Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-17-Speech-3-183"
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"en.20060517.19.3-183"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Howitt report represents a significant advance on the past insofar as it tries to analyse the effects of the European Union's human rights policies and, above all, their effectiveness with regard to third countries.
The first, significant difference of this report comes in the shape of a request for subsequent annual reports to include an assessment of whether the democracy clause, which was adopted on 14 February, is actually being complied with. I must point out, however, that neither the Council nor the Commission has given any precise indication of the way in which it intends to incorporate that human rights and democracy clause in the commercial dealings between Europe and third countries.
As regards the fledgling UN Commission for Human Rights, the document to be voted on calls on the European Union to support the activities of that body and, at the same time, promotes the universal ratification of the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, especially on the part of the United States, for which no legal exception can be made. The document in question also specifically condemns the bilateral agreements that a number of EU countries have drawn up with the United States for the purposes of guaranteeing impunity to US soldiers. Lastly, it calls on the European Union to take a consistent approach to human rights, in the specific cases of China, with regard to the Tibetan people, and of Guantánamo, on the subject of which it calls for the immediate closure of all of the detention centres.
Nevertheless, I cannot fail to mention some shortcomings of the report too. It does not in fact make any reference to the European Union’s failure to commit itself to supporting human rights on the occasion of the sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong. On the subject of Iraq, moreover, Article 38 is too vague: it does not criticise the human rights violations carried out by the occupying forces, or the use of illegal weapons such as, for instance, the white phosphorous used in Falluja.
Finally, on the subject of Colombia, Article 41 is not as explicit as the situation of the Latin American country's citizens would, on the contrary, require, such as in the case of the residents of peace communities who have been affected by countless massacres where the perpetrators have gone unpunished. The report fails, in fact, to firmly condemn the climate of violence in the country and to acknowledge a correlation between this situation and the recent legislative measures, such as the ‘Peace and justice’ law, which actually allow paramilitary forces to become part of the Colombian army.
I have one final observation to make: although I support the request for the European Union's annual report on human rights to provide for the involvement of the European Parliament, I do, however, think it just as necessary that Parliament continues to draft its own specific report, with the aim of ensuring that Parliament monitors the European Commission's practical commitment towards human rights and of assessing that monitoring effort."@en1
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