Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-11-Speech-4-152"
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"en.20020411.8.4-152"2
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".
Mr President, we share the concerns of the members who have tabled this resolution on serious setbacks in Guatemala in basic areas such as protection for human rights, the administration of justice and proper management of public affairs. We, like you, are most concerned at the increase in cases of intimidation in Guatemala, not just against human rights protesters but also against representatives of civil society, political leaders and members of non-governmental organisations and the clergy.
Consequently, the Commission’s main priorities as regards relations with Guatemala are as follows: first, to support the application of the 1996 peace agreements and then to encourage the modernisation of the state and set the management of public affairs on a firmer footing. These priorities are set against a background of wholesale implementation of the recommendations set out in the Commission report on historic clarification which Mrs González Álvarez referred to and which is of crucial importance. In this respect – and in line with the resolution on human rights in Guatemala which you adopted last June – the Commission has decided to take additional measures.
First, during the course of political dialogue, the Commission and the Member States of the Union regularly and tirelessly remind the Guatemalan authorities and local public institutions of the importance of discouraging any form of violence and of systematically examining any obstacles to respect for human rights and the rule of law.
Then, in a joint declaration published at the end of the meeting of an advisory group on Guatemala held in Washington in February, the Commission and the Member States insisted on the need for much more consistent progress in the peace process than has been seen recently. We are calling – and we shall continue to call – on the government of Guatemala to take regular, consistent measures to follow up the conclusions and commitments made in the advisory group. That is the first measure.
The second measure is to exert pressure on the government of Guatemala, within the framework of our cooperation, to comply with the 1996 peace agreements; as you know, we are funding specific initiatives in this area, especially measures to reinforce and modernise the national constabulary. The purpose of this programme is to encourage the Guatemalan authorities to take the measures needed to prevent any undermining of the rule of law and step up efforts to make the country much more democratic and fair. This initiative will be relayed over coming months in a new programme of cooperation for the benefit of the judicial system in Guatemala.
Between 2002 and 2006, which is the time scale for the Union's cooperation strategy with Guatemala, we intend to step up action on human rights and the fight against intimidation and impunity. Guatemala is, almost by chance, one of the main beneficiaries of the European initiative on democracy and human rights for the period from 2002 to 2004, when we shall be concentrating on proper management of public affairs, the rights of the indigenous populations, the death penalty and the fight against impunity, the very points which the parliamentarians themselves identified a while back."@en1
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