Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-15-Speech-3-157"
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"en.20000315.4.3-157"2
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"Madam President, at the end of this extremely interesting debate perhaps I can explain the division of labour or work-sharing on the Commission's side. I intend to deal mainly with the Malmström and Belder reports and my colleague, Commissioner Vitorino, will deal with the other two important reports, although there will obviously be some overlap between us. Let me start with the Malmström report.
The European Union's financial procedures, including the financial regulation are, to put it mildly, not NGO-friendly, which begs the question: should we stop funding NGOs or should we change our procedures? The former is clearly as impossible as it would be totally undesirable. We could not work without NGOs. Reform to our procedures, many of them determined by Member States in an era when NGOs barely existed, is going to take time but we are working on it, not least as part of the overall reform package. We will not, alas, see an overnight change.
This brings me on to the budget and the Parliament's proposal for a joint declaration on yearly increases in human rights expenditure.
The size of the budget cannot be divorced from the question of our capacity to manage it. Otherwise we will make too many promises which we simply cannot fulfil and when it comes to supporting NGOs you often operate on a shoestring. Broken promises can lead rapidly to bankruptcy. We have a backlog of projects to complete and we have underspent the human rights budget in the past so I would find it very difficult to justify an increase in spending until we have sorted this out. But I want to make this clear: I would like to put myself in a position as soon as I can where we spend every penny and can therefore justify spending a great deal more.
The possibility of creating a human rights agency as foreseen in Vienna and Cologne could help us here. I believe that such an agency should be operational, not advisory. I will be exploring this in the communication. The potential for an agency should also be considered in the context of wider reform of our external assistance and of externalisation as a whole.
I now turn to the issues raised in the Belder report which responds to the Commission’s communication on countering racism, xenophobia and antisemitism in the candidate countries. I am responding to this on my own behalf and that of my colleague, Commissioner Verheugen. I would like to congratulate the authors of the comprehensive report. Of course, it criticises the lack of specific proposals in the Commission’s communication but I should note that the adoption of that communication came after the resignation of the college in March 1999 when the Commission, and I put this gently, was not best placed to elaborate new proposals. I hope this response will set a few pointers for the future.
The fight against racism is an essential element of the Union’s human rights policies and of the pre-accession strategy. This has two main elements: adoption and implementation of the
by candidate countries including the 1996 Joint Action concerning racism and xenophobia and the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967 New York Protocol on Asylum Seekers and Refugees, and effective use of our cooperation programmes.
The compatibility of legislation concerning minorities is raised during the screening process and during bilateral discussions and in association committees. For example, we have looked at language laws in Lithuania, Estonia and Slovakia, a subject that was raised during the debates, and legislation regarding the Roma in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These discussions have produced concrete results.
The second element, our cooperation programmes, include the PHARE national programmes, PHARE Democracy and the MEDA Programme. Under PHARE, reform of the police, criminal justice and asylum systems has been accorded a high priority in line with the rapporteurs’ proposals. This reform helps to bring about the necessary changes in attitudes within institutions.
The goal of raising police awareness of racism and xenophobia was also incorporated in the framework of the European curriculum for the training of the police in Central and Eastern Europe.
We will persevere with such measures. We are also open to opportunities for strengthening them. One central aim common to the Malmström and the Belder reports is the need to build on our relationship with NGOs in candidate countries. The new Access Programme which replaces the LIEN and Partnership Programmes aims to strengthen civil society.
I think the first annual report of this new European Parliament is thorough and timely. Timely, because I hope that before the summer break this equally new Commission will adopt a communication on human rights in external policies. It will cover many of the areas in the report and all the European Parliament's recommendations provide extremely useful input for our work. I cannot respond to all of the points in the report at this stage. Instead I will pursue them, including discussions with the European Parliament, over the coming months so that we get the communication right and reflect the important arguments in this report.
Finally, on the Roma, whose condition was mentioned by several speakers, the Commission is seeking to bring more coherence to its support for Roma communities. We intend to be associated with the meeting to be organised by the European Monitoring Centre to which European Parliament representatives are being invited – a meeting called in order to stimulate ideas for improving European Union assistance to Roma communities.
These reports cover extremely important issues. They are issues of increasing concern to European Union citizens as they are daily assailed by media footage of human rights abuses, whether they be in the Caucasus, Colombia, the Balkans, Sierra Leone, China and so on. I look forward to the European Union taking up these abuses at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, which I will attend on 27 March.
I am grateful to Parliament for its timely input. The Commission and Parliament are well placed to work together on human rights. We are well placed to give a strong lead to others. I am particularly looking forward to working with Members of this Parliament to ensure that the communication we produce later this year gives an intellectual and political lead on this issue and can be regarded by NGOs, parliamentarians and others as blazing a trail for discussion of these fundamental issues.
I want to concentrate my initial remarks on women's and children's rights, as the rapporteur has chosen to focus on these important objects. It is a timely choice in view of the Beijing +5 platform for action this year at the UN General Assembly in New York. Beijing confirmed that women's rights are universal human rights and that women have a central role to play in building democratic and just societies. The European initiative for democracy and human rights reflects this. Women are explicitly included as a target group for support. The actions cover a broad sweep of concerns, from women's participation in decision making in the Balkans to support for female domestic workers in the Ivory Coast. Issues such as violence against women have been rightly categorised as issues of human rights. As such, they should be promoted vigorously as part and parcel of our foreign policy and development assistance. Mrs Malmström's report sets out some of the stark realities of the violence which is perpetrated against women in many forms and at all levels of society. From the horrors of rape to genital mutilation, from the home to the prison cell.
Our programmes DAPHNE and STOP are the mainstay of the Commission's response. DAPHNE has supported the sharing of information and good practice amongst NGOs and Member States through more than 100 transnational projects. A new DAPHNE programme for 2000-2003 was adopted in December 1999 at a level of EUR 5 m a year. In response to a European Parliament resolution in 1997 the Commission has conducted an awareness-raising campaign on domestic violence within the Member States. We should use what we learn during such campaigns and share that knowledge with applicant countries, perhaps in the context of DAPHNE.
I take note of what the report says on the horrific practice of genital mutilation and the lack of data on the subject. We will look, in the Commission, at ways in which we can contribute to the search for a solution.
The Commission is also working with others to halt the heinous trafficking of women which has been growing in the last few years. We produced a communication in 1998 on this subject. The focus then was placed on prevention, research, law enforcement, effective sentencing of traffickers and support to victims. We are working on this, as the honourable Member knows, with NGOs, the OSCE and candidate countries.
As for children's rights, the STOP programme has co-financed 67 projects dealing with trafficking and sexual exploitation of children with a budget of EUR 6.5 m for the first five years. A new STOP programme is planned to start from this year and this will be open to accession countries.
Moving on to more general issues, I mentioned the forthcoming communication on human rights and external relations. My aim is to adopt a more effective and coherent approach to policy and to spending and in particular to improve the management of our programmes in this area.
Human rights projects are very different from projects to build bridges or reinforce primary education. NGOs and civil society partners are integral to their implementation. The projects are often carried out in sensitive or dangerous conditions in the field. Those who implement the projects may even see their own rights threatened, which is no doubt why NGOs often feel a little aggrieved that they then have to provide the Commission with a shoebox full of receipts when they return to the office."@en1
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