Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-18-Speech-4-133"
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"en.20041118.11.4-133"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, our debate today is focusing on the dramatic situation in Eritrea. One should rather say the dramatic situation which we are also faced with in Eritrea, as we face drastic developments of this kind in many African countries. In his speech yesterday to this House, President Mbeki gave a long list of African trouble spots, a list which it would have been impossible to give in full, although I do believe that the omission of Zimbabwe was not – unfortunately – a coincidence.
Today, then, sees our debate on Côte d’Ivoire being followed by one on Eritrea, a country which has not been independent for all that long and which has already been involved in a bloody border dispute with its larger neighbour, Ethiopia. The country’s interior is equally divided, and the 1997 Constitution, under which civil rights, including religious freedom, are guaranteed, is not worth the paper on which it is written. Eleven former members of parliament, the ‘Asmara 11’, have been imprisoned since September 2001 without any charges against them. The African Human Rights Commission called for their release in March 2004, and it is a positive development to hear such calls coming from Africa itself.
Journalists have been arrested, and, as has already been said, the country occupies the unenviable position of fifth to last in the world press freedom ranking. We are calling for respect for human rights, including those of all prisoners, and in particular those of the juveniles arrested on 4 November, who must also be allowed contact with lawyers and relatives.
In particular, we are calling on the Council and the Commission to initiate the consultation procedure provided for under Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement, with the aim of preventing a regime of this kind from profiting from the privileges granted under this Agreement.
At the same time, we must step up humanitarian aid and also give more support to all non-state actors fighting for no more and no less than the noble text of the 1997 Constitution."@en1
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