Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-05-18-Speech-2-390"
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"en.20100518.32.2-390"2
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"Madam President, as Mr Jáuregui was saying, the debate that we are going to have now, along with the one that we have just had, is extraordinarily important. I think humanity is taking a historical step forward when defending human rights becomes not just the responsibility of states, which are the traditional political actors and the traditional political players of the last few centuries, but something which, in terms of defending humanity, goes beyond the borders of states and establishes a series of mechanisms and institutional guarantees in order to better defend their universal values.
This is also why this review conference is very important. It is open to all states, along with civil society and international and regional organisations, and is going to enable us to evaluate the state of international justice at a time when the International Criminal Court is becoming established as the only permanent international criminal court.
The European Convention on Human Rights, which is probably one of the greatest treasures that Europe possesses, and the International Criminal Court, which goes beyond Europe, are examples of this step forward that is being taken in our times towards the globalisation and defence of human rights.
With regard to the European Convention on Human Rights, there is little to add to the speech made by Mr Jáuregui and to his excellent report, which was drafted along with the rapporteurs for the opinion, Mr Preda and Mrs Gál, on the issue of the European Union signing the European Convention on Human Rights.
I would like to reiterate many of the things that Mr Jáuregui said, and point out that signing the convention constitutes an element of European integration, which therefore strengthens the European Union. Moreover, it is going to join forces with the major new element brought in by the Treaty of Lisbon, which is the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and they are going to work together. This is one of the tasks – not only political tasks, but also technical tasks – of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, without impinging even slightly on their jurisdiction.
Moreover, this initiative, which is provided for by the Treaty of Lisbon, also increases the European Union’s credibility in defending human rights, as we are asking not European Union countries but European countries to contribute to strengthening the European Convention on Human Rights. In other words, we are asking them to guarantee that the rights laid down in the convention are respected and protected and, in this way, the European Union itself, not just its Member States, is going to be subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. This increases our credibility, as Mr Jáuregui’s report very rightly states.
With regard to the International Criminal Court, I think that this is a time that we are also going to describe as ‘historic’ and of major political significance, because in a few days, the review conference of the Rome Statute is going to meet. This is the only compulsory conference that must meet to review the Rome Statute if necessary and evaluate the extremely important step forward that is the International Criminal Court.
This is therefore an extremely significant event, which today is being examined in the Political and Security Committee and tomorrow is going to be discussed in the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper). We hope that next week, the Council resolution will be adopted so that we can join in the very positive evaluation of the International Criminal Court given by other states, such as the Latin American states that are part of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur).
We are talking about an International Criminal Court that represents a commitment to defend human rights, and therefore to prosecute crimes against humanity at universal level. This is a commitment that has been made by the European Union and by its Member States. I would like to remind you that there was a common position in 2003, there was an action plan in 2004, and there was also an agreement by the European Union on cooperation with the Court in 2006. All the Member States of the European Union are now parties to the Rome Statute, and therefore submit to the International Criminal Court.
I think this is extremely important in order to highlight the role that the International Criminal Court plays in the world and the European Union’s commitment to strengthening it. The International Criminal Court is currently essentially working on the continent of Africa, but the Kampala conference is telling the African people that we are not against Africa: quite the contrary, we are with Africa."@en1
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