Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-17-Speech-3-173"
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"en.20010117.5.3-173"2
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"Mr President, in previous debates on the human rights situation I have advocated repeatedly that the European Union should take more preventive action and respond more rapidly to crises. It therefore surprised me somewhat not to hear either the presidency or the Commission breathe a word about the human rights situation in Africa just now in the introduction.
That is why I shall make bold to start out by drawing attention to a highly topical situation, and one which is potentially very explosive on the human rights front, namely the situation in Congo following the assassination of President Kabila. Despite confusing, and often conflicting information, it is gradually dawning on us that there is a risk of a power vacuum developing in Kinshasa. That is why it is so important to quickly and effectively urge the new leaders to do all they possibly can to maintain calm and serenity in Kinshasa and to respect human rights.
At the same time, I believe all those countries that are involved in the conflict, be it directly or indirectly, must be urged in no uncertain terms not to interfere in the current internal crisis. If the neighbouring countries do not lie low then the crisis could escalate further, with all the consequences this might entail. It is important for the thread of the Lusaka peace process to be picked up quickly though, and for the inter-Congolese dialogue to be able to start, with the cooperation of all concerned. I say that with the Rwandan genocide of 1994 in mind, when the international community had to witness the murder of hundreds of thousands of people, which prompts me to push for more assertiveness from the European Union, and greater alertness, also on the part of the UN, where Central Africa is concerned.
This brings me to the agenda of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Notwithstanding the numerous treaties and conventions, the rights of women, children and other vulnerable groups are still being violated on a huge scale. Throughout the world, one woman in three suffers physical abuse. Fifty million children work in unacceptable conditions and two million girls below the age of fifteen are forced into prostitution every year.
I would like to ask that special attention be given to two forms of human rights violations that have taken on alarming proportions in Europe over the last few years. Firstly, there is the phenomenon of paedophilia and child pornography. Whilst we rightly criticise Asian countries because they allow child labour, or African countries because of their child soldiers, we are regularly shocked here in Western Europe by paedophilia and child porn scandals.
I would like to draw your attention to the excellent report by Mr Kirkhope on the subject. Two new revelations show how serious the situation is. A network of people offering photographs of sex and acts of cruelty with children via the Internet was rounded up in Italy recently. Last week, the British police succeeded in shutting the Wonderland club down, seizing 750 000 degrading photographs of children in the process.
A second disturbing phenomenon is that of trafficking in human beings. Every year, around 30 million or so people are smuggled into other countries, half a million of whom end up in the European Union. Trafficking in human beings has become a very lucrative international industry, often risking the lives of the passengers. So many corpses of drowned illegals get washed up on Spanish beaches that it has sparked off a macabre debate as to who should pay for the burials. In both cases, the desperation of poor people is being exploited by unscrupulous money-grabbers. In both cases there is a need for information to be provided in the countries of origin, and for coordination between international police forces, in a bid to tackle these abuses.
Sweden has a good reputation when it comes to defending human rights in the world. I really hope that Sweden will do its reputation full justice over the next six months and put all its efforts into the recommendations that Parliament has formulated in these two important areas."@en1
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