Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-14-Speech-3-158"
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"en.20040114.3.3-158"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, representative of the Commission, I believe that it is a pleasure for this Parliament to be able to hold this debate on the preparation of the 60th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Human rights are a priority issue, which must be applied in a universal and indivisible manner, regardless of the cultures on which each country is founded.
I was extremely pleased to hear the President-in-Office of the Council say that human rights were going to be a key element in the Irish Presidency’s work. I am also pleased to hear that the European Union must not just defend human rights with a view to exporting them, but that there must also be work to ensure that human rights are always protected and respected in the various States of the European Union.
In this regard, loutish acts of racism and xenophobia, or those associations that advocate certain cultural identities, must be completely outlawed. I would also point out that, since the European Union is a continent with a significant amount of immigration, it is possible that some of these actions will be directed at immigrant groups.
Since I cannot naturally refer to all the points that I believe must be argued at this session in Geneva, I will just refer to three specific ones: firstly, the issue of Cuba, where illegal detentions are taking place, specifically for crimes of opinion; in this regard, guaranteeing freedom of expression, of association and of meeting is a priority issue. The European Parliament awarded the Sakharov prize to Oswaldo José Payá in 2002 and I believe this is an issue that we must be concerned about.
Secondly, on that very island of Cuba there is Guantánamo. I am not going to go too far into this, but there are 700 people there, awaiting trial in a situation which is legally indefensible. Finally, there are also other countries such as North Korea where people are being imprisoned in situations that we can only condemn.
I myself have lived for many years in a country in which human rights were not guaranteed and I believe that the European Union must be committed to defending these rights here and throughout the world."@en1
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