PACE President Maury-Pasquier to EF: Boost Geneva/UN - Strasbourg/CoE links, mainly on Human Rights+

*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- One of the Best Links between Geneva and Strasbourg, Global and European Human Rights matters : Dick Marty, Swiss Attorney, elected Politician, and former Long-Time CoE Assembly's (PACE) Rapporteur on "Hot" Issues, President of its Legal affairs Committee, and currently vice-President of the World Organisation against Torture (WOAT), invited here this week to discuss his new Book on "a certain Idea of Justice", in a special Side Event of PACE's Winter 2019 Plenary Session, gave an opportunity for "Eurofora" to question the New President of the PACE, Liliane Maury-Pasquier, herself a Swiss MEP, about her intentions on CoE - UNO a.o. relations in the foreseable Future:

- In her Reply to "Eurofora"s question, the PanEuropean CoE Assembly's President reminded, First of all, the simple but interesting, relevant Fact that she personally was "a Geneva Citizen myself", as she pointed out with a smile.

Indeed, in an unusual but practical move recently, f.ex. Pasquier had Recently chosen Geneva as her Meeting place for a Politically Important Encounter with the Vice-President of the Russian Duma, MEP Pyotr Tolstoi, on the "Hot" and thorny Issue of Russian MEPs' Voting and Participation Rights inside PACE, as well as Moscow's Financial Contribution to the CoE (See, f.ex. : http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/coeandrussiain2019.html, etc), Last Week.

- For that and other reasons, "I certainly wish to see a Rapprochement of Activities" as that suggested by "Eurofora" in this regard (Comp. Supra), PACE's President went on to confirm positively.

- This could occur Both "Between those Cities (Geneva and Strasbourg) and the Institutions" which are headquartered there (f.ex. CoE, EU Parliament, etc., vis a vis UNO, IPU, etc), she interestingly added.

Her 1st point obviously concerns also another, adjacent Idea promoted in parallel by "Eurofora"s CoFounder : that of the creation of systematic Links between "International Cities", i.e. Cities hosting various International Organisations, withOut being themselves National Capitals of any single State, (f.ex. Strasbourg, Geneva, New York, Saint Petersburg, Shanghai, etc). Inter alia, we have already Proposed that, in particular, to Strasbourg's "EuroMetropole"'s President, Robert Herrmann, who gladly endorsed our idea, as early as since 2015-2016, (See, f.ex.: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/strasbourgmetropoleandairqualityiininternationalcities.html , http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/prefetfrataccistrasbourgasgebevanyorshanghai.html, etc), and even started, already, to at least partly Use it in real Practice, (f.ex. in the presentation of Strasbourg's "International Space University" [ISU] on 2018-2019, etc).

- Obviously, this concerns, "particularly the UNO, including at New York", (another International City : Comp. Supra), with which, "already this year", we had some joint moves, and this might develop further during the next year.

+ But, "in general, we (CoE) are interested for Cooperation with all Organisations which are active in SImilar Areas to ours", PACE's President added, in Wider Terms.

F.ex. already UNO's High Commissioner for Refugees notoriously has established a Permanent Representative to the CoE in Strasbourg, where, normaly, he should be Followed also by his Geneva collegue, the UNO's High Commissioner for Human Rights, and/or UNO's World Council of Human Rights (See also Infra), and/or UNO's Working Groups on "Missing" Persons, "Torture", etc.

Dick Marty is today the Only European in World Organisation against Torture (WOAT)'s Presidency, together with its Head : Hina Jilani, from Pakistan, and another vice-President :  Mokhtar Trifi, from Tunisia, (in addition to Various Other Members of its Executive Council, f.ex. from Russia, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, etc). WOAT is represented Both among CoE's PanEuropean Conference of "INGOS" in Strasbourg, and in relevant UN Organisations, including at the World Council on Human Rights, whose creation was one of the most Important Reforms at the Historic Heads of States/Governments' Summit on UNO's 60th Anniversary, back on 2005 in New York, that "Eurofora"s co-Founder had covered for the Press (publishing, then, mainly at "TCWeekly": Comp. f.ex. 2 Articles from NY, etc).

In the PACE he has Drafted several Key Reports of the CoE in particularly Delicate matters, including, f.ex., inter alia, also : on Cyprus' Enclaved People, living in the Territories controlled by Turkey's Invasion/Occupation Army, (a notoriously UNO Issue too); "Missing" Persons in Kosovo (f.ex. Serbs), and alleged Traffick of Human Organs, (where he reportedly suspected also Kosovo's current controversal President Hashim Thaçi, added to a Turkish "Doctor", etc, while also Advising "Eurofora" to always look for eventual "Ogans' Traffick" atrocities in cases of "Missing" Persons, f.ex. also in Cyprus, in Latin America, etc., but withOut limiting the Investigation only to that : See, f.ex. http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/martyonmissingorgantraffic.html) ; CIA's Redition Flights and alleged Secret Prisons, (a famous Global Medias' "Best Seller"), etc.

+ By a Timely Coincidence, almost at the Same Moment that "Eurofora" was speaking with PACE's President in her Office, at the Hemicycle, the Winter 2019 Plenary Session of the PanEuropean Organisation was Debating and Voting on a Report seeking to Strengthen the Implementation of CoE's Anti-Torture Watchdog, the "Committee to Prevent Torture" CPT, by Enhancing the Role of Elected MPs and MEPs, in National, European, Paneuropean and International Parliaments. I.e. an Issue obviously near to Dick Marty's current and former roles as European vice-President of the World Organisation Against Torture and f. PACE's Top MEP, (Comp. Supra), as well as to Luisa Ballin's, (experenced Journalist and f. Long-Time Director of Communications at the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, with whom "Eurofora"'s co-Founder had co-Organized an Important Collective Fact-Finding Trip of ACANU, the Association of Press Correspondents covering UNO-related Issues from its Geneva Headquarters, already as early as since 1993-1994, before crossing eachother anew at Montreux/Glyon on 1997, near Luzern on 2005, shortly missing each other in Geneva on 2011, but communicating briefly Later-on, etc).

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+ "Eurofora" advanced further, Today, on Geneva - Strasbourg cooperation prospects (Comp. Supra), on the occasion of the "New Situation" for Europe, Nowadays on Syria, as USA is Withdrawing, while actors as Russia, Turkey, and EU Countries active in the International Coalition against ISIS' Deadly Islamist Terrorists, etc., that CoE's Secretary General, Thornbjorn Jagland, discussed with us Last Week in Strasbourg, (See: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/coesgjaglandgermanmfamaasrussia.html), as well as this Week's Decision of the PACE to elect Cyprus' MEP George Lucaides as New President of its Middle-East and Arab World Committee, (See : http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/coeassemplymiddleeastarabworld.html) : - "Are there any foreseable New Developments to expect as far as CoE's potential role, more or less Together with the UNO, might be concerned, f.ex. around Syria, Middle East, and/or other South Mediterranean Countries ?", we asked President Pasquier.

 - Without Denying that concrete possibility, PACE's President carefully preferred, here, to reserve her Reply "Open" for the Future : - "I haven't yet thoroughly examined this kind of issues in depth, and it appears to be too early for the moment, so I can't reply to that point now, but I promise to do so as soon as possible", she told us, honestly, in substance.

=> Rendez-Vous taken, on that key point... And even in front of interested witnesses, since our exchange took place during the regular, Post-Session's Press-Briefing by PACE's Presidency to Strasbourg's European Journalists.