Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-02-24-Speech-3-128"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20100224.16.3-128"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I am grateful for the speeches by Members regarding this absolutely essential and crucial issue, which, as I said in my first speech, is one of the core elements of the European Union: defending human rights.
In this respect, we believe that participation in the United Nations Human Rights Council, including support for the existence of the Council, is a position that must be upheld by the European Union. The European Union has always advocated that a Human Rights Council should be established to replace the former Commission, as I said before. Furthermore, it has believed that it should be an instrument that can adequately deal with human rights situations worldwide, situations which require the United Nations and its members to take action, adopt a position or make the corresponding declaration.
In fact, the Presidency of the European Union, the Presidency of the Council, has always systematically taken part in the discussions at the various part-sessions of the Human Rights Council on behalf of the European Union, and this will continue to be the case. The Presidency of the Council of the Union will take part in the next part-session of the Human Rights Council on behalf of the Council of the Union. Naturally, this is perfectly compatible with the declarations and positions of each of the Member States of the Union and of the European Commission, as another institution of the Union.
I therefore would like to say that we are in favour of the existence of this body, and in favour of drawing on all of its potential, which, in some cases, is achieved, and in other cases is not: obviously, there are certain situations in which, as a result of the votes that take place, the European Union and its Member States do not achieve all their objectives. There are really positive cases, for example, the position on Somalia: there are violations of human rights in that region. There are other cases in which the objectives have not been achieved, but the positives always outweigh the negatives.
I would like to say that we are going to talk about some of the cases of countries that have been mentioned in the various speeches.
I do wish to talk about the case of Iran, because there have been repeated allusions to the subject of Iran’s candidacy. As you know, declarations have constantly been made on this subject. Here in front of me, I have three declarations made this year alone by the Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, regarding the situation in Iran, condemning and expressing her concern about cases of human rights violations and executions that have taken place in Iran.
Regarding the question of the candidacy, we first have to say that this is a matter that is currently still one of national competence (the position regarding candidacies of countries to join the Human Rights Council). In any case, the matter of the human rights situation in Iran and the human rights violations, and therefore the question as to whether or not Iran’s candidacy for the Human Rights Council will be accepted, must be managed carefully in order not to cause the opposite of the desired effect. We therefore understand that the European Union, here, must try to have the most coordinated position possible (which is what is happening at the moment), while respecting national competence and, as I said, exercising caution.
In short, Mr President, we consider the Human Rights Council to be a place where we must defend the European Union’s position, and we think it is the right place to do so. Furthermore, our commitment to it has always been to ensure that it does not cause the universal movement defending human rights to take steps backwards, to regress, especially in terms of humanity’s achievement, which is considering human rights to be a universal value, a universal value that should be defended over and above borders, traditions and diversity, because it is something that is linked to the very essence of human beings."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples