Freedom and rights in the world” “” “

In one of its last plenary sessions in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted three specific resolutions relating to three complex political situations in which an almost total lack of safeguard and respect for human rights was registered. The resolutions in question refer in particular to: freedom of expression and religious worship in Vietnam, the searches carried out in Ankara on the headquarters of the Association for Human Rights in Turkey (IHD), and the situation in the region of Ituri (Democratic Republic of Congo). Freedom of expression and worship in Vietnam. The European Parliament (EP) expressed its deep concern about the legal and political restrictions on freedom of worship, and forms of discrimination and violence practiced on religious exponents, peaceful dissidents and journalists by the Vietnamese government. The MEPs in particular invite the Vietnamese authorities to put an end to the campaign of arrests, harassment and detention of indigenous Montagnard Christians, to respect the freedom of religious worship of all religious groups and to restore the legitimacy of the unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and of all other churches not recognized by the state. The EP urges the Vietnamese government to guarantee freedom of movement and information, in conformity with the international Convention on civil and political rights, which Vietnam signed up to in 1982, and to defend and promote human rights. Human rights at Ankara. The EP also passed a joint resolution condemning the searches conducted on the headquarters of the Association for Human Rights in Turkey (IHD) in Ankara in May, and inviting the Turkish authorities to explain the reasons for the raids. The EP expressed its own support for the activities of the IHD (against which an investigation for alleged “support and assistance of illegal organizations” has been instigated) and for other Turkish human rights organizations. The resolution urges the government in Ankara to give proof of its commitment to human rights, and to re-examine its own legislation to guarantee the safeguard of democracy, transparency and human rights by implementing its promised reforms of the judicial system. The EP further underlined that Turkey’s political willingness to make radical reforms to the structure of the State, to relations with society, to respect for human rights and to its style of government is an essential prerequisite for the process of membership of the European Union now underway. The tragic situation in the Ituri region of Congo. The conflict over the last few years between rival Congolese, Rwandan and Ugandan factions in eastern Congo has so far caused the massacre of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the widespread destruction of settlements and the exodus of over 10,000 inhabitants. Apart from inflamed ethnic rivalry and the large-scale depredation of natural resources (the region possesses a rich potential of gold, uranium and oil), the inhabitants of the Ituri region are having to cope with a serious Aids epidemic, widespread rape, and the dramatic situation of children, among whom the number of orphans continues to grow, too many of them enrolled in the armed forces at a very tender age. Civil disorder is on such a scale that it is preventing the humanitarian organizations from getting aid to the people. The EP condemns these “crimes” and asks that those responsible for them be brought to justice, and that steps be taken for the immediate and definitive withdrawal of foreign troops present on the territory and the disarmament of paramilitary forces. The UN observer mission must be reinforced to permit the intervention of the peace-keeping force to safeguard the life of civilians. The EP also urges the UN Security Council to inflict sanctions against those persons whose participation in the spoliation of the riches of Ituri is demonstrated.