A delegation from the Storting, comprising head of delegation Ingjerd Schou (Conservative Party), and four other members – Jette Christensen (Labour Party), Silje Hjemdal (Progress Party), Kårstein Eidem Løvaas (Conservative Party) and Aleksander Stokkebø (Conservative Party) – is currently in Strasbourg. Two other members, Lise Christoffersen (Labour Party) and Morten Wold (Progress Party), will be taking part online.

The conference will devote a whole day and the consideration of seven different reports to human rights and the climate. The MPs will be able to participate in debates on how to “anchor a right to a healthy environment, and how tackling climate change will require more participatory democracy, changes in criminal and civil liability, and a greater reliance on the rule of law.”

The day’s debates will also consider how to combat inequalities in the right to a safe, healthy and clean environment, as well as climate and migration, and how research policies can promote environmental protection. Additionally, special guests have been invited to take part in a high-level panel and interactive debate on “The environment and human rights: the right to a safe, healthy and sustainable environment”.

Other debates

Other topics and debates during the Autumn Session include the humanitarian consequences of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, strengthening the fight against so-called “honour crimes”, and how to tackle the growing socio-economic disparities in Europe.

Topical political issues may also be raised for discussion in urgent debates. There are proposals to formulate urgent resolutions on the situation in Afghanistan; the increased migration pressure on Belarus’s borders with Latvia, Lithuania and Poland; and a new draft protocol to the Council of Europe’s Cybercrime Convention on enhanced co-operation and the disclosure of electronic evidence. Several current affairs debates have been tabled. These include debates on democratic challenges in the Western Balkans and on the political persecution of indigenous peoples in Crimea by Russia.

See PACE's website for more information about the autumn session

The Storting’s PACE Delegation comprises the following members: Ingjerd Schou (Conservative Party, head of delegation), Lise Christoffersen (Labour Party, deputy head of delegation), Morten Wold (Progress Party), Espen Barth Eide (Labour Party), Emilie Mehl (Centre Party), Petter Eide (Socialist Left Party), Jette Christensen (Labour Party), Kårstein Eidem Løvaas (Conservative Party), Silje Hjemdal (Progress Party) and Alexander Stokkebø (Conservative Party).

The Council of Europe and its parliamentary assembly

The Council of Europe was founded in 1949, and currently comprises 47 member states. The principal aim of the Council of Europe is to work towards strengthening human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law in its member states.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) consists of a total of 324 MPs (and the same number of substitutes) from the member states’ national assemblies.

PACE is an advisory body which plays an important role in the Council of Europe. It adopts resolutions and recommendations to the member states’ parliaments and governments in a wide range of fields, and monitors the extent to which its member states comply with their obligations as a member.