Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-23-Speech-3-048"
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"en.20050223.6.3-048"2
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".
Mr President, honourable Members, I welcome the input which Parliament is making into the process of EU deliberations prior to the 61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva. It is important that the EU prepares its strategy well and Parliament's resolution and debate serve to stimulate those efforts.
We must also send out a clear message as to our continuing commitment to supporting the High Commissioner for Human Rights and her office as a critical part of the UN human rights machinery. Funding is one part of that and I am pleased to report that a range of projects with the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights are in the pipeline this year.
I shall conclude by underlining the Commission's intention to extend every assistance to the Luxembourg Presidency during what will undoubtedly be a challenging year for the EU in the UNCHR.
We are all aware that the EU faces a range of challenges, not least the growing hostility of many UNCHR Member States to the very concept of country resolutions, a development thrown into sharp relief by the rejection of the EU's draft resolutions on Chechnya and Zimbabwe at last year's UNCHR. It is my view that such resolutions are a vital aspect of the UNCHR's work, in serving to draw attention to human rights violations and in establishing special rapporteurs who are mandated to investigate and report on such violations.
It might be expected that, at the very least, the 53 States serving as members of the UNCHR would have seen fit to issue standing invitations to the rapporteurs whose mandates they have helped to create: in fact, only 19 States nominated as UNCHR members in 2005 have done so, eight of which the current EU members. Even where States have issued a standing invitation, special rapporteurs are frequently faced with obstruction and inconvenience in the execution of their mandates.
This is a concern which deserves greater attention in the framework of the European Union's political dialogue with third countries and in our relations with the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other organisations.
The European Union is reflecting on the country and thematic initiatives which it will bring at the 61st UNCHR and the European Commission is playing a full role in that process. I would underline that the EU is responsible for the lion's share of country resolutions and it is not realistic to expect it to expand that list indefinitely. We must concentrate our energies on rallying support for our initiatives amongst like-minded countries and the wider membership of the UNCHR in an effort to avert further defeats.
We are also considering what we can do beyond country initiatives. The key issue here is thematic engagement. I am thinking, for example, of a campaign against the death penalty or religious intolerance, or the issue of child rights.
I would emphasise, however, that the likelihood of defeat does not, in itself, constitute an overriding reason to refrain from running a resolution: as human rights defenders constantly attest, the very act of tabling a draft resolution sends a clear signal to the government and people of the country concerned. It is also important that we encourage others to take responsibility for running resolutions on key issues of concern – the lead taken by Switzerland as regards the resolution on Nepal last year is a good example.
Parliament's resolution also makes the point that the fact that the EU engages in a human rights dialogue should not preclude support for a UNCHR resolution on a particular country: the co-sponsorship by all 25 EU Member States of Canada's resolution on Iran at last year's UN General Assembly Third Committee demonstrates that this principle is not neglected in practice.
As the EU reaches out to third countries for support for our initiatives, we should also keep firmly in mind the wider context of our relations with many of the UNCHR Member States. I note, for example, that the human rights clause contained in the Cotonou Agreement is not solely concerned with the domestic human rights policies pursued by third countries but extends also to respect for human rights in the context of their international policies."@en1
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