Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-03-Speech-3-162"
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"en.20030903.7.3-162"2
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"I should like to congratulate Mr van den Bos on his very balanced report, which is in keeping with the human rights reports of the past few years and gives very thoughtful consideration to such delicate topics as freedom of religion. I fully subscribe to his appeal for more consistency and coherency in human rights policy. After all, the European Union is at risk of losing all credibility if it does not succeed in speaking with one voice, even if strategically or economically important countries, such as China or Russia, are involved. Mr van den Bos is right in condemning the most important human rights forum, the UN Commission on Human Rights, for becoming highly politicised. I myself have had the opportunity of attending this UN Commission on two occasions and I could never shake off the impression that the governments systematically conspired to exonerate one another. The motto appears to be: if we spare others, we do not run the risk of being condemned ourselves. During the latest sessions in Geneva, it transpired once more that it is the foxes that have to watch the hen's eggs. It is highly worrying that countries such as Libya, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Cuba should play a leading role in the UN Commission on Human Rights and that the European Union, the key sponsor, should hardly have any impact left. It therefore delights me that the rapporteur has adopted my amendments on this matter. On the one hand, conditions should be prescribed for membership of the UN Commission, such as the signing, ratification and observation of human rights conventions and the admission of special UN human rights rapporteurs. On the other hand, the decision-making process must be reviewed and the unanimity rule should make way for a two-thirds majority rule. If these conditions are not met, the European Union should seriously consider withdrawing from the human rights circus. It will otherwise run the risk of legitimising, rather than condemning, human rights violations, and surely that can never be the intention."@en1
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