Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-16-Speech-4-136"
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"en.20000316.3.4-136"2
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"In this joint debate on human rights, the report under consideration here analyses the instruments available to the Union to promote these rights in the world and their concrete application between 1 June 1998 and 30 June 1999.
As you know, the EU’s international action to promote and protect human rights is based on several instruments, including the CFSP and development cooperation. With the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the European Union has become more visible on the international stage thanks to the appointment of a CFSP High Representative, in the person of Javier Solana. The Treaty of Amsterdam has made respect for human rights one of the main objectives of the EU’s common foreign and security policy.
The European Union has many instruments available in this field. There are the common strategies (a new instrument created since the Treaty of Amsterdam and designed to enhance the overall coherence of EU action at international level), the common positions (which define the EU’s approach to a particular matter) and the common actions (which relate to certain specific situations and involve immediate reactions, on the model of humanitarian aid). There are also specific and horizontal actions relating to a given policy. They include, in particular, the fight to abolish the death penalty. Finally, what is known as the ‘human rights’ clause, which has been incorporated into most cooperation and development agreements with third countries since the 1990s, enables the EU to keep up the pressure, in respect of human rights, on the countries with which it is linked. This clause does not change the fundamental nature of these agreements but does enable both parties to reaffirm respect for certain common values and principles as the precondition for any form of cooperation, economic or other.
Yet the rapporteur feels that the current European human rights policy is fragmented and needs to be replaced by a coherent common strategy marked by closer interinstitutional cooperation. Obviously I agree with that. I think initiatives such as establishing an advisory group to discuss the strategic aspects of human rights activities, comprising representatives of the EU institutions and the Member States, together with human rights specialists, would lead to greater coherence and therefore effectiveness. In the same context, the proposals that the EU should develop its own indicators to gauge respect for human rights, that a special European Parliament envoy should be nominated for prisoners of conscience and that a human rights website should be launched on the Europarl site on the Internet, are well worth considering.
The report also emphasises that the EU strategy must give priority to systematically abolishing the discrimination suffered by women. I want to express my unconditional support for that demand!"@en1
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