Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-20-Speech-4-043"
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"en.20010920.6.4-043"2
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"Madam President, I wish to pay tribute to the clarity of the proposals contained in Mr Watson’s report on the granting of refugee status. I feel that he has succeeded in reconciling various points of view. I personally see this report as complementing both the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Geneva Convention. As the Commission wanted, I believe that we finally have a good basis for discussion. We all know that there was a very wide disparity between the various Member States’ approaches to accepting refugees. We also know that the steps involved were complex and difficult. This report enables us to go somewhat further. And it also enhances the aid and support that we can give to refugees. I am also satisfied that our committee has taken into account the new forms that persecution can take. A few decades ago we were welcoming Chilean and Soviet refugees fleeing from dictatorships and persecution at the hands of their own governments. Nowadays there are certainly forms of repression, which force us to change our mindset and to take into account practices such as the sexual and genital mutilation of women, and new forms of persecution associated with terrorist groups and fundamentalists, and I believe that we have certainly taken that into consideration.
I would even go further and say that it is time that we considered asylum on health grounds bearing in mind that a disaster like AIDS is ravaging a continent, and similarly we should consider accepting child soldiers when they are at the mercy of arms dealers. I believe that it is also important for this report to be adequate in terms of the fight against discrimination. I shall conclude by saying that in recent weeks, in view of the terrifying attacks committed on the United States last week, the fear of attacks against Afghan civilians has become a real one. At present, there are 600 people in the camp at Sangatte who are firmly committed to opposing terrorism. They are asking to be accepted here. I think that if we were able to accept them, this would not only be a way of breaking the perceived link between terrorism and Islam, but that these people would also be solid allies in the fight against terrorism.
Mr Watson, let me take the liberty of suggesting that we could ascribe that phrase from Camus to you, when he said that his revolt was also the revolt of others. Thank you for your report."@en1
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