Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-14-Speech-3-549-000"
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"en.20120314.27.3-549-000"2
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"Mr President, I believe that today’s debate again demonstrated Parliament’s strong engagement in supporting human rights and fighting against terrorism. We look forward to Parliament’s continued support for the European Union’s growing engagement with Nigeria. We will increase our contacts and cooperation with Nigeria, which is at a crucial juncture in its history. It faces serious problems, but there are also a lot of opportunities.
What can the Commission do in response to the troubles faced by Nigeria? Today, we are supporting Nigeria with EUR 200 million in the Niger Delta programme which is our support for fragile peace in the Delta. We are also considering how to support the northern Nigeria programme, where there are many development challenges. Just to mention one, education: northern Nigeria has some of the worst education indicators in the world with only 74% attending school and only about 5% finishing a full primary cycle. In effect, Boko Haram is deliberately depriving Nigerian children of the opportunity to better themselves, help their families and communities and find a way out of poverty. This means that engagement with Nigeria should be crucial.
The European Union regularly raises issues about religious freedoms with Nigeria in the context of the human rights dialogue. The rights of Christians should not be seen independently from the rights of Muslims in the country. I believe that this dialogue on human rights will be strengthened in the future. The High Representative has already engaged a great deal and she has a couple of new proposals that were discussed during the informal meetings with Foreign Affairs Ministers held last week in Denmark.
How can the European Union help Nigeria against Boko Haram? Following the ministerial meeting between the European Union and Nigeria, we have started to work on the package of support for Nigeria’s counter-terrorist methods. This will be additional to, and complementary with, the EU Member States’ action. It will focus on the root causes of radicalisation, especially poverty, marginalisation in society and lack of jobs. It will also have a dimension of justice and the rule of law. Nigeria is defining its own counter-terrorism strategy, which the EU will support fully, in accordance with human rights issues.
On the killing of two European hostages, I would just repeat the High Representative’s statement of 9 March: ‘I want to express my condolences to both families of the hostages in Nigeria for the tragic loss. We condemn in the strongest possible terms criminal actions like the taking of hostages. Perpetrators must be brought to justice and held accountable for their crimes’.
The last point I would like to emphasise concerns oil revenues. I believe that the Commission has now made a proposal for more transparency on the reporting of profits from natural wealth by the companies. I very much hope that this House will support these measures because we clearly understand that fighting against poverty also requires that all companies engage fully and transparently to report on the profits in a particular country."@en1
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