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CPT assesses isolation measures and cases of violence in Italian prisons
In a new report on Italy, the anti-torture Committee (CPT) has recommended ending the court-imposed measure of solitary confinement (“isolamento diurno”) for prisoners serving life sentences. The CPT also calls on the authorities to provide inmates with a minimum range of purposeful activities as...
Violence against women and domestic violence in the Netherlands: a stronger gender perspective is needed
In its first report on implementation by the Netherlands of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (widely known as the “Istanbul Convention”), the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts (GREVIO) stresses the country’s long history of addressing...
Venice Commission: New reform in Poland further undermines judicial independence
In an urgent Opinion issued today, the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, together with the organisation’s Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, concludes that the amendments to laws on the judiciary passed by the lower house of the Polish parliament (Sejm) on 20 December 2019...
Syrian doctor who ran underground children’s hospital receives Wallenberg prize
Dr. Amani Ballour, a paediatrician from Syria who ran an underground hospital in Eastern Ghouta in 2012-2018 and is now a refugee in Turkey, has been awarded the Council of Europe’s Raoul Wallenberg Prize for her personal courage, bravery and commitment in saving hundreds of lives during the...