Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-17-Speech-3-997"
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"en.20081217.15.3-997"2
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"− Ms Bonner, laureates of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner, ladies and gentlemen – may I say today, ‘dear friends’! Today is no ordinary day for the European Parliament: it is a day when we call to mind a fundamental concern of the European Union: the work towards peace, progress and human rights exemplified by the Sakharov Prize laureates. In the words of Andrei Sakharov, ‘it is impossible to achieve one of these goals [peace, progress and human rights] if the other two are ignored’.
Today, we shall be hearing from two extremely courageous women, both of whom are wives and mothers, who have devoted their lives to freedom in their country and thus carry the hopes of millions of people in their home country and worldwide.
Ms Bonner, your work for the freedom of your husband Andrei Sakharov and of your country contributed to the historic changes in Europe that were the precondition for endeavours to reunite our continent. I shall never forget how you received me in your Moscow flat after my visit to your husband’s grave in February 1990; it was a moving experience. It is wonderful to see you here in the European Parliament today.
We know the efforts you have gone to in order to be with us today. I am sure you are aware how much my fellow Members appreciate your presence. Once again, we also welcome your daughter Tatiana, who has done a great deal to help you and us to carry on the deeply humane and dignified legacy of your husband. I should like to invite you to speak to us after the next part of this award ceremony.
Ladies and gentlemen, courage and self-sacrifice have always been decisive for the development of human rights over the centuries. The decision by Hu Jia to address a few words to the participants in a meeting of our Subcommittee on Human Rights was an example of this great courage. The message he will be conveying to us today via his wife Zeng Jinyan is a similarly selfless act. Today’s cyber-dissidents – of whom Zeng Jinyan is one – can be likened to the Soviet dissidents who, in their time, communicated and gained a hearing for their ideas via samizdat literature.
The laureate of the 2008 Sakharov Prize, Hu Jia, was nominated as the representative of the silenced voices in China und Tibet, but today we shall hear one of those voices. I am sure that, one day, we shall also be able to hear the voice of Hu Jia himself in the Hemicycle of the European Parliament.
I should now like to request that the message received a couple of days ago from Hu Jia’s wife, Zeng Jinyan, be played.
We have gathered here today, 20 years after the Sakharov Prize was first awarded and a few days after the 60
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to honour a number of men and women of particular courage – human rights campaigners, lawyers, journalists, religious leaders, organisations – who fight for human rights with courage, commitment and passion. We also pay tribute to the women, mothers and families fighting for the rights of loved ones.
I should like to extend a particular welcome to all the Sakharov Prize laureates from previous years who have graced us with their presence today. We look forward to working together with you all even more closely within the framework of the Sakharov Network, which we signed and adopted yesterday. There are some laureates who would have liked to be with us today but, to my great regret, are unable to do so owing to the dictatorial regimes in their countries. Aung San Suu Kyi is still …
… under house arrest in Burma/Myanmar. Oswaldo Payá and the representatives of the Ladies in White, Laura Pollán and Berta Soler, were prohibited from leaving their country by the Cuban authorities even though all the necessary procedures were set in motion more than two months ago. This prohibition is a clear demonstration of the circumstances under which the democratic forces in Cuba are forced to work. I should like to say in this regard that this corresponds to neither the spirit of the political dialogue recently resumed nor the cooperation between Cuba and the European Union.
Andrei Sakharov did the European Parliament a particular honour when, more than 20 years ago, he acknowledged this House for its decision to name this prize after him and gave his assent. Andrei Sakharov was right in seeing this prize as an encouragement to all those who have committed themselves to the cause of human rights worldwide.
I also wish now to welcome Elena Bonner’s daughter Tatiana most warmly to this House: we are happy to have you here, Tatiana!
In 1988, when the prize was awarded for the first time, the laureate Nelson Mandela was in prison. The same year, an empty chair was set out here for Andrei Sakharov, just as an empty chair has been set out for Hu Jia today. Now, as then, we pay tribute to these people for their heroic commitment despite their enforced absence. Now, as then, authoritarian regimes abuse their power and attempt to silence those seeking to exercise their fundamental right of freedom of thought and expression. Now, as then, the oppressors fail in their attempts to silence these courageous voices."@en1
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