Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-01-17-Speech-3-141"
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"en.20070117.8.3-141"2
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"Mr President, I would like to begin by welcoming the fact that work has started this year on the International Arms Trade Treaty, with the approval by 153 Member States of the United Nations. I would like to acknowledge the leading work undertaken by the British Labour Government in getting that agreed within the United Nations and, indeed, today’s late conversion by the British Conservative spokesperson in favour.
The European Union and the Member States need to maintain a strong and proactive approach in our support for the proposed Treaty, particularly during the upcoming bilateral consultations with the new UN Secretary-General, and we need to maintain pressure on the United States Government to review its obligations to the Treaty. We need a strong, effective and legally binding Treaty covering the trade in all conventional arms and setting clear standards for when an arms transfer should not take place, including respect for human rights, and we should have an effective monitoring and enforcement mechanism.
On other matters in this report, once again I want to pay tribute to my good friend and colleague, Mr Romeva i Rueda, for his excellent work, which has my strong support. Since we had this annual debate last year, 45 million more people in our world have been affected by the devastating consequences of war and, as we are only too well aware, it is not just a matter of the horrific death toll. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, violent conflict is the single greatest cause of hunger in the world today.
This year, Mr President, you and I have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on behalf of this Parliament, where research this year has shown, despite the UN arms embargo, ammunition and weapons in rebel hands in eastern DRC from Greece, a Member State of the European Union, and from Serbia, a state with which we are negotiating an association agreement. I say to the British Conservative spokesperson who has said in this debate that this is self-flagellation against European nations, that, when someone is killed by an illegally exported arm, quite simply I call it murder. There is no excusing them saying that because China does it too, that is acceptable. Europe has a duty to take a moral lead. We should get this common position agreed and, by next year, name and shame those states that have refused to agree to it in the Council. I thank the Germans for what they have said."@en1
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