Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-06-Speech-3-295"
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"en.20090506.37.3-295"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I am participating in this debate in plenary on your report, Mr Obiols i Germà. I am replacing my colleague Mrs Ferrero-Waldner, who is detained in Prague, attending the European UnionCanada summit.
I wish to point out the recent adoption by the EU foreign ministers of the Union’s global approach to the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820. We should also recall the positive response of the United Nations SecretaryGeneral to the joint appeal launched in 2008 by Mrs Ferrero-Waldner and 40 women who occupy prominent positions at international level.
This appeal called on the United Nations to organise a ministerial conference dedicated to the review of Resolution 1325. This ministerial conference is now planned for 2010. Evidently, we will work with the future Swedish Presidency in the preparation of the positions that we will have to take when reviewing this resolution.
That is all, Mr President; there is no doubt more to be said, but I would again like to stress that strengthening European policy in favour of democracy and human rights does, of course, demand a high level of synergy between the institutions. The Commission is prepared to act along these lines. It wishes to establish close cooperation so that our three institutions can really offer each other mutual support. In this respect, the European Parliament can play an essential role since, by definition and by vocation, it is best placed to speak on behalf of the oppressed and those who are suffering.
Those are the items that I wished to share with you following the Presidency’s speech, and I am now going to listen carefully to the Member’s speeches.
I first wish to thank Mr Obiols i Germà for the quality of his work. Thank you for giving a positive tone to your report which thus demonstrates the efforts expended over the years by the Commission and the Council to implement Parliament’s recommendations.
Whether in the framework of dialogues on human rights or in that of political dialogues within international bodies, the institutions have striven to advance, to give the European Union the image of an ambassador – a fervent and credible ambassador – for the protection and promotion of human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law.
Last year, 2008, was marked by the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which all the European institutions commemorated together. It was also the year in which the Commission was able to single out two priorities, namely women and children, and in which an interinstitutional approach was promoted.
We have tried to implement several general recommendations that appeared in previous reports and which have been recast very well in the report that we are studying today. We have agreed to focus our actions on certain countries as regards the application of the guidelines on the rights of the child, and we have mobilised the embassies of the Member States of the European Union and the European Community’s delegations to monitor these actions. We have thus taken the lead in the fight against one of the worst forms of violation of human and children’s rights, in other words the enrolment of child soldiers and the sufferings inflicted on children in armed conflicts.
Allow me to give a few examples. The Union adopted new guidelines on the rights of the child on 10 December 2007. In the first phase of implementation, it will focus its attention on violence against children. We are launching a pilot programme aimed at 10 countries on different continents. These countries have been chosen because their governments have already committed to combat violence against children, and also because their governments need additional international aid to continue to combat violence against children. In June 2008, the Council of the European Union revised the guidelines on children affected by armed conflicts in order to deal more effectively and more globally with the short-, medium- and long-term effects of armed conflicts on children.
Special provision is made in the Commission’s communication for children within the European Union’s external actions, and a consistent approach is recommended in order to advance the rights of the child and to improve the situation of children around the world. The communication has been the subject of very broad consultation. Special attention is paid in it to nongovernmental organisations. On the basis of this communication and its related action plan, in May 2008 the Council of the European Union adopted conclusions aimed at strengthening the Union’s external policy on the rights of the child.
In 2009, we are continuing down this path with the following initiatives. In June the Commission will stage the European Forum on the Rights of the Child in Brussels. This Forum will focus specifically on child labour. We will strive to bring together all the stakeholders. I personally place a great deal of importance on this forum. In July, the future Swedish Presidency and the Commission will organise an NGO forum in Stockholm to deal specifically with violence against children. Finally, during the autumn we will publish a report on the measures, especially those relating to trafficking, taken by the Union to combat child labour. That, then, is a year which should further develop the European Union’s commitment to children.
I will now turn to women’s rights. In recent months, the European Union has strengthened its external policy on women’s rights. The new guidelines on violence against women and the fight against all forms of discrimination against them recommend a certain number of actions. These actions will benefit from the commitment and support of the Union’s missions and the Commission’s delegations."@en1
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