The death penalty is in the process of being banished from the European continent. The Assembly wants the countries with observer status to follow Europe's example. Renate Wohlwend, the Assembly's rapporteur on capital punishment, travelled to the United States and Gunnar Jansson, Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs, to Japan, where they reminded the authorities in Washington and Tokyo that the United States and Japan are the only countries enjoying observer status with the Council of Europe which have not yet abolished capital punishment. On the agenda for the Assembly's next session are freedom of expression in the media in Europe and the honouring by Ukraine of its obligations and commitments as a member of the Council of Europe. According to the Committee on Culture, Science and Education, freedom of expression continues to be violated all over Europe.
Censorship takes the form of direct violence, legal measures, imprisonment and economic harassment.
For its part, the Monitoring Committee is convinced that Ukraine has failed on the obligations and commitments it undertook when it joined the Organisation in 1995 and proposes that the Committee of Ministers take the statutory measures to exclude the country from the Council of Europe. Other subjects developed in these pages include the first meeting of the Joint Working Group on Chechnya, the meeting of Parliamentary Speakers or Presidents against corruption, and the hearing organised by the Monitoring Committee against trafficking in women. This magazine is printed in Strasbourg, but its content, as you will see, reflects the work done by the Assembly in the field.