The General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty has the mandate to intervene in matters relating to the abolition of the death penalty in various contexts (member and observer countries, partners for democracy, and states applying for such status). He periodically reports to the commission about the collected information and the actions taken. His term lasts for one year and he can be re-elected a maximum of two times. For the first time, a representative of the Macedonian Parliament is elected to this position.

During the session, the MPs reviewed the Report on the abuse of the PEGASUS system and similar systems, which the states use for covert electronic surveillance. During the discussion, representatives from Spain, Poland and Greece, who were victims of abuse of these systems, were invited and interviewed, and Diana Riba, member of the European Parliament and vice-president of the PEGA Committee of the European Parliament for research into the use of PEGASUS and equivalent monitoring software, was also present.

In connection with the topic, Aleksandar Nikoloski requested that our country be included in this Report, which will be reviewed and adopted during the January session, because, according to him, such abuse exists in our country as well.

It was concluded that it is unacceptable for any country to monitor and follow opposition representatives, journalists, parliamentarians, and others, assessing that this scandal is equivalent to the Watergate scandal.

During the session, opinions were exchanged with the members of the Joint Committee on Human Rights of the Parliament of Great Britain, within which the mandate and operation of the Joint Committee were explained, as well as examples of the implementation of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights and the difficulties in that in Northern Ireland.

Part of the committee’s work was the consideration of the Report on the legality and human rights aspects of the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine and the request for an urgent debate during the January 2023 session on this topic.

Before the end of the session, the response of the Committee of Ministers to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly sent to them was reviewed, as well as the participation in future conferences, meetings, seminars, and the work calendar in 2023 was determined.