Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-16-Speech-4-163"
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"en.19991216.7.4-163"2
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"Mr President, we were all delighted yesterday when the Sakharov Prize was awarded to Mr Gusmão who was imprisoned by the authoritarian regime in Djakarta. Through him, the Sakharov Prize honours the struggle of all those men and women throughout the world who are fighting for more justice, democracy and freedom.
This is why I am asking you to look closely at the attacks on human rights in Djibouti and specifically at the situation of the political prisoners. This is particularly justified given that, as already stated, many Member States have very close relations with Djibouti. Yesterday, several associations in France strongly protested when France again prepared to grant aid to this country.
You should know that for the last nine years the bulk of this country’s own budgetary resources has been devoted to financing the civil war. Wages and pensions have not been paid for seven months. Despite the previous resolutions of this House, reinforced by the International Federation of Human Rights League’s report confirming the precarious conditions of detention of the political prisoners, acts of violence, humiliation and attacks on the physical integrity of individuals are still standard practice in the prisons of Djibouti, particularly in Gabode Prison. Here in May, forty-five hunger strikers were refused access to medical care and some died. The families of prisoners are subject to constant pressure and threats. Women are raped and tortured. The army and police are carrying out military operations in the districts of Tadjoura and Obock and are subjecting the population in the north of the country to a suicidal food blockade.
I would remind you that Djibouti is a signatory to the Lomé Convention which stipulates in Article 5 that aid for development is subject to respect for human rights. Nowadays, aid should also very definitely be subject to respect for freedom of thought and expression, fair trials, access for detainees to basic medical care and the requirement to return refugees and displaced persons to their region of origin.
The Council and the Commission must make every effort to ensure that Djibouti respects the conventions which it has signed. A peaceful political solution must be found as quickly as possible.
Finally, it is essential that our President forwards this motion for a resolution to the Council, the Commission and the ACP-EU Joint Assembly. This century started with the Great War and ended with terrifying images of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. I firmly hope that we will now be intransigent towards all these daily attacks on human rights, for it is these small acts of cowardice which lead to genocide."@en1
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