Nigar Arpadarai: The time has come for reforms in the Council of Europe.

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International News Desk

According to Ug News Media Europe,During the first summit of the Council of Europe in 1993, the heads of state entrusted the Council of Europe with a new mission: to create a common European space where democracy, human rights and the rule of law can flourish for the benefit of all Europeans under a single roof known as the common European house. Unfortunately, despite the passage of 30 years, today we are further away from this noble goal.Ug News Media Europe reports that Nigar Arpadarai, a member of Azerbaijan’s delegation to PACE, expressed these views during the discussion of the report on PACE’s proposals for the fourth Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe. It was stated that the time for reforms in the Council of Europe has long arrived. The world has changed significantly and this organization must change as well.”If we want a secure Europe, we must express more clearly our commitment to principles of international law such as territorial integrity. We need to create a real mechanism to fight militarized and aggressive separatism, which is often used as a pretext for conflict and war in Europe. There should be a mechanism for sanctions against those who support separatism through illegal means, and a commitment by all members not to support such cases in other countries. It is important to emphasize this regarding Ukraine, but the position in question applies to all member states of the Council. Separatism and territorial claims are a cancer that is destroying the foundations of unity on the European continent.Azerbaijan is still suffering from the consequences of the occupation of its territories for the purpose of annexation and Armenian aggression.Armenia’s constitution and declaration of independence still contain provisions reflecting territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Even if it is surprising, this is the truth”, said N. Arpadarai.
The deputy also shared his views on media independence and freedom of speech for the 4th summit of the Council of Europe.He emphasized that the independence and freedom of the media is easily violated.We are witnessing the silencing and stifling of many media outlets.We see media being marginalized by governments, big pharma and social media giants. And the pandemic period has shown us how sensitive and fragile freedom of speech really is.Social media plays one of the main roles in today’s activities.Through algorithms, it can manipulate public opinion and misdirect it, promoting one opinion and suppressing another. Unfortunately, we have no influence or real control over this.The actual involvement of various security services in this case can only be guessed.from time to time there are reports that various foreign forces are accused of interfering in the internal affairs of countries. But what is really going on there, behind the doors and in the server rooms of the social media giants? This is one of the most urgent and serious challenges for democracies today. In my opinion, this problem is more serious than climate change in the modern world.”The Council of Europe, the world’s largest democratic club, cannot turn a blind eye to this.One of the main areas of PACE’s agenda in the coming years is the protection of people’s right to know what algorithms are used and what happens to their data, the accountability of governments, especially large states, for what they do on social media, and the accountability and control of large pharmaceutical and technology companies, as well as their executives. ,as well as, in general, there should be issues related to the functioning of the Internet”, said N.Arpadarai, referring to the serious issues that social media can create.

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