Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-18-Speech-4-268"
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"en.20000518.11.4-268"2
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"Mr President, I will begin in the Philippines and end, such is the reach and range of the European Parliament, with football.
We use every opportunity to press our Asian partners to urge, what is called – with a touch of George Orwell – the “State Peace and Development Council” to enter into a substantial dialogue with the democratically elected representatives and the ethnic minorities with a view to arriving at a mutually agreed internal solution to the problems of Burma and to respect for international human rights standards there.
Lastly, on football hooliganism: the responsibility for ensuring adequate safety for spectators and players during the Euro 2000 matches lies with the relevant national authorities and the relevant football associations. I just wish to make two additional points. Firstly, we want Parliament to recall that, last June, the Justice and Home Affairs Council requested Member States to step up cooperation in order to prevent and control violence and disturbances in connection with international football matches. At the same time a handbook was made available with examples of working methods to police forces.
Secondly, the Community’s programme for police and customs cooperation finances a project prepared between the police authorities of the Netherlands and Belgium in which police forces from other Member States participate. This aims at drawing lessons from the organisation of Euro 2000 in order to improve, when necessary, the organisations of future similar events.
I would just like to add one point. I very much hope that Euro 2000 is a great success. However, I hope with equal fervour that the games during Euro 2000 are a great deal better than the one I watched on television last night.
The Commission shares the honourable Members’ concern for the health and safety of the hostages in Jolo and Basilan. We strongly condemn such terrorist actions. We were, of course, fully associated with the decision to send the EU High Representative, Javier Solana, to the Philippines. Mr Solana was sent to convey personally to the Philippine government the European Union’s message concerning the safety of the hostages. He received assurances from the government of the Philippines that military force would not be used to liberate them.
We are following events in Mindanao and the neighbouring islands closely. We are concerned at the escalation of political violence that has taken place after the suspension of the peace negotiations between the government of the Philippines and various armed groups. We believe that only an early resumption of peace negotiations, as requested by the leaders of civil society and of religious groups, offers prospects for a lasting improvement of the situation in Mindanao.
I should wish to add one final point about the 21 hostages – seven of them are European Union citizens. Obviously, we all hope for their early release. Our thoughts are, I am sure, with their families. I hope, too, that we will receive early news about the welfare of the journalists who went to cover the story and have subsequently gone missing. I hope that their whereabouts will soon be discovered.
Moving on to Equatorial Guinea. We have been closely monitoring the human rights situation there for several years. We share the concerns of the European Parliament about the local elections there. Those concerns were reflected in the presidency declaration at the beginning of May. During a recent mission by the Commission services, the issues that Parliament is addressing were raised directly with the President.
An official request for an electoral monitoring mission was sent on 2 May by the Equatorial Guinea government to Commissioner Nielson. An answer containing detailed reasons for the refusal is being sent by the Commission to President Obiang. The request from the government of Guinea-Bissau arrived very late and, in keeping with our guidelines, electoral observation missions should be prepared at an early stage in the electoral process so that we can ensure that the process is accurate and fair. It is relevant that the opposition parties in Equatorial Guinea have contested the electoral lists and have already decided to boycott the ballot.
We therefore consider that, at this stage, the presence of international observers would not only fail to improve the quality and the transparency of the local elections, there is also a very real risk that this mission could be misused by local authorities as a way to legitimise an unsatisfactory process. However, we intend to involve ourselves in promoting the process of democratisation in Equatorial Guinea.
On Iran, the Commission fully shares Parliament’s concern over the lack of freedom of expression there. In the comprehensive dialogue between the European Union and Iran, questions regarding human rights, including press freedom, are regularly raised by the Commission. The Iranian authorities are well aware of the importance we attach to these issues. Clearly the present position is a very delicate one: the opponents of reform have used their control of the judiciary and of the security forces to intimidate intellectuals and to ban reformist papers. The current trial of the 13 Jews on charges of espionage is also very disturbing. The reformists have remained calm, and so should we, hoping that the convening of parliament will shortly help improve the situation.
I turn to Burma. We deplore the continued violation of human rights by the Burmese military regime. In particular, we deplore the continued extra-judicial killings, the widespread imposition of forced labour and the forced displacement of local populations, as well as the repression of political opponents and the prevention of the free functioning of legitimate political parties. This includes the restrictions on the freedom of movement of Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the National League for Democracy and the routine practice of arbitrary arrests. We have strongly supported the EU common position on Burma and the decision of the April 2000 General Affairs Council to strengthen that common position."@en1
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