Activities of Tamás MESZERICS related to 2018/2236(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on a European Parliament recommendation to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the new comprehensive agreement between the EU and Uzbekistan PDF (190 KB) DOC (62 KB)
Amendments (17)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Point a a (new)
Point a a (new)
(aa) provide for regular and in-depth dialogue, notably on the ongoing political and democratic reforms aimed at creating independent institutions, such as the judiciary, and a genuinely independent parliament, on protecting human rights, media freedoms, and creating an environment in which a strong civil society can operate without undue interference from the state and where civil society is involved in the reform process;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Point b a (new)
Point b a (new)
(ba) stress the importance that the reforms so far undertaken are fully implemented and ensure their effective incorporation into relevant laws and government policies;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Point c
Point c
(c) recognise the ongoing reforms to improve the business climate, the judicial system and security services, labour conditions, and administrative accountability and efficiency; highlight that Uzbekistan’s comprehensive reform plan, the Development Strategy for 2017– 2021, must be backed up by measures facilitating external trade and improving the business environment;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Point c a (new)
Point c a (new)
(ca) support the reforms in the justice sector and its full independence from the executive branch; support the strengthening of the rule of law, as well as the development of a strong framework for the protection of human rights and gender equality; encourage similar reforms in the security sector to ensure that this service stop surveillance of citizens critical or perceived to be critical to the government;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Point e
Point e
(e) welcome the release of political prisoners and encourage the authorities to resolve cases of prisoners of conscience; encourage the full rehabilitation of those who served lengthy prison sentences on politically motivated grounds; stress the need to cease the practice of politically motivated persecutions and surveillance on civil society representatives and journalist such as Agzam Turgunov, Bobomurod Abdullayev and others;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Point e a (new)
Point e a (new)
(ea) ensure that all those who are convicted of criminal and other offences are automatically given copies of the court sentences on their cases so as to enable them to access their right to appeal and apply for rehabilitation; draw the attention, in this regard, to the case of the late Member of Parliament Murad Djuraev who spent more than 20 years in jail on politically motivated charges and died in jail in 2017, whose family has been unable to receive copies of the court sentences passed in relation to him, thus hindering the process of application for posthumous rehabilitation;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Point e b (new)
Point e b (new)
(eb) urge the Uzbek government to invite the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit the country and implement the recommendation from the last visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture from 2003 to close the prison colony 64/73 in Zhaslyk in Karakalpakstan and to set up an independent national preventive mechanism (NPM), including civil society, which will be allowed to visit prisons and other places of detention to monitor the treatment of prisoners;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Point e c (new)
Point e c (new)
(ec) express concern at several closed- door trials with regard, in particular, to the trial of Rashitjon Kadyrov and 12 co- defendants ongoing since 7 January 2019, where there are serious allegations of torture, and urge the government to end the practice of such closed-door trials;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Point e d (new)
Point e d (new)
(ed) ensure a review of the passport system in order to solve the problem of all those Uzbek citizens who from 1993 to 2016 were deprived of their citizenship after being granted refugee status abroad in violation of the Convention on the Prevention of Statelessness;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Point f
Point f
(f) welcome the progress made towards the eradication of child labour and the phasing-out of forced labour, as well as the recent visits to Uzbekistan by UN Special Rapporteurs and the reopening of the country to international non- governmental organisations in this field; point out that, despite the measures taken by the government, state-sponsored forced labour in the cotton and silk industries and other areas remains a systemic and deeply-rooted problem affecting tens of thousands of people; expect steps by the government of Uzbekistan to begin to dismantle the structures which perpetuate and drive forced labour and in particular the system of mandatory quotas and the state control over all aspects of the cotton production; stress that more efforts need to be done and further legal measures must be adopted to consolidate progress in this area;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Point h
Point h
(h) continue holding annual Human Rights Dialogues, while mainstreaming human rights issues in all meetings; encourage compliance with international human rights instruments; set benchmarks ahead of each round of dialogues and evaluate the dialogues on an annual basis, based on the deliverables; encourage and support the implementation of comprehensive reforms of the judiciary;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Point m
Point m
(m) ensure effective cooperation in the fight against corruption, money laundering and tax evasion; note that criminal justice proceedings on the grand scale bribery scandal in Uzbekistan’s telecommunications sector and related money laundering continue in several EU jurisdictions; ensure that the assets stemming from corruption currently frozen in several EU and EEA Member States are repatriated responsibly for the benefit of all the Uzbek people – the ultimate victim of corruption; stress that officials responsible for these crimes who are still in office must be brought to justice;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Point u
Point u
(u) support Uzbekistan’s renewed efforts towards multilateral and international cooperation on global and regional challenges, such as international security and countering violent extremism, organised crime, environmental degradation, climate change and migration, among others;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Point u a (new)
Point u a (new)
(ua) ensure that the comprehensive agreement facilitates and strengthens regional cooperation and peaceful conflict resolution of the existing controversies paving the way for genuine good-neighbourly relations;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Point u b (new)
Point u b (new)
(ub) support and strengthen the cooperation with Uzbekistan on environmental issues with regard, in particular, to sustainable policies and practices of water management and conservation and a credible gradual plan of clean-up and restoration of the Aral sea basin with all the countries concerned and the competent regional organisations;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Point x a (new)
Point x a (new)
(xa) ensure that before the conclusion of the negotiations Uzbekistan improves substantially the operating environment for civil society removing the obstacles that hinder all new groups from registering and legally start activities in the country and from receiving foreign funding; ensure that NGOs are not subject to excessive and unnecessary reporting requirements to various government agencies and that international monitors and human rights organisations are allowed to operate freely in Uzbekistan including by opening local branch offices for monitoring purposes;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Point y
Point y
(y) include terms on the potential suspension of cooperationa clearly-defined suspension clause in the event of the breach of essential elements by either party with regard, in particular, to the respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law, including consultation of Parliament in such cases;