Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-15-Speech-4-195"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20011115.10.4-195"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, the murder of hundreds of members of the Benue community and the stoning of the pregnant woman in northern Nigeria highlight the desperate situation this country is in. The European Commission is monitoring the situation within the framework of its powers and capabilities. In May 2001, the Commission issued a common position making provision for political dialogue with Nigeria to be strengthened. This common position is based on human rights and missions headed by European Union diplomats have been in contact with the Nigerian government. One mission was concerned with the economic situation and the other with human rights and the problem of human rights and the need for the government to intervene and take action have been highlighted.
The government has acknowledged the problems and stressed that it intends to continue its efforts along these lines but I believe that parliament has also set limits on the potential for this particular government to intervene.
There are two points in the motions on which I should like to comment briefly. The first is the education of the security forces in the human rights sector. This is a new sector for the Community, which has come under military cooperation in the past. However, the Community is currently supporting this sort of programme in Algeria, Guatemala, the Ukraine and the Palestinian territories. The Commission is re-examining the potential for intervention in West Africa, Liberia and the Ivory Coast and, as far as Nigeria is concerned, the United Kingdom, France and the United States are involved in similar activities. The Commission is monitoring the problems within the specific framework of human rights, but it cannot intervene in the education of security forces for human rights unless the Nigerian government asks it to do so.
As far as humanitarian aid is concerned, the European Commission is intervening wherever the national or local authorities are unable to deal with natural or man-made disasters, but only in countries which have asked for help from abroad. So far, Nigeria has not asked for any help. The local authorities are more or less coping with the problems arising mainly as the result of movements of the population within the country, but I must stress, as has already been said, that Nigeria's problems are of a seriously structural nature. Short-term development aid is not enough to cope with them. However, the Commission thinks it is important to monitor recent developments directly on the ground, which is why it is planning to despatch ECHO delegates to Nigeria to record the dangers already referred to."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples