Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-05-06-Speech-3-297"
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"en.20090506.37.3-297"2
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"Madam President, can I congratulate my friend and colleague Raimon Obiols i Germà on this report. As one of this Parliament’s annual human rights rapporteurs earlier during the mandate, and also as the Socialist Group’s Vice-Chair of our Subcommittee on Human Rights, in this debate nearing the end of the five years of this European Parliament, I want to commend to the House what we have achieved.
I believe that we have coordinated well with the Parliament’s delegations so that MEPs across this House have asked hard questions of governments in our representations worldwide, a process that I have been proud to take part in myself: from Columbia to Turkey, Georgia to Croatia. I am deeply proud of the work of the committee and of MEPs in relation to building democracy and election monitoring. Indeed my own experiences in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Palestinian Territories and Angola have been some of the most special experiences for me during the last five years.
I am deeply proud of the fact that we have engaged and represented this Parliament – I think excellently – in relation to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. I think we have had real influence there. We have tried to move Europe away from a block mentality to reach out to other regions of the world, and of course we have worked closely with the special representatives and rapporteurs, including the recent visit I helped host of the UN Special Representative on business and human rights, an issue which is a passionate one for me.
I am delighted that we campaigned and were at the forefront of the campaign for the European Communities to sign up for the first time to a human rights instrument, the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People. I am delighted, Commissioner, that, despite opposition initially from within the Commission, this Parliament insisted that we maintain a separate initiative on democracy and human rights, so that our funding for human rights is visible, is prominent and continues even in countries with regimes that wish to resist human rights.
We are often commended for our work on human rights in this House but I commend the bravery and the courage of the human rights defenders whom we meet and talk to daily, who put their lives on the line for values and standards that are universal in our world and are precious to us all."@en1
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