Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-23-Speech-3-162"
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"en.20050223.14.3-162"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I agree that human rights really do – and should – play a very important role, not only on the occasion of the sixty-first session, but also, of course, in general. What is more, ladies and gentlemen, this is true at every summit or meeting which we hold with various countries. Thus, on the occasion of the meeting with China in December last, we spoke a great deal about the human rights issue, and we are hopeful that China will ratify the international pact on civil and political rights.
I see these threats and the countermeasures to tackle them as a part of the human security concept. This is a comprehensive concept of understanding of individual security, where, importantly, there are hard and soft threats. The idea of freedom from need and freedom from fear are also important and both have to be eliminated.
I believe that it is also very important that these issues should always be on the agenda at our bilateral meetings too. As Mr Schmit has already said, this does in fact happen. The same is true of our new neighbourhood policy, about which President Yushchenko expressed a certain reticence today. I have to tell you that I do not agree, and I said as much to him in Ukraine. Although the neighbourhood policy we have designed is a gradual policy, it is also a policy which can bring countries together. Ukraine is much closer to the European Union in the area of human rights and also in many other areas.
I am grateful to the Members of the European Parliament for the interest that they have shown. I am also delighted to hear that a delegation of MEPs will be going to Geneva for the meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights next month, with the aim of facilitating various contacts.
The position expressed by Mrs Flautre, to the effect that our dialogue with a country is not incompatible with action within the United Nations, is a position entirely shared by the Commission and the Council. This is why we have always clearly said that we would oppose any motions seeking to prevent a vote on any resolution, and have in fact done so. This is the case with China. The no motion vote forms part of the procedures of the Commission on Human Rights, but sometimes, unfortunately, it prevents us from working together.
I wish to continue in English. I have listened with great interest to the comments about the situation of women, journalists and others in several countries. It is very important that the Commission is active on human rights issues.
Let me say that the issue of human rights at the United Nations was also mentioned in the debate today. We must look at the new ideas proposed by the different experts to the UN Panel. There are some very interesting ideas. One concerns the universalisation of membership of the UN Commission on Human Rights or, in the longer term, even the creation of a fully-fledged human rights council. This is a very interesting idea and I feel we should support it.
The Commission is contributing to the internal reflection on all these issues. It is still rather early in the process, as we are waiting for the report by the Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, which will be submitted sometime around March. However, I am convinced that the creation of a new human rights council would reinforce the credibility of the UN as regards human rights.
However, we must ensure that any UN reform process promotes respect for human rights, the promotion of humanitarian law, the rule of law and democracy, all of which are at the core of our peace-building response of the United Nations. If we think of Iraq, we know that this is important.
Finally, it is important that we improve the efficiency of the whole human rights machinery. The first speaker in the debate today, Mr Ribeiro e Castro, mentioned the broad scope of threats we face - for example, terrorism, organised international crime, trafficking, etc. I want to tell him that he is absolutely right that we must tackle these threats. He has our full support."@en1
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