Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-30-Speech-3-072"
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"en.20051130.11.3-072"2
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".
Madam President, on 3 February 2005, the parliamentary immunity of Sam Rainsy and two members of his party, Chea Poch and Cheam Channy, was lifted in Cambodia. Sam Rainsy has since lived in exile in France and Chea Poch has also escaped the country. Cheam Channy was arrested on that same day by military police. Recent arrests, not only of politicians, but also of journalists, trade union leaders and other members of civil society, bear witness to a worsening situation in terms of civil and political freedoms in that country.
I call on the Commission and the Council to continue to bring the plight of the members of Sam Rainsy’s party to the attention of the Cambodian authorities. A country in which an opposition party is thwarted in its activities to this extent must be called to account in respect of its responsibilities.
I should also, though, like to urge the Commission and Council to mount an independent inquiry into the implementation of the Paris Peace Accord. Next year, it will be 15 years since the Paris Accord called a halt to the political conflict in Cambodia. It provided, among other things, for a constitution containing basic principles, including human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Accord also put in place effective measures to prevent former policy and practices from ever returning to that country.
In Vietnam, there are positive reports about economic progress in that country, which is to be welcomed. It is also positive that in November 2004, Vietnam provided the facilities for an EU seminar on the death penalty. Nevertheless, in 2004, at least 82 people were executed and 115 sentenced to death, and the real numbers are probably higher, because Vietnam treats numerical data on the death penalty as a state secret. In 2005, 24 actual executions have been reported so far, while 78 people have been sentenced to death. In this connection, I would also like to mention the persecution of Vietnam’s Unified Buddhist Church, which is of direct concern to my colleague Marco Pannella. I would call on the Commission and the Council to plead with the Vietnamese authorities for the total abolition of the death penalty, but in any event, in anticipation of this, the European Union must plead for the ban on executions and reducing the number of offences that lead to the death penalty.
In Laos, although no executions have been reported over the past 11 years, the death penalty is still in force and in 2005, at least seven people, including one woman, have been sentenced to death.
In general, I should like to ask the Council also to incorporate human rights in the broader framework of relations between Europe and the ASEAN countries, although it goes without saying that our relations with them have to do with more than just that. We have economic and political relations; together, we fight terrorism, the drugs trade; there are scientific exchanges, and all kinds of other things. In my view, we should be doing more with the ASEAN countries rather than less. Not least in view of China and India arriving on the scene, Vietnam is the linchpin in our relations with Asia, but human rights should form an integral part of this. I am pleased that the Commission and Council have also hammered this message home, and we must without a doubt continue down this path. I wholly endorse my group’s policy in this matter."@en1
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