Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-01-13-Speech-4-145"
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"en.20050113.11.4-145"2
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"Mr President, The European Commission shares Parliament’s concern at the human rights situation in Iran and the recent testimonies of torture.
Like the Council, which adopted conclusions on this issue at the end of 2004, the Commission is of the opinion that little progress has been made in the past two years, despite the commitment made by the Government of Iran to strengthen respect for human rights and promote the rule of law.
That is why the European Union has decided unanimously to co-sponsor the resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran adopted at the United Nations General Assembly of November 2004.
This resolution expresses serious concern in relation to a number of human rights issues, including the use of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, such as amputation and flogging. At the same time, the resolution recalls the announcement of a ban on torture by the head of the Iranian judiciary in April 2004 and the subsequent passing of related legislation by the Iranian Parliament in May 2004. Those are interesting developments and issues which, together with the recent allegations of torture, warrant being raised directly with our Iranian partners.
The European Union is committed to pursuing the human rights dialogue initiated in December 2002, which remains an important channel for dialogue, not only with influential representatives of the judiciary, but also with Iranian civil society. I would also like to highlight the visits undertaken by a number of United Nations special rapporteurs to Iran since our human rights dialogue opened. That is quite remarkable in a country which previously had remained closed to United Nations visits for 16 years.
Finally, I would like to recall that following the positive developments on the nuclear front, the European Union is currently in the process of resuming talks with the Iranian Government on trade, investment and economic issues. These talks will provide an opportunity to highlight once again to our Iranian partners that all the relevant issues – political, nuclear, trade and human rights – are mutually inter-linked.
The Commission is in favour of constructive engagement with Iran, but that engagement is not synonymous with acting irresponsibly as regards areas of concern that matter so much to Parliament, the European Union and the world at large."@en1
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