The implementation of Resolution 1633 on the consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia, adopted in October 2008, and the humanitarian consequences of the conflict will be one of the highlights of the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which will take place in Strasbourg from 26 January till 30 January 2009. The session to be continued till January 30.
The parliamentarians will discuss the reports by Luc Van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD) and Matyas Eorsi (Hungary, ALDE), co-rapporteurs of the Assembly's Monitoring Committee, and Corien W.A. Jonker (Netherlands, EPP/CD), rapporteur of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, following their visits to these countries.
The PACE Bureau has proposed a current affairs debate on the situation in Gaza and an urgent debate on the consequences of the global financial crisis.
The Assembly will also discuss Armenia's implementation of Resolutions 1609 and 1620, which PACE has adopted in April 2008, and gave its opinion on a proposal by the PACE Monitoring Committee to suspend the Armenian delegation's voting rights. The committee considers it "unacceptable" that persons could be charged and deprived of their liberty for political reasons and asks the Assembly to suspend the delegation's voting rights until the authorities have clearly demonstrated their political will to resolve this issue.
The Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been invited to address the Assembly on Tuesday 27 January. In the context of the Spanish chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos will address the parliamentarians on Wednesday 28 January. Philippe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), will make a speech on Tuesday 27 during a debate on co-operation with the ICC. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, will report on the state of the Organisation on Monday 26 January, PACE official website reported.