Following the presentation of the annual report for 2002 of the European Parliament, a public audition dedicated to the situation of basic human rights and liberties in the EU for the year 2002 was held in Brussels on 24 April. Discussion focused on the progress made by the member states in terms of respect for basic liberties, but especially on an analysis of the human rights shortcomings and violations that persist in the territories of the EU. Politicians and experts expressed concern about the wave of expulsions of immigrants following the application of new European anti-terrorism legislation, which in more than one case have given rise to the recrudescence of cases of torture by the police authorities of some member states. A good deal of progress still has to be made in the protection of children and the elderly, in curbing the traffic in human beings (especially women and children), in accepting refugees, asylum-seekers and expatriates, in cracking down on discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation, social exclusion, racism and the growing phenomena of xenophobia. Dick Oosting, director of Amnesty International Europe, stigmatised the conduct of the European Union, “always ready he said to give lessons in good conduct to the whole world but silent about the violations of human rights perpetrated in its own backyard”. Alvaro Gil-Robles, Commissioner for human rights of the Council of Europe, appealed to European states to remedy the “inhumane situation of psychiatric hospitals and prisons”, where many people, including the disabled, are “locked away in solitary confinement”.
