9 Amendments of Antoni COMÍN I OLIVERES related to 2020/0157M(NLE)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Strongly supports the conclusion of the negotiations on the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between the EU and Honduras, which not only promotes sustainable trade in legal timber products, but also aims to address illegal logging and improve forest governance, law enforcement and transparency, human rights, transparency, accountability and institutional resilience;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the commitment shown by Honduras and the progress made so far, and is aware that the full implementation of the VPA will be a long-term process entailing the adoption of a whole batch of legislation to establish the Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS) and to make it operational; stresses that the implementation of the VPA will require sustained political will, as well as the dedication of significant human and financial resources to running the TLAS; stresses that EU Delegations should play a key role in overseeing that Honduran authorities effectively include all the relevant stakeholders in the process towards the establishment of a fully operational TLAS and the implementation of the VPA; believes that parliamentary oversight of the implementation process of the VPA is needed, especially with regard to holding regular exchange of views with the independent auditor appointed by the Honduras-EU Joint Implementation Committee;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Is concerned that timber products can be imported into Honduras as long as those products were produced in accordance with the laws of the country where the trees were harvested because of the lower due diligence standards that can exist in those countries and the ulterior incorporation of these products into goods subsequently exported to the EU internal market;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission to allocate funding to accompany the implementation of the VPA as part of the next programming period of the EU bilateral programmes (2021-2027), especially with regard to the assistance for establishing a truly independent FLEGT licensing authority entrusted by the EU;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the fact that the VPA’s definition of legality explicitly refers to the rights of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples of Honduras living in forest areas and to the principles of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC); welcomes that the rights of forestry sector workers are also recognized in the VPA's definition of legality, and believes that ensuring full alignment of Honduran law with ILO standars and effective respect of labour rights should be a priority of the Honduras-EU Joint Implementation Committee;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recalls that land tenure has been a major source of violence and human rights abuses in Honduras; believes, in this context, that the VPA process could contribute to clarifying land tenure rights; deplores that human rights violations and attacks on human rights defenders, including enforced disappearances and murders, are recurrent and many times go unpunished; believes that the EU should help to improve the operational capacity of the Honduran protection mechanism for human rights defenders;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Emphasises that the success of the Agreement will also depend, inter alia, on tackling fraud and corruption; underlines that the VPA should not be considered as a mere trade agreement but as a tool to improve rule of law and human rights enforcement in Honduras; calls on the Commission to ensure that Honduras’s National Commission on Human Rights (CONADEH) duly monitors and assesses human rights violations; considers that independent civil society organisations should be involved from the very beginning in the monitoring of human rights and institutional resilience;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for the EU to ensure the coherence of the VPA agreement with all of its policies., especially with regard to the establishment of a robust compulsory due diligence framework for European companies operating in third countries that makes those companies liable for damages linked to their activity in these countries and the effective enforcement of human rights clauses in trade agreements;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Reminds that the current VPA builds upon the association agreement signed by the Union with Central America’s countries in 2012, entering into force in 2013, and whose legal dispositions already foresee comprehensive sustainable development criteria but only a mention on human rights in its preamble; calls on the Commission to increase mentions on human rights defence and guarantees in all free trade agreements (FTAs) and association agreements (AA) with third countries.