Activities of Idoia VILLANUEVA RUIZ related to 2020/2041(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on a new EU-Africa Strategy – a partnership for sustainable and inclusive development
Amendments (22)
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recalls that democracy is based on respect for human rights, civil and political rights, equality and non- discrimination, as well as the rights of protest and association; recalls that social and economic rights, in particular the right to work, health, education, housing, a healthy environment, access to water and food and fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of expression, are necessary for the achievement of a democratic society, and that these rights and freedoms are under threat in many EU and African countries and that numerous violations of these rights and freedoms endanger democracy by laying the foundations for authoritarian states; stresses that civil society must be inclusive, in order to represent all existing groups, such as women, LGBTI+ people, young people, people with disabilities and ethnic minorities;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Highlights that the relations between the EU, its Member States and African countries are unequal and that, following decolonisation, new rules have been imposed on African countries in order to maintain the economic and political domination of the former colonial powers; deplores that this neo- colonialism has resulted at political level in the dismissal of governments, the assassination of political leaders, political instability and in some cases in the financing of armed conflicts or direct military intervention by the former colonial powers; recalls, therefore, that the question of democracy in Africa is intrinsically linked to the real independence and sovereignty of those states;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Stresses that the global systemic crisis will accelerate as a result of the pandemic and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) predicts an unprecedented contraction in trade flows, ranging from 13% to 32%; recalls that the NGO Oxfam predicts that some 500 million people are at risk of falling into poverty while the African Union has estimated that the continent would need at least USD 200billion to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and its economic and social consequences; recalls that in a study published at the end of March 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimated the needs of the countries of the South at USD 2 500 billion and that, according to an International Labour Organisation (ILO) note published on 7 April 2020, 'two billion people work in the informal economy (mostly in emerging and developing economies) and are particularly at risk”;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Deplores that imposed structural reforms, debt and debt servicing, imposed on African countries for years, have hampered economic and social development, greatly reduced the capacity of States to meet the needs of their populations and generated situations close to bankruptcy, at a time when public investment has never been more essential, particularly to deal with natural pandemics; regrets that these structural adjustment programmes imposed by the IMF and the World Bank have encouraged the lack of development and dismantling of public services and infrastructures, and other pillars of the economy of these countries; recalls that this has led to a worsening of the living conditions of the population and has favoured the monopolisation of resources and the seizure of the economy by the major, mainly Western, industrial groups, creating an increase in unemployment, the deterioration in the social situation and the impoverishment of the populations are determining factors in the instability from which the African countries suffer;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1e. Recalls that in 2019, nearly 16.6 million Africans were affected by extreme weather events, 195% more than in 2018, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), and that natural disasters have an adverse impact on the lives, livelihoods, homes and ecosystems, as well as on the macro economy;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. WelcomNotes the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 9 March 2020 entitled ‘Towards a comprehensive strategy with Africa’ (JOIN(2020)0004); calls for strong and constant EU engagement in the security, stability and development of Africapolitical cooperation with African countries to tackle common challenges like climate change, Sustainable Development Goals, and ending discrimination;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Considers that the new strategy with Africa must have as its main objective the eradication of poverty and inequalities, promoting human development; insists that relations with Africa must take place within a framework of mutual development and equal partners; stresses that, in order to permit mutual development and employment both within the African countries and the European Union, it is necessary to put in place a new model of multilateral cooperation that meets the needs of the people and is based on the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the guiding framework of the new relationship; calls for the European Union and its Member States to promote the participation of African representatives in international fora on equal terms;
Amendment 97 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Underlines that the participation of European, African and international civil society is an indispensable means for the strategy to have an impact and benefit the peoples of both continents; calls on the EC and the EEAS to involve civil society organisations and NGOs, especially local ones, in the implementation of the strategy at all phases of projects and programmes (planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation);
Amendment 100 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Calls on the EC and the EEAS to take specific actions to protect migrants from death, disappearance, family separation and violation of their rights; calls on the EC and the EEAS to facilitate and implement safe and legal migration channels, particularly for employment but not only for those deemed "highly skilled", in the framework of a migration and mobility partnership based on shared responsibility and the respect for Human Rights and International and Refugee Law; calls on the EC and the EEAS to take into account and avoid any negative spill over of EU external migration policies on African continental and regional migration and mobility;
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5d. Stresses that respect for and full realisation of the human rights of women are the foundations of a democratic society; considers, therefore, that the absence of psychological, physical and sexual violence and abuse, women's political participation and participation in all areas of society, including decision- making processes, peace-building and peace-keeping efforts, negotiations and leadership, education, labour market access and entrepreneurism, ensuring their economic and social rights, autonomy, emancipation as well as access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, which are fundamental rights and objectives to be achieved for the construction of a truly democratic society; calls on the EEAS and the Commission to include a gender approach based on these principles in all its policies in Africa;
Amendment 104 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5e. Recalls that climate change is having tragic consequences in the European Union and in African countries; calls on the EC and the EEAS to incorporate the fight against climate change, the ecological and digital transition as well as the Green Deal into the strategy, while ensuring that such transition is just and leaves no one behind; calls on the EU to define and legally recognise climate refugee status as a person displaced and forced to move as a direct or indirect result of climate changes, such as droughts, extreme temperatures, changes in water composition, the rise of sea levels, desertification and floods. As stated by the UN General Assembly in 2018 in the Global Compact on Refugees, climate, environmental degradation and natural disasters increasingly interact with the drivers of refugee movements, caused by the loss of livelihoods and food insecurity;
