Inside and outside the frontiers

Europe plays “an ever more active role on the world scene with a view to improving the global situation of human rights”; nonetheless “the EU fails to tackle this question in a systematic and continuous way” in its relations with third countries. It even fails “to integrate its human rights policy in its trade and development policy and in its other external activities”. The Report on EU action for the defence of fundamental rights and liberties inside and outside EU frontiers, drawn up by the Council and referring to 2005, has now been adopted by the European Parliament. A COMMON POLICY. The EP adopted by a very wide majority, during its plenary session in May, a Report that tries to define the possible role of the 25 in this delicate sector. What emerges from the Report is a situation with positive and negative sides. It underlines the need for the EU to closely monitor human rights inside and outside its frontiers and in the rest of the world. Drafted by the English MEP RICHARD HOWITT , the Report asks the Council (on which sit the representatives of the governments of member states), to concentrate its attention on the “need for a common, coherent and transparent policy implemented by all the member states of the EU in their bilateral relations with third countries”. The Council is also invited “to evaluate the need to identity each year, in its annual report, a list of the countries that give rise to particular concern as regards human rights violations”. This would permit political pressure to be exerted on the States placed “on the index”, with the possible imposition of trade sanctions, and curbs placed on the provision of aid if the violations were to persist. With a view to evaluating the human rights situation in each country, the Howitt Report spells out some priority criteria: independence of the judiciary; freedom of the means of communication; the status of the organizations of civil society… MEPs also indicate the “major battles” in terms of civil rights that are urgent and indispensable: the abolition of the death sentence; the abandonment of recourse to torture; and the fight against the trafficking of human beings. TURKEY AND THE BALKANS. The position of MEPs, expressed during the debate in the plenary session and in the document approved, agrees with that of the Council on the fact that respect for human rights must represent a fundamental aspect in any negotiations for the accession of new EU member states. Specific mention is made of the cases of Turkey and Croatia, the granting of candidate country status to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the start of negotiations on accords of stabilization and association with Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In this regard, MEPs ask the Commission “to ensure that the candidate countries make real progress in the field of human rights”, especially as regards “the protection of minorities, religious freedom and freedom of expression, support for displaced and refugee populations” and “cooperation with international justice”. AFRICA, CHINA, IRAN. The European Parliament further acknowledges that, during 2005, the Union and its member states actively intervened in various international institutions for the promotion of human rights: in the UN Commission of Human Rights and General Assembly, in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and in the Council of Europe, which is confirmed as the European organization most active in this field. The Union has thus been able to play a leading role “in ensuring the adoption of critical and constructive resolutions on human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Nepal, in North Korea, in Sudan, in Uzbekistan and in Turkmenistan”. But the EP does not pull any punches in criticising the heads of state and of governments of the 25: it complains of their lukewarm position regarding the blatant violations of human rights continuously taking place in Zimbabwe and Chechnya. A long chapter is devoted to the human right violations imputed to China: arrests for political reasons, recourse to forced labour, torture, “frequent use of the death sentence”, “systematic repression of freedom of religion, freedom of the press and freedom of expression”, also “in the context of the treatment imposed on the people of Tibet”. The innumerable questions touched on during the debate in Strasbourg included that of freedom in Russia and the case of Darfur (Sudan). The EP further condemned the appeal of Iranian President Ahmedinejad for “Israel to be wiped off the map” and expressed concern about the “grave violations” of human rights in Iraq. Criticism was also expressed of the USA, where resource to the death penalty persists in various States. The immediate shutting down of the detention center at Guantanamo is asked of the Bush administration. Some MEPs also touched on the problem of the alleged presence of secret CIA detention facilities in Europe, now under investigation by a parliamentary commission.