Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-11-Speech-2-250"
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"en.20071211.36.2-250"2
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"Mr President, I also welcome this EU report, which is a joint report by the Council and the European Commission. Those of you who were present the first time I spoke here as a Commissioner will know that it has always been my wish for us to address this issue together. I would also like to thank those in Parliament who have contributed to our report. At the end of the day, this is a very good document which expresses what we have to say, and shows what we have been doing, in the field of human rights.
However, as the number of dialogues increases, we must be vigilant to ensure consistency and effectiveness – a point that the European Parliament rightly underlined in its resolution of 6 September 2007.
Thirdly, let me turn to the EU human rights guidelines. I am pleased – and the Council Presidency has already noted this – that 2007 has seen the adoption of the new guidelines on the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, jointly with an implementation strategy. As a first priority, we shall address under those guidelines the crucial issue of violence against children.
As in the case of all EU guidelines it is, of course, implementation that counts. The European Union has, in particular, been active under the guidelines on the death penalty, torture and ill-treatment, with numerous general démarches, but also with many specific representations on individual death-penalty or torture cases in a range of third countries. We will consistently raise these matters in political dialogue meetings with third countries.
Finally, I must mention the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), which has been in place since January 2007. The EIDHR enables us to provide funding directly to civil society organisations worldwide, without the intervention of governments. This has become a vital instrument for strengthening grass-roots organisations throughout the world, without which human rights and democracy could not flourish. The EIDHR puts a new emphasis on the promotion of democracy and also allows us to provide support for actions in support of the EU human rights guidelines.
A further innovation is that funds can now be mobilised to assist human rights defenders who are in danger as a result of their activities. In total, some EUR 140 million will be available each year under this instrument, and the first calls for project proposals are now open.
Time allows me only to touch on those few points today. However, I think any reader of this good and interesting annual report cannot fail to be struck both by the sheer geographic scope of our activities on human rights and by the range of thematic issues covered.
In addition to the topics I have already mentioned, I would like to say that the European Union has been active on issues as diverse as promoting membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC), women’s rights and the rights of persons with disabilities.
The year 2007 has been a year of achievements. Nevertheless, we are also aware that human rights violations remain, unfortunately, endemic throughout the globe. In this 60th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we will, of course, continue our efforts to ensure that the rights contained in that Declaration eventually become a tangible reality for all of us.
Yesterday the world celebrated International Human Rights Day, which is particularly significant this year as it marks the start of the celebrations to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That was the first step in establishing a comprehensive international framework for the protection of human rights, which has now been followed by an impressive codification of international human rights law over the past decades.
Today, the challenge is to turn implementation into reality, worldwide. For instance, the deplorable human rights situations in Burma/Myanmar, in Sudan/Darfur, Iran and Zimbabwe are a stark reminder of the challenge we face, and one brought home to us today by the winner of the Sakharov Prize, Mr Osman. He has clearly shown us the way.
I would like to draw your attention to four key developments which have particularly marked the European Union’s activities over the past year. First, we have seen important changes within the United Nations human rights system. The institution-building phase of the Human Rights Council has been more or less successfully completed, and there is ground for cautious optimism, provided the Council addresses human rights violations in a timely manner whenever and wherever they occur.
In that light, we were pleased to see that, further to the EU’s initiative, the Human Rights Council has taken steps to address the grave violation of human rights in Burma/Myanmar, and also in Sudan/Darfur. Moreover, we also welcome the creation of the system of the Universal Periodic Review which, as of next year, will also allow for a regular thorough examination of the human rights records of every UN member state.
Despite the creation of the Human Rights Council, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly remains, of course, an equally important forum for human rights issues. The European Union will continue to make full use of that Committee to propose both thematic and country resolutions. At this year’s session there was a particular success – namely the adoption for the first time of a resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Thanks to the EU’s initiative and the building of a cross-regional coalition, the historic condemnation of the death penalty marks a crucial step in building an international consensus towards its eventual eradication.
Secondly, one of the most important tools at our disposal for raising human rights issues with third countries is the human rights dialogues. They also enable us to raise particular human rights concerns with a partner country, make recommendations for improvement and also discuss possible ways to promote reform through training projects or cooperation. The last year has seen a considerable increase in the number of human rights dialogues.
We now conduct dialogues with around 25 partner countries. For example, we have established human rights dialogues with most of the European neighbourhood countries, and initial meetings have generally been quite – and sometimes highly – constructive.
The first round of the human rights experts’ dialogues, including with the African Union, has opened up new possibilities for engaging with the African continent on human rights. In May 2007, the European Union held the first human rights dialogue with Uzbekistan, and the EU strategy for Central Asia foresees the establishment of such dialogues with all Central Asian countries."@en1
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