STRASBOURG (Sputnik) — The migration crisis remains the major challenge for the Council of Europe, the president of the organization's parliamentary assembly (PACE), Anne Brasseur, said Monday.
"We only started reacting when people started dying, we only started reacting when people started knocking on our door. That was the challenge, that will continue to be the challenge," Brasseur said at a press conference in answer to a question about what challenges the Council of Europe is currently facing.
Earlier in the day, the PACE Winter Session started in the French city of Strasbourg. Lawmakers from European countries will present reports and adopt resolutions related to the most pressing international issues, including the problems migrants encounter on their way to Europe.
"The other challenge of course will be to uphold the European Convention on Human Rights, staunchly uphold it," Brasseur said, calling for a the Convention to serve as a reference point in all the work of the Assembly.
Europe is struggling to find a solution to a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