Amendment 105 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 f (new)
Paragraph 5 f (new)
5f. Calls for the EU's common agricultural policy to be restructured by scaling down agricultural subsidies that are detrimental to local production in both African countries and EU Member States; stresses that the current agro- industrial model is based on social and environmental dumping and is designed solely to satisfy financial interests at the expense of the income of small and medium-sized farms and the needs of the population; reaffirms the need to take agriculture and food out of the logic of trade and free trade agreements; supports a new global agriculture and food model that meets the objectives of food sovereignty for peoples and states (which includes the right of peasants, with a particular focus on female farmers, to produce food for their people and families, by ending land grabbing and ensuring farmers' access to land, seeds and water), ecological transition, job creation and fair pay for both male and female farmers, and the right to quality food for all;
Amendment 106 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 g (new)
Paragraph 5 g (new)
5g. Recalls the changes in the political and economic structures of African societies created by European intervention through colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade, that de- developed the African continent and made it completely dependent; calls for the Member States directly or indirectly responsible to put forward reparations towards the States whose resources have been plundered and societies decimated by European colonialism;
Amendment 107 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 h (new)
Paragraph 5 h (new)
5h. Calls for the EU and its Member States to support in the UN and other international fora the implementation of a binding instrument to make private companies accountable for human rights violations globally, given the grave consequences this lack of accountability has for the peoples of Africa in many areas;
Amendment 108 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 i (new)
Paragraph 5 i (new)
5i. Emphasises that land and natural resource grabbing by multinational companies is a major obstacle to the development of African countries; reaffirms that the activities of European companies operating in Africa must fully respect international human rights standards and ILO conventions; calls on the Member States to ensure that companies governed by their national law do not under any circumstances fail to respect human rights and the social, health and environmental standards that apply to them when they set up or carry out their activities in a third country; calls on the European Commission and the Member States to penalise European companies and their subsidiaries which fail to comply with these standards and to ensure that victims have access to justice;
Amendment 109 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 j (new)
Paragraph 5 j (new)
5j. Stresses that development aid is fundamental for the diversification of the African countries' economies and for coping with the current economic and social crisis; calls on the EU and its Member States to increase financial support and humanitarian aid to meet the urgent needs of the populations; calls for EU and Member States' aid to be in the form of grants and not loans so as not to increase the debt burden; deplores the fact that many EU Member States have failed to reach the target of 0.7% of GNI and that some have even decreased their contributions to development aid; deplores the fact that these contributions are increasingly dedicated to support private sector investments (which could be more appropriately be supported by other type of funding) rather than through specialized international agencies and CSOs; deplores the decline in Member States' participation in food aid programmes; condemns the conditionality imposed on some countries to prevent migratory movements; urges that development aid should under no circumstances be used to limit or control borders or to ensure the readmission of migrants, as such approach undermines aid effectiveness principles;
Amendment 110 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 k (new)
Paragraph 5 k (new)
5k. Considers that massive public investment is essential to meet the needs of the people; stresses that in order to finance the new model of relationship it is necessary to incorporate additional measures to increase and boost domestic resource mobilisation, such as: to fulfil ODA commitments, facilitate remittances transactions, promote tax transparency, adopt legislation for mandatory tax transparency for multinational companies in the EU and revise tax treaties with African countries;
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 l (new)
Paragraph 5 l (new)
5l. Stresses that the massive flight of capital from African countries, mainly to tax havens (more than 50 billion a year for Africa), is an obstacle to the development of these countries; considers, therefore, that the holding of a world tax conference in order to develop binding mechanisms is necessary to ensure tax justice at global level;
Amendment 112 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 m (new)
Paragraph 5 m (new)
5m. Stresses that the demand for the cancellation of the public debt of the African countries has never been more legitimate and necessary in order to release the funds needed for investment in public infrastructure, particularly health infrastructure; calls therefore on the international institutions and the 'creditor' countries to remove the obstacles to development in the African countries by cancelling the debt and interest on the debt which these countries continue to pay;
Amendment 113 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 n (new)
Paragraph 5 n (new)
5n. Recalls that the aim of the private sector is, by definition, to make a profit; stresses that the search for corporate profit cannot guide the EU's external and humanitarian action, which must be based on respect for human rights, the strengthening of multilateralism and international cooperation, in adherence to the principles of policy coherence for development and 2030 Agenda, peacebuilding efforts and disarmament, the fight against poverty, inequality and climate change; insists that the role of donor and human development partner cannot be outsourced or privatised; regrets that the private sector is not required to meet the same conditions for action in a country as NGOs; underlines the need of holding the private sector accountable, and demonstrate that the support provided by the External Action Guarantee and the European Fund for Sustainable Development to their investments is binding to the achievement of concrete indicators of SDGs;
Amendment 115 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 141 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Shares the opinion that the matter of the security of Africa should be transferred into the hands of Africans and that the EU should assist its African partners in the successful accomplishment of this ultimate goal.African states and regional institutions must have the leading role in matters relating to the security of Africa and that the EU should assist its African partners in the successful accomplishment of this ultimate goal, including by implementing a conflict prevention, do no harm and policy coherence approach in all aspects of its relationship with Africa; calls therefore for the dismantling of all EU Member States' military bases and ending the CSDP missions in the African continent; calls on the EU to refrain from partnering with governments and security forces with problematic human rights records, as well as for the EU to foresee sanctions on EU Member States that break the rules regarding arms sales;