Zero tolerance

Zero tolerance: that’s the principle that the European Parliament has now endorsed for every form of violation of human rights, in the EU and in other continents. It has also denounced the “dichotomy” between the commitment to justice and security, on the one hand, and the protection of civil rights and fundamental liberties on the other. MEPs, meeting in Strasbourg for their plenary session, have tackled the question both during some debates in the chamber, and through some new legislative texts and reports on the trafficking of human beings, on fundamental rights in the 27 member states, and on human rights in the world. Various instruments. Each year the Parliament analyses the situation of human rights, with two different documents, one devoted to the area within the frontiers of the EU, the other to the planet as a whole. In this case, however, at least in the EU area, account needs to be taken of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the fact that it has conferred full legal value on the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which had been approved at Nice in 2000. The new treaty, moreover, comprises the EU’s ratification and adoption of the European Convention for the Safeguard of Human Rights: in fact there are two Courts that invigilate in this sector, that in Luxembourg and that in Strasbourg. The EU again pledges to respect the national jurisprudence of member states, as well as UN Conventions, and also to recognize and enhance the experience of NGOs in this field. For an “open and secure Europe”, the EU has among other things launched the so-called Stockholm Programme, while the Barroso Commission has created a special portfolio for the purpose, and its intention is to proceed with a reinforcement of the powers of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. Stop to trafficking. In its session on 14 December, the European Parliament voted to adopt the new Directive against the trafficking of human beings and the Report on rights within the EU; the Report on human rights in the world, on the other hand, will be voted on 16 December. In the first case, the provision, which replaces a text of 2002, was drafted by the rapporteurs Anna Hedh (Sweden) and Edit Bauer (Slovakia). It is scheduled to come into force within two years, the necessary time for it to be transposed into the legislation of each member state. The UK and Denmark, instead, have chosen the “opt out” clause, so they won’t be adopting the directive. The crimes that the Directive is intended to prosecute concern “hundreds of thousands of persons”, who are in effect “deported” for purposes of prostitution, forced labour (in the building industry, in farming, at the domestic level), and the exploitation of children. But the provision also covers other offences no less grave: for example the trafficking of organs, the obligation imposed on a woman or a child to beg on the streets, and illegal adoptions. Europe – insists the EP – is not a “paradise” and the EU and national institutions, the forces of law and order, and civil society need to be mobilized for firm collective action to stamp out such abuses. The Directive spells out the sanctions against traffickers of human beings, who can be prosecuted with cross-border interventions: terms of imprisonment for up to 10 years, confiscation of assets.Wide-ranging protection. The Report on rights in the EU, drafted by MEP Kinga Gàl (Hungary), signals for its part numerous “specific cases” of violations, relating for example to the “right to privacy”, the ban on torture, “freedom of thought, conscience and religion”, “freedom of expression and of information, freedom of the press and the media”, non-discrimination and the use of minority languages. It then turns to the situation of Roma and the free circulation of citizens within the Union”, the protection of immigrants, including so-called “third generation” rights, the right to good administration, to a healthy environment, and to consumer protection. The Report adopted by the EP further denounces violations against minorities, “the recrudescence of nationalism and xenophobia” and points out in this regard out the need for preventive actions and awareness-raising measures to educate public opinion. Freedom of worship. The Report on human rights in the EU also comprises a long list of “urgent challenges”: guaranteeing rights to all persons present on EU territory (including so-called “irregulars”), protecting the rights of victims of violence, combating abuses against children and child pornography, promoting a safer use of the internet, curbing child labour, and formulating a strategy in support of the rights of the disabled, “who still remain discriminated against in social, professional and cultural life”. The Parliament re-affirms the urgent need to combat poverty and social exclusion, to promote “universal” education, and to “protect freedom of thought, conscience and religion from any kind of violation, in as much as it is a fundamental right sanctioned by article 10 of the Charter, which includes the right freely to profess one’s own religion or one’s own credo in public or in private”.