Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-05-Speech-3-052"
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"en.20010905.3.3-052"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this is a report about terrorism. I should therefore like to examine now what is meant by terrorism, because it is recognised as something evil and is often used as an excuse to legitimise the infringement of fundamental rights by the state. And so I have considered the things that are designated as terrorism in this report. Trafficking in drugs is one example. As we all know, the line between illegal and legal drugs is drawn in a fairly arbitrary manner and cannot be inferred from the principles of health policy, for example. Many people here in Parliament, indeed, consume copious quantities of drugs. But I am well aware that the report refers to illegal drugs. I simply mean to say that drugs are an intrinsic feature of every society; they always have been, and no doubt they always will be. Criminalisation will not get us anywhere.
The report then deals with trafficking in human beings, for example. If the smuggling of human beings is meant – and these two concepts are frequently confused – it would be sufficient to include a reference to the fact that people who have had to enter the EU by illegal means have been recognised here as genuine asylum seekers. They are compelled to seek help from people like the snakeheads because we have created Fortress Europe here.
If traffic in human beings is meant, in other words the essential denial of people’s fundamental rights and the imposition of forced labour, this raises the question why the report on which we have just voted devotes so little attention to the protection of victims, of those who are traded. That would surely be the best way to go about eradicating abuses such as traffic in human beings.
At this point, the report says that terrorism is also to be found in the context of illegal trafficking in drugs and arms. I have already said something on the subject of drugs; as for arms, I believe trafficking in arms is illegal but, what is far worse, it is immoral. Quite simply, the question is whether this immorality only applies to illegal arms trafficking. Does it not, in fact, extend to the legal arms trade? Is it not terrorism when civilians are attacked by NATO bombers and killed or made to suffer for the rest of their lives? There are people who resist, who take action, such as civil disobedience. They know very well that such action is illegal. Whether it is a crime is another matter. The report refers to corruption and fraud; many people are sick of government corruption and fraud and decide to do something about it, and we are supposed to construe that here as terrorism. If the House does not even accept the Greens’ amendment that seeks to establish fundamental human rights as a common minimum level of protection for everyone in the EU, the proposed recommendation must be rejected for the sake of those same fundamental rights."@en1
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