Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-17-Speech-3-282"
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"en.20081217.21.3-282"2
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"Thank you, Madam President.
Ladies and gentlemen, here we are again at the end of the year, on the occasion of the publication of the annual report on human rights.
The second development that is close to my heart, concerns our dialogues on human rights. In 2008, we opened new dialogues with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, thus achieving our goal of covering all central Asian countries. Similarly, this year we held two promising rounds of talks in our new dialogue with the African Union.
Lastly, we decided on the practical details of five new dialogues in Latin America. More than ever, we are determined to involve civil society in the preparation as well as the follow-up of dialogues. These dialogues are not simple – as shown by the recent dialogue with China – hence the importance of weighing up the impact of these efforts. We must establish how we can enhance the link between the political message and tangible actions on the ground.
This brings me on to the two challenges I mentioned earlier. Firstly, I would like to discuss the multilateral challenge. The work of the United Nations is absolutely vital as a guarantee of the universality of human rights. How can we enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations and our contribution to its work? Certainly, the European Union’s commitment is yielding results, such as the support of a growing number of countries for the resolution on the death penalty, or the adoption of the resolutions on Iran, North Korea and Burma, initiatives launched or cosponsored by the European Union in New York.
In the context of today’s joint statement by the Council and the Commission, I would like to confirm our support for the French imitative on sexual orientation. The Commission is ready to raise these issues, including the decriminalisation of homosexuality, in its contacts with third countries, in a context of mutual respect, sensitivity, and respective customs.
In Geneva, the universal periodic review process is beginning. These results, however, must not blind us to the increasing difficulty the European Union has in playing its role as bridge builder, in a UN environment that is more polarised, where countries act together in blocs. The recommendations of Mrs Andrikienė’s report, which your House will be asked to adopt in January, will be helpful in taking our thinking on this further.
Finally, the second challenge is the challenge of effectiveness. The European Union is stepping up its activities in favour of human rights in a growing number of countries. How can we enhance our effectiveness? I believe that we must ensure that we enhance the linkage between our various instruments to serve our priorities, whether it be our political dialogue, our diplomatic action and the European instrument for democracy and human rights, electoral observation or even integration of the human rights aspect in our other external policies.
The goal of coherence, and therefore of enhanced effectiveness, should be a major concern for all institutions.
This meeting takes on a special significance in this 60
anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration, with the perfect simplicity of its 30 articles and the universal vision it embodies, has not aged. What is more, it is as relevant as ever in a world in which too many people continue to have their fundamental rights violated on a daily basis. Each one of these cases reminds us that so much remains to be done to make the rights established by the Declaration a tangible reality.
Like the whole European Parliament this morning, I too was very moved by the presence of most of the Sakharov Prize winners, and I was also very touched by the words of Mrs Bonner. I have the greatest admiration for all defenders of human rights.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, the annual report on human rights sets out the action taken by the European Union in pursuit of this goal. I should like to emphasise two significant developments and two challenges.
The first development I would like to mention is that the European Union has made good progress in 2008 in consolidating its external policy instruments, in order to tackle discrimination and violence against women. Beyond symbolic situations, such as that in the eastern Congo, violence against women still represents a global scourge.
The implementation of Security Council Resolutions 1325 ‘Women, peace and security’ and 1820 ‘Violence against women’ is still inadequate.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has just given a positive response to the request I put to him, with the backing of 40 women leaders, to organise a ministerial conference on the implementation of Resolution 1325 in 2010, and I am delighted about that.
From this perspective, we will strengthen the coordination of European instruments. The Council has just adopted a new overall approach to implement Resolutions 1325 and 1820, which applies both to operations relating to the European Security and Defence Policy, and Community instruments. This will help us to improve integration of the gender perspective, from prevention and crisis management to consolidation of peace and reconstruction.
In the same spirit, the European Union has just adopted, under the French Presidency, new European Union guidelines on the fight against violence and discrimination against women."@en1
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