Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-23-Speech-3-161"
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".
Mr President, first of all I apologise for being a few minutes late.
We have made Zimbabwe the subject of strict observation as regards the elections which are due to be held there. I do not think that we really have much hope that those elections will follow proper democratic procedures. We shall therefore have to decide how we are going to continue our relations with this important country, and there are other countries in Africa which would be worth mentioning in this context.
Belarus has also been mentioned. We have imposed sanctions on Belarus, a country which has to some extent isolated itself. The question remains of whether, where human rights are concerned, we should isolate a country or seek to keep a minimum of dialogue open, especially in order to help those who are the first victims of restrictions on freedoms and human rights.
To conclude, I believe that Europe is making real, constant, active, but also diversified progress in the area of human rights, and we are not making this area a secondary priority as some people have said. I believe that we want to play an important role and adopt a more global approach towards human rights. Certain more specific rights have been mentioned, particularly in connection with multinational companies. That is why I believe that we should have a more innovative, yet multilateralist, conception of human rights. I believe that Europe should show the way, working with others of course, but we must do so in order to achieve progress in this cause.
On the subject of human rights, I believe that the views emphasised by the various speakers here in Parliament are to a large extent shared by the Council. I would simply like to consider a few points and try to comment on them.
I think we all agree that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is not perfect, and that there are many criticisms that can be levelled at it. Nevertheless, it has to be said that in the final analysis it is the only multilateral forum where human rights can be discussed on a truly worldwide scale, even if difficulties sometimes arise. It is obvious, then, that the European Union should apply itself to improving the way in which the UN Commission operates. We should play an active role in reforming its operation, and I believe that this is an extremely important point, in the context of the reform of the United Nations and of the multilateral system in general. We are also aware that the handling of human rights issues in various countries sometimes forms part of a long-drawn process. It is not possible to obtain rapid results, and that is why we need diversified approaches, working on different aspects.
I shall mention three examples, which have been commented on in detail in this House. Firstly, there is Iran. Of course, we could have a policy of confrontation with Iran over human rights issues, but the outcome of such a policy is still extremely uncertain. However, in the general negotiating process – and heaven knows we are discussing highly sensitive and important issues with Iran – human rights have not been left out of the equation. On the contrary, they occupy an important place.
Last week I had the opportunity to meet Iran’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, and we talked about human rights in a very specific way. We clearly called for the reactivation of the group discussing human rights in Iran, and for the resumption of the dialogue with Iran on human rights in the context of the general relations which we wish to establish with that country.
I have some hopes that Iran will agree to reactivate that group. For example, Iran has tried to obtain, in exchange, an assurance that there will not be any initiatives within the ECHR. I do not believe that we can agree to that request: a deal is not possible. However, what is important is that we have a dialogue with a country like Iran.
China was also mentioned. I believe that the human rights dialogue with China is an extremely important aspect of our relations with that country. As recently as this very afternoon, a meeting with China took place in Luxembourg on the subject of human rights.
We know that we are not going to modify, change or overthrow the Chinese system from one day to the next. We have a long job ahead of us, but if we look for a moment at the situation in other parts of the world, we can see that this relentless, gradual but constant work on human rights can prove successful and produce results, and there are plenty of examples to demonstrate this.
The final example I should like to mention is Zimbabwe. It is a very sad and tragic story, and it is not the only one in Africa – there are others. However, in the case of Zimbabwe we have imposed sanctions which I would not describe as too lax, as someone did just now. These are real sanctions. We have even gone so far as to cancel an EU-Africa summit because of Zimbabwe, since we did not want the President of Zimbabwe to take part in that meeting. We do not, therefore, have a weak and accommodating attitude towards that country."@en1
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