For the first time in its 77-year history, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has an equal number of female and male members.
This announcement, made during the spring plenary session held between 20 and 24 April in Strasbourg, is based on an analysis of statistics that takes account of both full and substitute members.
This follows a steady increase in recent years.
This parity in the Assembly corresponds to a series of regulatory changes introduced after the election of Despina Chatzivassiliou as the first female Secretary General of the Assembly in January 2021, when women represented only 37% of its members.
The Assembly, which elects judges to the European Court of Human Rights, has also taken steps to increase the number of female judges by requiring states to include at least one woman in the three candidates for election.
Of the 45 judges currently on the Court – the seat of the Slovak judge is vacant – only 16, or 35%, are female. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)