{"change_dates":[],"dossier":{"amendments":[],"changes":{"2014-11-10T01:27:18":[{"data":[{"body":"EP","committees":[{"body":"EP","committee":"AFET","committee_full":"Foreign Affairs","date":"2007-01-08T00:00:00","rapporteur":[{"group":"PSE","mepref":"51ec684bb819f2575200068a","name":"VALENCIANO MART\u00cdNEZ-OROZCO Elena"}],"responsible":true},{"body":"EP","committee":"FEMM","committee_full":"Women's Rights and Gender Equality","date":"2006-12-20T00:00:00","rapporteur":[{"group":"GUE/NGL","mepref":"51ec6820b819f2575200067e","name":"UCA Feleknas"}],"responsible":false}],"date":"2007-01-18T00:00:00","type":"Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading"},{"body":"EP","committees":[{"body":"EP","committee":"AFET","committee_full":"Foreign Affairs","date":"2007-01-08T00:00:00","rapporteur":[{"group":"PSE","mepref":"51ec684bb819f2575200068a","name":"VALENCIANO MART\u00cdNEZ-OROZCO Elena"}],"responsible":true},{"body":"EP","committee":"FEMM","committee_full":"Women's Rights and Gender Equality","date":"2006-12-20T00:00:00","rapporteur":[{"group":"GUE/NGL","mepref":"51ec6820b819f2575200067e","name":"UCA Feleknas"}],"responsible":false}],"date":"2007-07-17T00:00:00","text":["
The Foreign\n Affairs Committee adopted an own-initiative report drawn up by Elena Valenciano Martinez-Orozco (PES, Spain)on the functioning of the human rights dialogues and\n consultations on human rights with third countries. It took the view that human rights issues should be placed at the highest\n political level in order to give more political weight to human rights\n concerns. It called on the Council once again systematically to apply in full\n the Human Rights and Democracy Clause in all EU agreements and relations with\n third countries. The report noted that there is a wide variety of dialogues\n and consultations, each based on different structures, formats, frequencies,\n and methodologies, but that neither the Council nor the Commission has\n devised a method for organising and systematising these dialogues and\n consultations, making the results impossible to view from an overall\n perspective.
In order to increase\n coherence, it was essential to find ways of improving coordination among\n the different EU institutions (the Council, the Commission, and Parliament)\n by establishing an interinstitutional trialogue on the political dialogue and\n the human rights dialogues and consultations. The Committee also recommended increasing coherence with other states and international\n organisations, and cited the Berne Process established\n by Switzerland for relations with China.
The report\n made a series of recommendations to the Council, the main ones being\n the following:
- to implement\n the COHOM mandate so as to ensure coherence between the dialogues or\n consultations, and to consider making COHOM a working party with\n representatives based in Brussels, and to cooperate closely with the European\n Parliament's competent committee;
- to enhance the\n role of the Human Rights Unit of its General Secretariat by allowing it to be\n involved in the conduct of the political dialogues;
- to increase\n coherence among the bilateral human rights dialogues and consultations\n conducted by individual Member States and by the EU, and to increase the role\n of COHOM in coordinating the activities of Member States’ embassies with\n those of the Commission’s delegations;
Recommendations\n to the Commission were also made:
- to include\n in each Country Strategy Papers and other Strategy documents a specific\n strategy on human rights and the situation pertaining to democracy and to use\n it as a framework for political dialogue;
- to ensure\n that, within the staff serving at any given time in each EU delegation in a\n third country, an EU official is in charge of the human rights dialogue and\n consultations;
- to ensure\n coherence between Election Observation Missions (especially as regards the\n post-electoral strategy) and the process of human rights dialogues and\n consultations;
- to apply and\n use the results of human rights dialogues and consultations in drawing up\n yearly strategies providing a basis for implementation of projects under the\n European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and systematically\n to link those two tools.
Members went\n on to suggest measures with the aim of increasing\n the transparency of, and publicity given to, human rights dialogues and\n consultations. The Council\n was asked to ensure that, before the EU sets the specific goals to be\n attained by entering into a dialogue or consultation with the country in\n question, consultations are first held with all interested parties,\n especially with Parliament and NGOs. The Council should set clear criteria\n for the initiation, suspension or termination of a dialogue or consultation.\n Effective follow-up mechanisms must be established to deal with the points\n raised and in the final recommendations.
The report\n then suggested a series of measures for enhancing\n the role of the European Parliament. It wanted\n more detailed and frequent information, and called on the Council and the Commission, as a matter of course whenever a round\n of dialogue or consultation has taken place, to hold a consultation session\n and a debriefing with Members of Parliament, and repeats its call for\n Parliament to be involved in decisions to continue or suspend a dialogue and\n consultation. It insisted\n that women's rights were an integral part of human rights and urged\n the Commission to include the promotion of women’s rights\n explicitly in all EU human rights dialogues and consultations on human rights\n with third countries. There was a need to set up a transparent mechanism\n specifically concerning women's rights for the monitoring of the human rights\n clause in the EU's external agreements and to take appropriate action should\n this clause be breached.
The Committee moved on to discuss the functioning of the\n various forms of human rights dialogues and consultations with third\n countries, including the structured dialogues with China and Iran, the\n consultation with Russia, dialogues based on the Cotonou Agreement, dialogues\n with Central Asia dialogues based on a partnership and cooperation agreement\n under the Neighbourhood Policy, with Latin America, dialogues based on trade\n and cooperation agreements, and lastly, ad hoc dialogues.
\nThe European\n Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drawn up\n by Elena VALENCIANO MARTINEZ-OROCO (PES, Spain) on the functioning of\n the human rights dialogues and consultations on human rights with third\n countries. Parliament felt that the universality, individuality and\n indivisibility of human rights, meaning not only civil and political rights\n but also social, environmental, economic and cultural rights, must be upheld\n and promoted. It took the view that human rights issues should be placed at\n the highest political level in order to give more political weight to human\n rights concerns. The promotion and defence of human rights in third countries\n should not be conditioned by geopolitical or geo-strategic alliances.\n Parliament stressed that, within the framework of political, economic and\n trade-related dialogues, respect for human rights should be fundamental to\n strategic and privileged relations with the EU.
It called on\n the Council once again systematically to apply in full the Human Rights and\n Democracy Clause in all EU agreements and relations with third countries. The\n report noted that there is a wide variety of dialogues and consultations,\n each based on different structures, formats, frequencies, and methodologies,\n but that neither the Council nor the Commission has devised a method for\n organising and systematising these dialogues and consultations, making the\n results impossible to view from an overall perspective. In order to increase\n coherence, it was essential to find ways of improving coordination among\n the different EU institutions by establishing an interinstitutional trialogue\n on the political dialogue and the human rights dialogues and consultations.\n Parliament also recommended increasing coherence with other states and\n international organisations, and cited the Berne Process established by Switzerland for relations with China. It went on to make a series of recommendations to the\n Council, the main ones being the following:
Recommendations\n to the Commission were also made:
Members went\n on to suggest measures with the aim of increasing the transparency of, and\n publicity given to, human rights dialogues and consultations. The Council was\n asked to ensure that, before the EU sets the specific goals to be attained by\n entering into a dialogue or consultation with the country in question,\n consultations are first held with all interested parties, especially with\n Parliament and NGOs. In addition, the Council should set clear criteria for\n the initiation, suspension or termination of a dialogue or consultation.\n Effective follow-up mechanisms must be established to deal with the points\n raised and in the final recommendations.
The report\n then suggested a series of measures for enhancing the role of the European\n Parliament. It wanted more detailed and frequent information, and called\n on the Council and the Commission, as a matter of course whenever a round of\n dialogue or consultation has taken place, to hold a consultation session and\n a debriefing with Members of Parliament, and repeated its call for Parliament\n to be involved in decisions to continue or suspend a dialogue and\n consultation. It insisted that women's rights were an integral part of\n human rights and urged the Commission to include the promotion of women’s\n rights explicitly in all EU human rights dialogues and consultations on human\n rights with third countries.
Parliament\n moved on to discuss the functioning of the various forms of human rights\n dialogues and consultations with third countries, including the structured\n dialogues with China and Iran, the consultation with Russia, dialogues based\n on the Cotonou Agreement, dialogues with Central Asia dialogues based on a\n partnership and cooperation agreement under the Neighbourhood Policy, with Latin\n America, dialogues based on trade and cooperation agreements, and, ad hoc\n dialogues.
The report\n emphasised the need to considerably strengthen and improve the EU-China\n human rights dialogue, since China's human rights record remains a matter\n of serious concern. Whilst slight progress had been made in some\n fields, it was difficult to gauge precisely what impact the EU-China human\n rights dialogue had had on the changes that had taken place. The dialogue\n needed to be reframed so as to make it more results-oriented and to focus on\n implementation of China's obligations under international law. Parliament\n urged the Commission to ensure that its trading relationship with China was linked to human rights reforms, and called on the Council to carry out a comprehensive\n evaluation of the human rights situation before finalising any new\n partnership and cooperation agreement.
Parliament was\n very concerned that the human rights dialogue with Iran had been interrupted since 2004 due to Iran's lack of cooperation. It encouraged the\n Commission to continue financing projects aimed at supporting good\n governance, including the protection of human rights defenders, reform of the\n judiciary and educational programmes for children and women.
\n It stated that the main purpose of the European Neighbourhood Policy\n was to establish a privileged relationship with the EU’s eastern and southern\n neighbours on the basis of a mutual commitment to common values, especially\n the rule of law, good governance and human rights. Members believed\n that the EU dialogues could have a greater impact on reform in the ENP\n neighbours and the report drew attention to the continual deterioration of\n the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, and underlined the need to\n establish a Human Rights Subcommittee as soon as possible with that\n country. It also called on the Council to consider the possibility of\n establishing a human rights dialogue or consultation mechanism with Libya and Syria. Lastly, Parliament stressed the need to set up an institutionalised human\n rights subcommittee with Israel, replacing the current provisional mechanism.
The Foreign\n Affairs Committee adopted an own-initiative report drawn up by Elena Valenciano Martinez-Orozco (PES, Spain)on the functioning of the human rights dialogues and\n consultations on human rights with third countries. It took the view that human rights issues should be placed at the highest\n political level in order to give more political weight to human rights\n concerns. It called on the Council once again systematically to apply in full\n the Human Rights and Democracy Clause in all EU agreements and relations with\n third countries. The report noted that there is a wide variety of dialogues\n and consultations, each based on different structures, formats, frequencies,\n and methodologies, but that neither the Council nor the Commission has\n devised a method for organising and systematising these dialogues and\n consultations, making the results impossible to view from an overall\n perspective.
In order to increase\n coherence, it was essential to find ways of improving coordination among\n the different EU institutions (the Council, the Commission, and Parliament)\n by establishing an interinstitutional trialogue on the political dialogue and\n the human rights dialogues and consultations. The Committee also recommended increasing coherence with other states and international\n organisations, and cited the Berne Process established\n by Switzerland for relations with China.
The report\n made a series of recommendations to the Council, the main ones being\n the following:
- to implement\n the COHOM mandate so as to ensure coherence between the dialogues or\n consultations, and to consider making COHOM a working party with\n representatives based in Brussels, and to cooperate closely with the European\n Parliament's competent committee;
- to enhance the\n role of the Human Rights Unit of its General Secretariat by allowing it to be\n involved in the conduct of the political dialogues;
- to increase\n coherence among the bilateral human rights dialogues and consultations\n conducted by individual Member States and by the EU, and to increase the role\n of COHOM in coordinating the activities of Member States’ embassies with\n those of the Commission’s delegations;
Recommendations\n to the Commission were also made:
- to include\n in each Country Strategy Papers and other Strategy documents a specific\n strategy on human rights and the situation pertaining to democracy and to use\n it as a framework for political dialogue;
- to ensure\n that, within the staff serving at any given time in each EU delegation in a\n third country, an EU official is in charge of the human rights dialogue and\n consultations;
- to ensure\n coherence between Election Observation Missions (especially as regards the\n post-electoral strategy) and the process of human rights dialogues and\n consultations;
- to apply and\n use the results of human rights dialogues and consultations in drawing up\n yearly strategies providing a basis for implementation of projects under the\n European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and systematically\n to link those two tools.
Members went\n on to suggest measures with the aim of increasing\n the transparency of, and publicity given to, human rights dialogues and\n consultations. The Council\n was asked to ensure that, before the EU sets the specific goals to be\n attained by entering into a dialogue or consultation with the country in\n question, consultations are first held with all interested parties,\n especially with Parliament and NGOs. The Council should set clear criteria\n for the initiation, suspension or termination of a dialogue or consultation.\n Effective follow-up mechanisms must be established to deal with the points\n raised and in the final recommendations.
The report\n then suggested a series of measures for enhancing\n the role of the European Parliament. It wanted\n more detailed and frequent information, and called on the Council and the Commission, as a matter of course whenever a round\n of dialogue or consultation has taken place, to hold a consultation session\n and a debriefing with Members of Parliament, and repeats its call for\n Parliament to be involved in decisions to continue or suspend a dialogue and\n consultation. It insisted\n that women's rights were an integral part of human rights and urged\n the Commission to include the promotion of women’s rights\n explicitly in all EU human rights dialogues and consultations on human rights\n with third countries. There was a need to set up a transparent mechanism\n specifically concerning women's rights for the monitoring of the human rights\n clause in the EU's external agreements and to take appropriate action should\n this clause be breached.
The Committee moved on to discuss the functioning of the\n various forms of human rights dialogues and consultations with third\n countries, including the structured dialogues with China and Iran, the\n consultation with Russia, dialogues based on the Cotonou Agreement, dialogues\n with Central Asia dialogues based on a partnership and cooperation agreement\n under the Neighbourhood Policy, with Latin America, dialogues based on trade\n and cooperation agreements, and lastly, ad hoc dialogues.
\nThe European\n Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drawn up\n by Elena VALENCIANO MARTINEZ-OROCO (PES, Spain) on the functioning of\n the human rights dialogues and consultations on human rights with third\n countries. Parliament felt that the universality, individuality and\n indivisibility of human rights, meaning not only civil and political rights\n but also social, environmental, economic and cultural rights, must be upheld\n and promoted. It took the view that human rights issues should be placed at\n the highest political level in order to give more political weight to human\n rights concerns. The promotion and defence of human rights in third countries\n should not be conditioned by geopolitical or geo-strategic alliances.\n Parliament stressed that, within the framework of political, economic and\n trade-related dialogues, respect for human rights should be fundamental to\n strategic and privileged relations with the EU.
It called on\n the Council once again systematically to apply in full the Human Rights and\n Democracy Clause in all EU agreements and relations with third countries. The\n report noted that there is a wide variety of dialogues and consultations,\n each based on different structures, formats, frequencies, and methodologies,\n but that neither the Council nor the Commission has devised a method for\n organising and systematising these dialogues and consultations, making the\n results impossible to view from an overall perspective. In order to increase\n coherence, it was essential to find ways of improving coordination among\n the different EU institutions by establishing an interinstitutional trialogue\n on the political dialogue and the human rights dialogues and consultations.\n Parliament also recommended increasing coherence with other states and\n international organisations, and cited the Berne Process established by Switzerland for relations with China. It went on to make a series of recommendations to the\n Council, the main ones being the following:
Recommendations\n to the Commission were also made:
Members went\n on to suggest measures with the aim of increasing the transparency of, and\n publicity given to, human rights dialogues and consultations. The Council was\n asked to ensure that, before the EU sets the specific goals to be attained by\n entering into a dialogue or consultation with the country in question,\n consultations are first held with all interested parties, especially with\n Parliament and NGOs. In addition, the Council should set clear criteria for\n the initiation, suspension or termination of a dialogue or consultation.\n Effective follow-up mechanisms must be established to deal with the points\n raised and in the final recommendations.
The report\n then suggested a series of measures for enhancing the role of the European\n Parliament. It wanted more detailed and frequent information, and called\n on the Council and the Commission, as a matter of course whenever a round of\n dialogue or consultation has taken place, to hold a consultation session and\n a debriefing with Members of Parliament, and repeated its call for Parliament\n to be involved in decisions to continue or suspend a dialogue and\n consultation. It insisted that women's rights were an integral part of\n human rights and urged the Commission to include the promotion of women’s\n rights explicitly in all EU human rights dialogues and consultations on human\n rights with third countries.
Parliament\n moved on to discuss the functioning of the various forms of human rights\n dialogues and consultations with third countries, including the structured\n dialogues with China and Iran, the consultation with Russia, dialogues based\n on the Cotonou Agreement, dialogues with Central Asia dialogues based on a\n partnership and cooperation agreement under the Neighbourhood Policy, with Latin\n America, dialogues based on trade and cooperation agreements, and, ad hoc\n dialogues.
The report\n emphasised the need to considerably strengthen and improve the EU-China\n human rights dialogue, since China's human rights record remains a matter\n of serious concern. Whilst slight progress had been made in some\n fields, it was difficult to gauge precisely what impact the EU-China human\n rights dialogue had had on the changes that had taken place. The dialogue\n needed to be reframed so as to make it more results-oriented and to focus on\n implementation of China's obligations under international law. Parliament\n urged the Commission to ensure that its trading relationship with China was linked to human rights reforms, and called on the Council to carry out a comprehensive\n evaluation of the human rights situation before finalising any new\n partnership and cooperation agreement.
Parliament was\n very concerned that the human rights dialogue with Iran had been interrupted since 2004 due to Iran's lack of cooperation. It encouraged the\n Commission to continue financing projects aimed at supporting good\n governance, including the protection of human rights defenders, reform of the\n judiciary and educational programmes for children and women.
\n It stated that the main purpose of the European Neighbourhood Policy\n was to establish a privileged relationship with the EU’s eastern and southern\n neighbours on the basis of a mutual commitment to common values, especially\n the rule of law, good governance and human rights. Members believed\n that the EU dialogues could have a greater impact on reform in the ENP\n neighbours and the report drew attention to the continual deterioration of\n the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, and underlined the need to\n establish a Human Rights Subcommittee as soon as possible with that\n country. It also called on the Council to consider the possibility of\n establishing a human rights dialogue or consultation mechanism with Libya and Syria. Lastly, Parliament stressed the need to set up an institutionalised human\n rights subcommittee with Israel, replacing the current provisional mechanism.