Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-06-Speech-3-134"
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"en.20020206.7.3-134"2
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".
Mr President, the European Union has a long tradition of effectively protecting human rights, and has managed to create an area of legal security and undeniable freedoms, with a set of rules inspired by our own legislation and by international codification.
Given the enormous complexity of the exercise we are discussing, it is difficult at this time to fix definitive European Union positions with regard to the Commission on Human Rights. These positions are always based on our system of values. This does not mean giving way on any of our principles, but often the positions within the Commission are the product of prior coordination to obtain tangible results, and there are some issues which, because of their sensitivity and the attention they are given by the media, warrant special treatment.
In any event, our objective, as in previous years, is to present a series of draft resolutions and statements by the presidency of the Commission on Human Rights, that cover the events to have taken place in the last year, from the close of the 57th session of that body, which was held in April 2001.
For this reason, the European Union feels that it is necessary to make speeches on highly sensitive issues in which our stance must be reflected in some way. This year, these speeches, which have been prepared with the cooperation of our partners, will focus fundamentally on the following areas: racism, the right to development, the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world, economic, social and cultural rights, civil and political rights and the rights of women to be fully integrated as well as the gender perspective, children’s rights, human rights lawyers and advice services, and technical cooperation in the field of human rights.
The list is extensive, but not exhaustive. It illustrates the broad range of issues that we will have to address in the Commission on Human Rights, where the defence of these rights must be comprehensive and, naturally, is universal.
For this very reason, the activity generated by the Commission on Human Rights is linked to many other issues which, in one way or another, impact on the work of the European Union. Firstly, reference must be made to the conventional way in which the Commission on Human Rights has performed and continues to perform its duties.
Two of the exercises to which the European Union will be attaching great priority are the discussions already under way on the drafting of various optional protocols: the protocol on the economic, social and cultural rights pact and the protocol on the Convention against torture, the drawing up of which has made progress at session after session, and which is quite close to being concluded. In both cases, the European Union must undertake serious work on drawing up the drafts and on cooperating with the working parties preceding the Commission meeting, with the aim of facilitating the adoption of these protocols.
Secondly, as everyone can imagine, we are facing many challenges of a social and humanitarian nature, which we are determined to confront, together with our partners: all the issues of refugees and asylum-seekers, emigration and all its consequences in the cultural, educational and social spheres, the problem of discrimination against indigenous populations, the genuine progress and practical equality of women in all areas, and so many sectors, individual and collective, that are under scrutiny by the
international community
In
the
Council, we intend to make a very special effort to ensure that our participation is as active and constructive as possible, both at the General Assembly Special Session on Children – which was due to have taken place in September, but which was affected by the events of 11 September, and has been rescheduled, although without a specific date as yet – and at the World Assembly on Ageing, to take place in April of this year.
Thirdly, it is worth bearing in mind the debate, which has already begun, on how to improve the highly praiseworthy work of the various committees of independent experts, the so-called ‘Treaty bodies’, which monitor and oversee proper compliance with many of the conventions to which I referred a moment ago. These committees must be given the resources they need to perform their work to their best ability.
Mr President, I should also like to mention two issues which, because of their complexity, will affect our work in the Commission on Human Rights: on the one hand, the fight against racism and racial discrimination. As you all know, last September a major world conference was held in Durban (South Africa), whose preparations and workings were not without controversy but at which, ultimately and fortunately, consensus was maintained, following long discussions and, to a large extent, as a result of the perseverance of the European Union delegation as a whole.
In our case, within the European Union, we have had the parallel boost of the Council of Europe itself, as well as the standard that we set ourselves, both at national level and at European Union level, in the field of human rights.
We must now exercise special vigilance to ensure that the wounds inflicted in Durban are not reopened and that the consensus that was reached develops genuinely and pragmatically, with the ongoing assistance of the appropriate bodies in the United Nations Secretariat-General.
The other issue is the abolition or restriction of the use of the death penalty. We are all aware that, despite the firm conviction in Europe that the death penalty should be totally eradicated and abolished, some countries belonging to cultural and religious tendencies other than our own continue to uphold and apply it. For our part, we will continue, in a basically humanitarian undertaking, to attempt to extend the scope of its abolition, by strengthening situations of moratoria and the effective non-application of the penalty, even if this exists in a country’s legislation, and by urging the authorities – in very specific cases, of minors, pregnant women and the mentally handicapped – for executions not to be carried out.
These are the lines of action we intend to follow, at the right time, in the European Union, by means of approved guidelines on the matter, and which we will continue referring to as often as necessary, especially in the resolution on the death penalty, traditionally presented by the European Union at the Commission on Human rights.
I wish to conclude, Mr President, by offering a thought on the new situation that has arisen from 11 September. I am echoing concerns that I have heard in this Parliament this very morning. In the Presidency and in the Council we are very aware that in many countries a certain climate of concern has evolved over whether, in the quest to strengthen security and the fight against terrorist organisations, the protection of human rights might be substantially damaged.
The European Union, and the Council at its head, are convinced that this does not have to happen; that there is absolutely no incompatibility between security and the freedom of our fellow citizens, and that as far as we are concerned, there will be no cutback of fundamental freedoms nor of daily democratic coexistence.
We must not forget that the attacks of 11 September were an all-out attack on this system of values and freedoms, of which we are so proud, and which we all have an obligation to defend. The Commission on Human rights will, without doubt, be an ideal setting in which to demonstrate our commitment to respect and protect human rights, to extend this commitment to every country in the world, without allowing the fight against terrorism to be used as a pretext for violating these rights, and to reaffirm that the protection of human rights continues to be as solid a principle as it always has been in the European Union.
There are recent examples demonstrating this concern, which is part of our own identity, such as the European Charter of Human Rights, the recent Commission communications on the work of the European Union to promote human rights in third countries, the extremely important work undertaken by the European Parliament in this field and the conclusions of the General Affairs Council of 25 June last year, which state that genuine concern to defend human rights must always be present in the Union’s external policy.
I should also like to remind you of the guidelines, both on torture and on the use of the death penalty, which are constantly taken into account in the drafting of our external policy and in our relations with third countries.
There are two other issues that are also always present in our
and our culture and which are linked to the general trend of respect for human rights in any action or initiative in external policy. These are the principle of non-discrimination against women and the rights of the child and their effective protection.
All of these concepts do, of course, underpin the work of the European Union during the sessions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and these are the principles that will inform our action in the forthcoming session, which will be held between 18 March and 26 April this year.
The Commission on Human Rights is, without a doubt, the greatest challenge that the European Union will have to face in the forthcoming months in the field of human rights. This Commission, which – as everyone knows – is a body attached to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, meets every year in Geneva and is a forum for intense debate on all aspects of international current affairs that have some connection or relationship with human rights.
This is, then, an annual exercise, which is mandatory for us and which involves complex preparations and requires the European Union, year after year, to make a constant effort to undertake in the international context something that international society expects of the European Union, which it considers to be the bastion of the defence of these rights and that is the effective and increasingly universal protection of human rights.
It is no secret that the European Union plays a very active part in the Commission on Human Rights and that a large number of Member States of the European Union are members of the Commission (currently, Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria, Germany and Sweden). Taking account of our quota in what is known as the ‘Western European Group’, the European Union has, without any doubt, the largest allocation of places."@en1
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