(Strasbourg) The autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) opens in Strasbourg today. The guest of honour will be the president of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who will address the plenary tomorrow. He will take part in a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Council together with numerous prominent figures, including the president the Court of Human Rights, Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos, and the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. On 2 October, the new Secretary General of the Council, Marija Pejčinović Burić, is due to make her first address to the PACE. Topics to be discussed from today to 4 October include: the protection of whistleblowers, common standards for ombudsman institutions, the protection of victims of terrorism, the preservation of Jewish cultural heritage. As well as climate refugees, labour migration in Eastern Europe, and obstetrical and gynaecological violence. Russia is back on the agenda, with a request for an urgent debate on “democratic rights violations and suppression of peaceful protests in the Russian Federation on the background of elections to the Moscow City Council”. The winner of the 2019 Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize will also be announced today.