(Strasbourg) The winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) started today. PACE members began by debating the Election Observation Report on the presidential elections that recently took place in Georgia and Armenia. At the end of the morning, a short video was played introducing the hashtag campaign #NotInMyParliament to counter abuse and discrimination against women in institutions. A study by PACE will be released in the coming days. The agenda for tomorrow includes addresses by Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini, the current chairman of the Committee of Ministers, and by the Council’s Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland. A debate will follow on the “Compatibility of Sharia law with the European Convention on Human Rights”. On Wednesday, the debate will focus on “Media freedom as a condition for democratic elections”; on “Public service media in the context of disinformation and propaganda”; and on “Internet governance and human rights”, discrimination and persons with disability in the workplace.  Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö is also expected to take the floor. The two “urgent debates” requested, on “Open Russian aggression against Ukraine” and on “the worsening situation of opposition politicians in Turkey”, are scheduled for Thursday.