Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-03-Speech-4-181"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2003-07-03"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Laos2
dcterms:Language	"fr"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20030703.12.4-181"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2003-07-03-Speech-4-1822
lpv:speaker	lp:Marie-Hélène Gillig2
lpv:spokenAs	substitute; Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 member; Delegation for relations with the countries of South America and MERCOSUR (2002-02-07--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Malta Joint Parliamentary Committee (2002-03-07--2004-04-30)3 unknown; Parti socialiste (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; PES (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 vice-chair; EMPL (2002-01-21--2004-07-19)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, Commissioner, the right to information is a fundamental right and freedom, which guarantees the continuation and the strengthening of peace and democracy in the world. Once again, these rights have been flouted and today we are forced to condemn the situation in Laos. Since 5 June, two journalists, one French and the other Belgian, have been imprisoned, together with their guides, in Vientiane in Laos. They were arrested in the Xieng Khuang province whilst reporting on the situation of the Hmong minority. After a trial that bordered on the farcical, on 30 June, Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud were sentenced to 15 years in prison for ‘obstructing an official in the performance of his duties’, as the case against them described it. This fallacious charge on the one hand and the sentence handed down, on the other, contravene the provisions of the Laotian criminal code. Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud were in fact convicted simply for carrying out their work as journalists and cameramen, filming a group of mountain people who have been hounded for years by an authoritarian regime that flouts every principle of democracy. The resolution that we propose Parliament should adopt and which we urge its President to convey to the Laotian authorities and to all member countries of ASEAN calls first for the immediate release of the two journalists and their guides; secondly, for international conventions to be applied, including the convention adopted by French-speaking countries in the Bamako declaration, which Laos has ratified, in order to protect the rights of journalists, particularly those reporting in conflict zones. Thirdly, the resolution calls for the immediate suspension of all policies of persecution and repression towards the Hmong people and other minorities in Laos; and fourthly, for all economic cooperation between the EU and Laos to be reviewed, as soon as possible and with the European Parliament being kept informed, as provided for in the agreements to which our resolution refers. I believe, Mr President, and I wish to state, on behalf of my entire group, that we cannot continue to assist and maintain relations with countries which, in full view of the whole world, breach human rights. It is one of our responsibilities as the European Parliament to condemn things that are totally unacceptable and to say so relentlessly."@en1

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