Activities of Renate WEBER related to 2013/2020(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the situation of human rights in the Sahel region PDF (407 KB) DOC (198 KB)
Amendments (13)
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas one of the defining characteristics of the region, mostly generated by political instability, poverty and unsecured borders, is the spill-over effect, which inherently causes shared human rights challenges in the entire Sahel; whereas this characteristic outlines the need for a well-coordinated and holistic approach towards the entire eco- geographic region of Sahel;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the scope of this resolution encompasses the countries identified by the EU Sahel Strategy, specifically Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and relevant parts of Burkina Faso and Chad; whereas the broader geographic and ecological definition of the Sahel, which encompasses as well parts of Gambia, Senegal, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan, South Sudan and Eritrea, also remains crucial with regard to the region's shared human rights challenges; whereas this report will also discuss the human rights situation in Western Sahara and the Tindouf camps;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the presence of terrorist groups in the Sahel causes serious instability and insecurity in the region, with hostage-taking and violent attacks; whereas the Sahel is a transit zone for drug-trafficking by criminal gangs from Latin America, and whereas drug- traffickers are often linked to terrorist groups which provide security for them while in transit; whereas the presence of these traffickers is a source of instability both for the Sahel and for the European Union, which is often the final destination of this trade;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Attaches particular urgency to the human rights situation in Mali, with reports of serious human rights violations in northern Mali by armed groups; notes that alleged crimes include mass rape, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture, ethnic-based violence, summary executions, illegal arrests and passing of sentences without due process, forced disappearances, the use of child soldiers, forced marriages, intentionally directing attacks against protected objects, and destruction and looting of property; is deeply concerned about the new trends in the terrorist and criminal techniques, such as suicide bombers, kidnapping and hostage-taking and use of children as human shield; notes that, since January 2013, there have also been reports of human rights violations by elements of the Malian security forces and vigilante groups against the Tuareg and Arab communities, and other groups perceived to have cooperated or been associated with rebel groups; urges the Malian authorities and their international partners to pay close attention to the new patterns of human rights violations, including reprisals based on ethnicity, that have emerged since the recovery of certain parts of northern Mali, and could constitute an obstacle to peace- building and reconciliation if not properly addressed; calls upon the Malian Government to facilitate the reporting of abuses in any future offensives, and to respect due process when interrogating suspected militants; reiterates its condemnation of the atrocities committed against the civilian population; recalls the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor's determination of a reasonable basis to believe that atrocities committed in the Mali conflict constitute war crimes; believes moreover that some atrocities could constitute crimes against humanity;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes with grave concern that a further reason for the escalating destabilization in Mali is the growing level of corruption, leaving the population of the North, such as Tuareg, Songhai, Arabs and others out of the range of the international aid; emphasises that one of the most dangerous effects of corruption is the creation of cultural and ethnic separation between northern and southern Mali;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Abhors the grave violations against children in Mali, including the reported use of child soldiers by all of the armed groups active in the north; is deeply concerned about the findings of the UN latest report on children and armed conflicts, which deplores the fact that the character and tactics of conflict in Mali create unprecedented threats for children, as parties of the conflict engage in the recruitment and use of children, sexual violence against children, the killing and maiming of children in contravention of international law, recurrent attacks on schools and/or hospitals or recurrent attacks or threats of attack against protected personnel; emphasises the importance of allocating sufficient recourses to the tasks of demobilisation and rehabilitation of child soldiers; condemns in the strongest terms the sexual violence against girls, forced marriages, abductions and attacks on schools and hospitals that have occurred during the Mali conflict; draws attention to the capture and detention of children for intelligence purposes as a worrying emerging trend that needs to be addressed as a matter of the utmost urgency;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Welcomes the peaceful settlement of the border dispute between Niger and Burkina Faso brought by those two countries before the International Court of Justice, which handed down its ruling on 16 April 2013, and calls on the Sahel countries to follow this example;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 c (new)
Paragraph 16 c (new)
16c. Calls on the Sahel countries to cooperate with the ICC so as to enable it to conduct investigations freely and with complete impartiality; calls on states parties to execute international arrest warrants issued by the ICC and enforce its decisions with all due dispatch; proposes that the UN should help the Sahel countries to set up impartial and independent judicial bodies to try international crimes, following the example of the Special Court for Sierra Leone;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Notes, with due gravity, the frequent food crises and other humanitarian emergencies in the Sahel region, and their effect on the most fundamental human rights; welcomes the strong involvement of the EU and its Member States in the humanitarian crisis efforts in the Sahel; emphasises, however, the need for humanitarian action to be coordinated with longer term EU support in the context of development cooperation and human rights protection, focusing mainly, in order to ensure food self-sufficiency, the infrastructure improvements, clarification of land tenure and increased fight against speculation of prices; notes that priority should be also given to improvement of resources' mobility, which is, due to social and political unrest in the Sahel, disrupted and thus hinders the functioning of markets;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Notes, furthermore, with great concern, that slavery persists across the wider Sahel region, with large numbers of people in bonded labour in Mali, Niger and elsewhere; urges the responsible national and international authorities to take action in this regard, by monitoring the due implementation of the legislation, which prohibits and criminalises slavery, with particular attention to the position and vulnerability of women and girls,; encourages the development by the authorities of programmes that aim inter alia assisting victims' rehabilitation and reintegration, collecting data, and most importantly, organising awareness-raising campaigns, as slavery is considered by many former slaves and slave owners as a natural state of play and this social hierarchy is deeply embedded in their mentality; encourages the local authorities to develop strategies and programmes aiming to integrate in society former slaves by ensuring means of subsistence and adequate access to work places;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Notes the discrimination faced by women and girls in much of the region, the manifestations of which include forced marriage, child marriage, sexual exploitation, under- education and, particularly in Chad, widespread female genital mutilation, including infibulation; calls on the EU to assist local women's groups and civil so, and traditional practices such as sororate or levirate marriage; calls for the implementation, in cooperation with all the development actors on the ground, of policietys to tackle oppression, and enable women to lead lives that they have freely chosensafeguard human rights and gender equality, in particular respect for and the safeguarding and promotion of the rights of women, including sexual and reproductive rights, with no discrimination on the grounds of race, caste, age, ethnicity, religious belief, marital status, origin or status as a migrant or non-migrant;
Amendment 315 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Expresses concern that the poverty in Tindouf, coupled with an absence of long- term prospects for many refugees, leaves them vulnerable to radicalisation along religious fundamentalist lines; draws attention to the region's porous borders, which risk facilitating deeper infiltration of the camps by jihadi groups from northern Mali and elsewhere; stresses, therefore, the paramount importance of ensuring the safety and security of the camps and calls on Algerian authorities to act upon its responsibility to alleviate the human rights situation in Tindouf camps;
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)
Paragraph 46 a (new)
46a. Encourages the governments of Morocco and Algeria to further develop and enhance their political dialogue in order to avoid increasing tensions in the region; welcomes the development and follow-up of programmes between Morocco and Algeria that aim at facilitating the access and movement of relatives from both sides;