of personal data) and the Data Protection Commissioner warning about the impact of digital contact tracing applications that are designed to tackle the pandemic.
Daems said that PACE is remaining active by using videoconferencing, enabling every country to share its experiences and good practice. He said he was willing to talk to the speakers of national parliaments and to provide “more concrete support” to their parliaments. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)