Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-30-Speech-3-077"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20051130.11.3-077"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, I find this debate a bit of a curate’s egg: it is a bit of a mixed bag, as the situation in the three countries is very different.
Cambodia – where I was the chief election observer for the European Parliament in the last elections – is clearly a flawed democracy. It is very clear that the Cambodian People’s Party won that election. However, their treatment of Sam Rainsy and other members of his party is clearly unacceptable and the Council and the Commission should continue to press that message.
In Vietnam, there is a market-Leninist state with a strong reformist movement leading to gradual improvements. Nevertheless, the restriction on freedom of expression is something we should be pressing the country about, as well as the discrimination against the United Buddhist Church of Vietnam. The treatment of the indigenous minorities, particularly in the Central Highlands and in the north is unacceptable by any international standards, even if one allows for their negative role in the national liberation struggle in Vietnam in decades past.
The real problem, in my view, is in Laos, which is an authoritarian and essentially unreformed regime, where there are limits on freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of association and freedom of religion and there is no effective political opposition. I recall my colleague Olivier Dupuis, a former Member of the European Parliament, being arrested in Laos and going on hunger strike because of the inability to distribute material in that country. Later on, my colleague, Ms Morgan, will talk about the situation of the Lao-Hmong people in Laos, which is particularly appalling.
We call on the Commission and the Council to continue to put pressure on all these countries to alleviate the human rights problems, which are different, but still exist in all three countries."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples