Activities of Rui TAVARES related to 2011/2185(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Human rights in the world and the European Union’s policy on the matter (A7-0086/2012 - Richard Howitt) (vote)
Human rights in the world and the European Union's policy on the matter (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the Annual Report on Human Rights in the World and the European Union’s policy on the matter, including implications for the EU’s strategic human rights policy PDF (418 KB) DOC (261 KB)
Amendments (11)
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas lessons must be learned from the European Union's past failures in re- shaping its external action while enshrining human and democracy at the heart of its policies and promoting transition in countries with authoritarian regimes in particular where stability and security concerns have compromised a principled policy of promoting democracy and human rights;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Believes that the recast of the asylum directives should put an end to continuing concerns about human rights breaches, as well as allegations of double standards by EU Member States in this area; maintains that the Member States should provide correlation tables for the pertinent provisions of the directives, in order to allow for proper scrutiny of their implementation; stresses that the difficult exercise of developing a common policy presents an opportunity to build on best practice; underlines the role to be played by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO); insists that the EU Member States have a role to play in the resettlement of refugees and renews its demands for the creation of a true Joint EU Programme of Resettlement of Refugees;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the development of Country Strategy Papers on human rights and stresses that these should also cover democratisation; calls for their prompt implementation through action plans to complement these strategies, based on analyses of the situation and needs in each country and making full use of the EU's relevant instruments; insists on the necessity of using these Country Strategy Papers as reference documents to be mainstreamed in all policies and relevant external financial instruments; reiterates its call for the Country Strategy Papers to be made available to Parliament;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises the crucial role played by civil society in the protection and promotion of democracy and human rights; stresses that EU contacts with civil society should be built on a genuine partnership, including systematic and regular dialogue on an equal footing, which must guarantee the active participation of civil society actors in the process of good governance; insists in this regard on the necessity of setting up a civil society monitoring mechanism so as to ensure its systematic participation in the definition and equal footingvaluation process of the implementation of agreements and programmes;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Warmly welcomes the HR/VP's statement to Parliament on 13 December 2011 following up on Parliament's long- standing call for the creation of an EU Special Representative on Human Rights; endorses her view that this would ‘act as a catalyst and raise our profile internationally’, and urges the creation of this function forthwith; calls for the post- holder to be expert in, and represent the HR/VP in relation to, international humanitarian law and international justice; warns, however, against any attempt to isolate human rights policy from the overall external policy strategies through the creation of such a Special Representative;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Considers it vital that international agreements do not contradict the EU's commitment to fundamental rightsfounding principles enshrined in Article 21 of the TEU; proposes that human rights impact assessments be undertaken prior to the launching of the negotiations of such agreements as well as during the negotiation stage, to be followed up by regular progress reports comprising the assessments made by the EU institutions and services responsible for implementation and evaluations provided by local and international civil society organisations as part of institutionalised civil society monitoring mechanisms; insists on the full use in this regard of Article 218 of the TEU according to which the Commission has the obligation to inform the Parliament and the Council at all stages of the negotiations of international agreements with third countries; considers it, in this respect, highly important to provide EU institutions with highly qualified and independent expertise on individual countries' human rights and democracy situations;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses that the mainstreaming of international justice must include systematically taking account of the fight against impunity in the broader context of trade, development and rule-of-law assistance; stresses that victims must be the central concern; recommends that the Rome Statute of the ICC be added to the package of international treaties on good governance and the rule of law to be ratified by third countries admitted to the System of Generalised Preferences Plus (GSP+); recommends the consistent inclusion of ICC clauses in EU agreements with third countriethe human rights and democracy clauses of EU agreements with third countries, taking into account that such clauses are to be considered as essential elements of the agreements;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Reiterates its conviction that all EU external actions must combine a development dimension which focuses on socio-economic progress for all based on sustainable development, and a political dimension which supports pluralism, democracy, with a special focus on the independence of the judiciary and the fight against corruption, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Stresses that the application of the clause as it currently stands , for example with the Colombia/Peru Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) due to come before Parliament, provides an opportunity for the European Parliament itself to explore the potential for setting human rights benchmarks in advance of ratification, in order to achieve concrete and verifiable progress in respect for human rights; encouragescalls once again on the Commission to draft a new ‘model clause’ referring to the parties' international obligations, comprising a procedure for consultation and specifying political and legal mechanisms to be used in the event of a request for cooperation to be suspended on the grounds of repeated or systemic human rights violations in breach of international law; is of the opinion that the enforcement mechanism of the human rights and democracy clause as requested by Parliament is the only way to ensure the genuine implementation of such clauses and should be considered as a preventive and alerting mechanism, which sets up a dialogue between the EU and the partner country, to be followed by a monitoring mechanism; recommends that a clear system of sanctions short of suspension be developed; insists strongly on the need for Parliament to be a joint decision-maker with the Commission and the Council in this respect;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. Considers that the ‘Arab Spring’ has served to demonstrate the inadequacy of the EU's policies hitherto to effectively support people's strong desire for democracy, respect for fundamental freedoms, justice, accountable and representative government in countries where this is denied; welcomes therefore the Joint Communications by the Commission and the HR/VP on ‘A new response to a changing Neighbourhood’ and ‘A partnership for democracy and shared prosperity with the Southern Mediterranean’, and the approach taken of shared commitments and mutual accountability, stronger conditionality, differentiation of policies, the advancing of multilateral and sub-regional cooperation and the principle of further involving civil society;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40
40. Emphasises the crucial importance of active civil society participation in and contribution to processes of governance, and insists that, in future, civil society must be engaged so as to contribute directly through an institutionalised ‘civil society monitoring mechanism’; considers that, as for the UPR process within the UNHRC, local and international civil society actors should be involved in the Commission's ENP progress reports by delivering separately their own assessment to be added to these reports;