13 Amendments of Keith TAYLOR related to 2012/2136(INI)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights that the economic and financial crisis has had detrimental effects on access to food, health care and education for the most vulnerable groups in society, in both urban and rural areas; recalls that governments have a duty to ensure respect for economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights and to provide protection against abuses by, for example, corporate and other private actors; through the implementation of the UN guiding principles on business and human rights;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Observes that the financial crisis has spread across the world through varying transmission channels, interacted with other crisis (such as food and fuel crisis) at different speeds and intensities; notes with concern that owing to the crisis, the World Bank and the UN estimate that between 55 and 103 million more people have to live in poverty, thereby jeopardising further achievement of human rights;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Notes with concern that, according to World Bank and IMF estimates, the rate at which poverty is being reduced in sub- Saharan Africa has slowed; that approximately 30,000-50,000 more children died in SSA in 2009 as a consequence of the global financial crisis;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Notes with concern that owing to the crisis, women's rights have deteriorated through, for example, additional unpaid work and increased violence; reasserts accordingly that the development of public services and effective social protection systems are essential in ensuring respect of women's economic and social rights;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Recalls that the principle of non- discrimination requires, especially in a context of crisis, positive remedial steps to counter disproportionate impacts on women, indigenous people and other systematically disadvantaged sectors of the population, while ensuring that these anti-crisis measures benefit the most disadvantaged and vulnerable communities;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that the crisis has shown that social protection spending increases poor people’s resilience to shocks; highlights as well that countries with effective systems of domestic taxation reduce their vulnerability to sudden losses of trade taxes or foreign capital inflows; urges, therefore, the EU to help developing countries set up progressive and effective taxation systems to mitigate the impact of the crisis on public revenues in order to help guarantee the funds needed for social protection programmes and to ensure equitable redistribution of existing resources;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that combating illicit financial flows, tax havens and speculation on commodities are necessary steps for the achievement of human rights, especially in low-income countries;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. SRecalls that the fundamental values of freedom, human dignity, social justice and non-discrimination are essential for sustainable economic and social development; in particular, stresses the universality of the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda as a fundamental principle to ensure fair globalisation; calls on the EU to support a human-rights based response to the crisis and to actively contribute to the establishment of social protection floors in developing countries, while respecting their individual approaches with regard to implementation;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Recalls that fulfilling human rights imply, inter alia, a universal social protection floor to safeguard against extreme poverty, minimum wages and full application of international labour standards;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Notes that about 5.1 billion people, 75% of the world population, are not covered by adequate social security, 2.6 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation and 884 million people lack access to adequate source of drinking water, 873 million suffer from chronic hunger, nearly 9 million children under the age of five die every year from largely preventable diseases and that 100 million people are pushed below the poverty line when compelled to pay for health care;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Points out that Sub-Saharan countries are particularly vulnerable to external shocks because of the limited diversification of their economies and exports and the dominance of primary commodities; stresses equally that illicit financial flows are a major development challenge to Africa, which hampers fulfilment of human rights; encourages African countries to initiate systematic audits of national debts to establish legitimacy or illegitimacy of each debt covenant, similar to Ecuador's experience; urges once more the EU to make the fight against tax havens and corruption one of its top priorities and to strongly encourage international finance and development institution to do the same;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Urges the Commission and the Member States to ensure that human rights are genuinely protected in the remit of any trade and investment agreements concluded; stresses therefore that Member States shall not allow themselves to be locked into deals that impair their ability to comply with their human rights commitments for the sake of securing access to export markets or attracting investors; insists that the Commission conducts systematic human rights impact assessments of trade and investment agreements to help ensure effective enforcement of human rights;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Reasserts that rich countries should be subject to binding obligations to realise ESC rights beyond their borders, while decisions within the remit of international institutions, such as IMF, the World Bank or WTO shall be compatible with the full range of human rights obligations enshrined in international human rights treaties.