The first working day started with the Plenary Session, opened by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Mr Jean Claude Mignon.

In accordance with common practise, the Parliamentary Assembly dealt procedural issues during the first day. Two new Vice Presidents of the PACE were elected today: Mr Sandro Gozi (Italy) and Mr Philippe Mahoux (Belgium).

At the beginning of the Session, it was decided the voting rights of the Icelandic delegation to the PACE to be suspended, until at least one woman is appointed to the delegation as a Representative, in line with a decision taken by the Assembly at its last session; the Iceland Delegation was warned on this during the June Session. President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Mr Jean-Claude Mignon recalled that during the June Session the Parliamentary Assembly was assured that Icelandic Delegation would be brought into line with the Assembly’s Rules, which was not done.

In addition, during the plenum, changes of MPs membership to PACE committees were verified.

On the occasion of establishing the Agenda of the PACE Autumn Session, it was decided two urgent debates to be held, on: “The Situation in Syria” and “EU and Council of Europe human rights agendas: synergies not duplication”.

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said that the PACE had to make a political contribution to resolving the conflict in Syria, because PACE members cannot and must not ignore the terrible war that had been happening in Syria, having on mind the alarming dimension of the conflict, due to the fact that for two and half year conflict, there was more than 100,000 dead people and over two million of refugees. He emphasised that the Parliament was obliged politically to contribute to resolving of this conflict, not only by supporting efforts of diplomats from PACE countries in resolving the problem, but also by sending a strong message to governments of members states that they should do what was in their power in order to enable respect of international humanitarian law, i.e. rights of belligerents.

During his speech, PACE President also referred to awarding of theVáclav Havel Human Rights Prize, the first ever award for special contribution to development of human rights. He emphasised that the award was primarily an acknowledgement of the outstanding work done all over the world by men and women committed to the defence of human rights. It constitutes recognition in the eyes of all those who are fighting to ensure respect for human dignity and fundamental human rights and freedoms, very often in extremely difficult conditions and at the risk of their lives

PACE President voiced pleasure over the fact that PACE MPs will be addressed during the Autumn Session by Armenian President, Serbian President and the Speaker of the Russian State Duma.

During the first day of the Autumn Session, awarding of the first Václav Havel Human Rights Prize drew special attention. Out of total 27 nominees for the award, three candidates were shortlisted - Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (Georgia), Rights Defence Network (China) and human rights activists Mr Ales Bialiatski.  As Mr Bialiatski is currently in prison, the €60 000 prize was presented to his wife, Ms Natallia Pinchuk, in a special ceremony at the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg.

PACE President Mr Jean Claude Mignon, Chair of the Selection Panel, said: ““In his daily struggle against violations of human rights, injustice, arbitrariness and authoritarianism, Ales Bialiatski has worked ceaselessly so that the citizens of Belarus may one day aspire to our European standards.”In prison since 2011 following a trial unanimously condemned by the international community, Ales Bialiatski has for many years fought in Belarus to assist victims of political repression and to spread information worldwide on human rights violations in the country. He is Chairman of the Human Rights Centre Viasna, which he set up in 1996, and – since 2007 – Vice- President of the International Federation on Human Rights.

During the first day of the PACE Autumn Session, the discussion was on PACE Progress report of the Bureau and the Standing Committee and Report on Observation of the parliamentary elections in Albania.

During the afternoon sessions, PACE MPs were addressed by Mr Edward Nalbandian, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers.

During the first working day, the Bureau meeting was held, attended by the Head of the Delegation and PACE Vice President Mr Zoran Vukčević, PhD.

Meetings of the following committees were also held: Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media, Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination; these were attended by members i.e. deputy members of the Delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro to the PACE.

Delegation members participated in the work of the Socialist Group as well as the work of the Socialist Women's Working Group.

During the second working day of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Agenda will include: election of judges of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Romania, discussion on activities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2012/2013 on the right of children to physical integrity and development of PACE monitoring procedure.

In addition, during the second day of PACE Autumn Session, the Speaker of the Russian State Duma Mr Sergey Naryshkin will address PACE MPs.