Tag: PACE

The Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF) welcomes the opportunity to participate in this consultation of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) concerning “Technical Standards specifying certain requirements of Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA)”. We believe our comments will help to shape the regulation of the use of crypto-assets in line with fundamental rights not only in the EU, as well as the new AML/CFT Regulation, and will be reflected in the relevant report and recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation Europe (OSCE PA), as well as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations regarding non-profit organisations.

Germany, as one of the founding members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), creates standards for global financial policy to comply with anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) rules; FATF Recommendations lead to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and non-profit organisations (NPOs) to be defined as high-risk organisations by financial institutions, thereby by default opening the […]

1. Building True Change Coalition and Its Mission The Building True Change Coalition (BTC Coalition) is a global network of freedom fighters united by the mission of harnessing the power of Bitcoin to protect fundamental rights and promote financial inclusion. Its members include human rights defenders, political activists, Bitcoin entreprenuers and industry experts. The coalition […]

In light of the ongoing discussion on better integration of the work of civil society in the works of national parliaments and international parliamentary assemblies, the Open Dialogue Foundation has been a vocal proponent and advocate for more transparent, organised and fair regulation, benefitting civil society. We believe that the expertise, input and advocacy work […]

As part of the 2023 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, on October 6th, 2023, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) organised a side event on “Integrating civil society in the work of national parliaments”. Our Supervisory Board Chair, Bartosz Kramek, was invited to provide input based […]

During the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly 2023 of the Council of Europe that concluded on April 28th, our representation (Martin Mycielski and Katarzyna Szczypska) together with Judge Maciej Ferek (reinstated after 522 days of suspension for applying the primacy of European law), discussed the rule of law and political persecution in Poland and […]

The Open Dialogue Foundation and MP Constantinos Efstathiou (Cyprus, SOC) organise a side event at the upcoming session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 26 January 2023. The discussion titled Misuse of the Anti-Money Laundering Measures (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regulations as a tool of transnational repression will take place in Room 3 at the premises of Palais de l’Europe (the headquarter of the Council of Europe) at 1 p.m. in Strasbourg.

Thanks to the latest resolution of the Council of Europe, the Open Dialogue Foundation’s Lyudmyla Kozlovska hopes that she will be able to effectively appeal the ban on entering Poland and learn the reasons for her expulsion by the Polish authorities. “The Council of Europe stands up for foreigners prosecuted for political reasons,” said Kozlovska […]

During the October 2022 plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe ODF had the honour to organise a public hearing under the title “Erosion of the rule of law in Poland: Political abuses of the prosecution office”. The event, held on 13 October in the Council’s Strasbourg headquarters, was hosted by […]

The ban has been imposed in connection with “foul underhand tactics” used by Mularczyk against the Open Dialogue Foundation. It will be in effect from 2 June to 2 September. The decision was taken early last month by the Rules Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly, which is composed of parliamentarians delegated to Strasbourg by the […]

Following our support of the Resolution on the independence of judges, adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on January 26th, ODF became a target for representatives of the Polish PiS government, whose actions were harshly criticised in the Resolution. PiS MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk, supported by British Conservative Ian Liddell-Grainger, initiated a […]

On 28 January 2021, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on judges in Poland and the Republic of Moldova. The resolution, resulting from ODF’s advocacy efforts back in 2018, urges the countries’ authorities to uphold the rule of law and ensure judicial independence. Prior to passing the resolution the Assembly voted on a series of amendments. Three out of five of the amendments that ODF’s team has helped to draw up and advocated for, further detailing the Polish government’s rule of law breaches, were accepted by an overwhelming majority.

The 2020 Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), held on 27-31 January 2020 in Strasbourg, was dominated by two topics: the returning of voting rights to Russia (which ODF strongly campaigned against), which was suspended following its annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine, and the worsening situation in regard to the rule of law in Poland.

As is by now tradition for us, we were proud to be present during the 2020 Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, held on 27-31 January 2020 in Strasbourg, France. Our delegation consisted of ODF President Lyudmyla Kozlovska, Kazakhstani activist from the ‘Qaharman’ human rights movement Dana Zhanay and Polish persecuted judge Dominik Czeszkiewicz from the Suwałki District Court.

On November 29, 2019, the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) met in Strasbourg to discuss, among other items, the INTERPOL reform and extradition proceedings. A delegation of ODF, represented by Lyudmyla Kozlovska and Ana Ursachi, Moldovan lawyer and human rights defender, arrived at Palais de l’Europe to support the debate.