Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-27-Speech-3-032"
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"en.20050427.7.3-032"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, as citizens of the new Member States we are fortunate enough to be able to say that we are no longer directly affected by the problem of human rights, which is a major issue and the subject of our debate today. Human rights are no longer being violated in our countries in the way they were for 50 years, firstly during German occupation and then under a Communist regime. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the fact that human rights are still continually and grossly violated all over the world, and this is something of which we should be thoroughly ashamed. The motives behind these violations are quite basic, yet they are intolerable and there should be no place for them in the world today. One of these motives is religion, with Catholics being persecuted in a great many countries. In modern-day China, for example, Catholics are deprived of any rights, and the same is true in a great many other countries. The burning of churches and related events in Indonesia must surely still be fresh in your minds. Another motive is nationality. I find it astonishing that a country like China can persecute people it calls its own citizens, especially given that these people are not in fact Chinese citizens. The people of Tibet are actually entitled to a country of their own. I find it equally astonishing that the world can stand by and watch, and that there have even been calls to lift the embargo against China. This embargo has no real effect, of course, but it testifies to our moral beliefs, and we should act in accordance with such beliefs in this instance. As far as Chechnya is concerned, I find it incomprehensible that Russia can now be considered a political partner like any other, when this is a country that not only murdered a moderate Chechen politician, but also acted in a barbaric manner by refusing to give up his body, and said that he had been buried in an unmarked grave because he deserved nothing better. Similar instances of countries acting like outlaws by persecuting their own citizens can be seen in Cuba and Belarus. This was also what happened in Darfur, and yet the world does virtually nothing in response to events of this kind, although I am of course aware that these issues have been discussed in this House. Persecution of this kind is equivalent to hunting Pygmies with the sole aim of treating them like common game, and it is an extremely serious problem. In colonial times, countries took responsibility, to a greater or lesser degree, for ensuring that order prevailed in their colonies. Today, however, we are frequently confronted with what amounts to conspiracies between entrepreneurs. The latter corrupt local rulers in order to exploit the former colonies in a way that surpasses even the exploitation they suffered in colonial times. These entrepreneurs are not subject to any kind of checks by their home countries. In fact the opposite is true, as they have the backing of these countries. In view of this, I would ask for an investigation to be opened into the following case, which has been covered by the press. A case has been filed with the Paris Military Court regarding the complicity of French soldiers in the genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Rwanda in 1994. Institutions such as the European Parliament have a duty to act as guardians of fundamental human rights, and to monitor the world’s largest countries in order to ensure that they are not collaborating in these gross violations of human rights."@en1
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