Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-07-05-Speech-4-183"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2001-07-05"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Illegal exploitation of natural resources in Democratic Republic of Congo2
dcterms:Language	"nl"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20010705.9.4-183"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2001-07-05-Speech-4-1842
lpv:speaker	lp:Patsy Sörensen2
lpv:spokenAs	unknown; Anders gaan arbeiden, leven en vrijen (1999-07-20--2004-01-07)3 substitute; Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy (1999-07-22--2002-01-14)3 member; Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 member; Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 member; Delegation to the EU-Poland Joint Parliamentary Committee (1999-09-28--2002-01-14)3 member; G/EFA (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to call special attention to a problem that forms part of a tidal wave of disaster engulfing a whole region, a million people. The Democratic Republic of Congo is at this moment being ravaged by war. A war that turns mainly on the considerable natural wealth of the country. For years the land has been used and abused, a population has been sidelined for the sake of the lucrative exploitation of what nature has to offer. War is an ideal situation for very lucrative deals, because there is seldom any control or accountability. The example which most fires the imagination today is the extraction of and trade in coltan, a material without which none of us could communicate with such mobility and ease. We pay ridiculously little for this material, while today the local population, for the first time in history, is facing serious famine. The war that is currently raging permits not only so-called ‘legal’ exploitation of this type, but also much less covert forms of plunder. In addition it is clear that the lucrative trade in uranium and nuclear waste almost exclusively benefits Western interests. We could also ask questions about the role of Western embassies and their associated agencies. I should particularly like to draw attention to one aspect of this long-drawn-out state of abuse. For many years the European countries and the United States have extracted uranium, which was responsible for such horrors as Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To make matters worse Western nuclear waste is dumped in the same region. Radioactive waste from the 1960s and 1970s is still an unmistakable direct threat to the population. Consequently it is encouraging that Prime Minister Verhofstadt spoke ambitious words yesterday about tackling the situation in the region. It must not stop at empty words. The end of the cold war and the arms race means that the demand for the termination of the trade in uranium and nuclear waste is not an exaggerated one, but extremely reasonable, a demand that as it were flows naturally from the values to which Europe is pledged."@en1

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