Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-25-Speech-4-112"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030925.9.4-112"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, the European Union has clearly demonstrated by the political, diplomatic and financial action it has taken over recent years that it is committed to the campaign against torture in the world. The Union raises the question regularly in its political dialogue with third countries and is also in the front line in promoting the optional protocol to the Convention Against Torture, which provides for the creation of national and international machinery allowing places where prisoners are held to be inspected.
This approach must also be seen in the context of the vast network of rehabilitation centres in existence today. The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims is itself working with some 200 centres around the world. Obviously, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission does not have the resources to cover such needs and can only support a small number of centres each year. Last year, for example, thirteen projects assisting torture victims inside and outside the Union received Community funds. This aid comes in addition to other major international sources of funding, such as the Voluntary Fund for the Victims of Torture set up by the United Nations, to which several Member States contribute. The Commission is currently completing work on the European initiative programme for 2004, which will give priority to the prevention of torture and to rehabilitation. This document will be presented to Parliament in due course.
Finally, Mr President, I would like to restate that the Commission does not intend to stop overnight all funding awarded to rehabilitation centres. The call for proposals amounting to EUR 11.5 million, targeting rehabilitation centres in the European Union, which was announced on 9 August 2003, is I think evidence enough of that. That is what I wanted to say on this question.
In order to strengthen the European Union’s action in a number of third countries, the Council Working Group on Human Rights is also currently preparing a strategy for a more effective application of the guidelines on torture adopted by the Union in 2001, while analysing information about cases of torture sent in by European Union heads of mission in different parts of the world.
Large amounts of money are given to non-governmental organisations and international bodies for the prevention of torture and the rehabilitation of victims through the European initiative for democracy and human rights. Last year, for example, EUR 25 million were allocated to projects of this kind under a call for proposals for 2002 and 2003.
In 1994, your Parliament played an important role in the allocation of funds for victims of acts of torture from the European Union budget. I am very much aware of the keen concerns raised within your Assembly by the decision to cut the funds intended for victim rehabilitation centres.
I would like, ladies and gentlemen, to briefly outline the origins of the Commission’s current policy on the financing of actions against torture.
In 2001, the Commission presented a communication on human rights, which was marked by a change of direction in the matter of rehabilitation and prevention and a commitment to ‘ensure that it focuses as much as possible on prevention, including through human rights education of the police and other possible agents of torture’. The European initiative’s programming document for 2002-2004 follows on from this, stressing that financing will be redirected towards longer-term prevention activities. In a few moments, I will say a few words about how this policy has been implemented. But first of all, I would like to explain the reasons for it.
The emphasis on prevention does not mean that the Commission sees no value in the rehabilitation of victims, quite the contrary. The legal, social and medical assistance provided by rehabilitation centres is in our view extremely important. However, since the funds allocated to the European initiative are limited to around EUR 100 million a year to finance four major priorities in the defence of human rights, the Commission was forced to make some harsh and difficult choices. The communication it presented in 2001 clearly shows that the general principle of the European initiative’s limited budget is to concentrate on civil and political rights and presents the European Union as the architect of change in the field of human rights.
So far as the campaign against torture is concerned, this principle means tackling the problems at source, for example by educating police forces and prison warders, by investigating the networks where instruments of torture are sold, by awareness-raising campaigns and support where major advances like the optional protocol to the Convention Against Torture are made.
In short, ladies and gentlemen, combating torture means taking the necessary measures to spare the victims of tomorrow. The decision to redirect the Union’s activities more and more towards prevention has been accompanied by specific measures designed to gradually reduce the dependence of rehabilitation centres on Community resources. Thus, since 2001 calls for proposals have attached great importance to the durability of projects during the evaluation process. Moreover, actions aimed at strengthening centres’ institutional capacities, in particular by developing their ability to mobilise funds, were explicitly eligible for financing in 2001 and 2002. I would also like to point out that, regardless of the Community funds available, there has never been any guarantee that particular centres will receive funding during any given year. All funding proposals are assessed by experts and given a mark using fair and transparent selection criteria. Funds are granted only to the best proposals."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples