Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-14-Speech-3-290"
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"en.20010214.8.3-290"2
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"The Council fully shares the honourable Members’ commitment in the matter of the suffering of Afghan women under Taliban rule. The Council regrets that the sad reality in Afghanistan shows that, so far, the Taliban have been unreceptive to arguments and pressure from outside, despite the efforts of the Union and of the international community. Both parties to the conflict are continuing their military operations and a political solution to the conflict still seems far away. There is a pressing need to improve the outrageous situation in respect of human rights but, under the conditions that prevail in the country, the prospects of an improvement are, unfortunately, not particularly bright.
The Taliban control around 90% of the territory of Afghanistan. Since the military situation in the country is changing all the time, however, the Council has no precise information on the number of women living under the Kabul regime at any given point in time. Moreover, the catastrophic situation in respect of humanitarian circumstances and human rights in the country has led to massive emigration of refugees to neighbouring countries, particularly Iran and Pakistan, making it even more difficult to make an assessment of the population situation in Afghanistan.
The Council has often taken up the issue of the critical situation of the Afghan refugees with the host countries in the area and will continue to do so in future. The Community and several of the Member States will also continue to provide humanitarian aid to the Afghans when the circumstances permit. The majority of this aid benefits women.
The recently updated common position of 25 January 2001 forms the basis of the Union’s policy in respect of Afghanistan. The Union is continuing its efforts to bring about lasting peace, to get foreign intervention to cease and to encourage internal dialogue in Afghanistan. In particular, the Union emphasises the importance of encouraging respect for international humanitarian law and human rights, including the rights of women and children. The Union will therefore continue to call upon all parties to recognise, protect and promote all human rights and basic liberties and to respect the general declaration of human rights that Afghanistan has in fact signed.
We will continue to call upon the Afghan factions to cease their discriminatory policy and to recognise, protect and encourage equal rights and dignity for men and women, including access to education and health facilities, employment, personal safety and the absence of injustices and persecution, as well as emphasising the negative consequences that discriminatory policy will have for active supply of aid.
The Union will continue to support the proposal by the Secretary-General of the UN for civil human rights observers and will also continue to support such aid programmes in Afghanistan as integrate equality issues and actively attempt to encourage the participation of both men and women on equal terms.
Finally, we will be attaching particular importance to human rights when it comes to the international coordination of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. The Council hopes that the latest sanctions, based on UN Security Council Resolution No 13033, which the Council is currently discussing in order to adopt the corresponding common position and regulation as soon as possible, will contribute to reducing foreign involvement and encourage a negotiated solution to the Afghan conflict."@en1
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