Voorzitter Buzek in gesprek met leden van het Europese Parlement over rechten van de mens (en)
Following his recent visits to China and Russia, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek i, briefed Human Rights Subcommittee MEPs on the human rights issues addressed during these visits and assured them that human rights will remain central to his activities as President.
With the new institutional architecture in place, namely the establishment in the near future of the External Action Service, "we can steer our activities in the human rights field in a better way as a whole EU", declared President Buzek. Appreciating the fact that the President's visit to third countries had included a strong civil society and human rights dimension, Human Rights Subcommittee chair Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, FI) said that this could be an example for other institutions too and should become standard practice.
Referring to both China and Russia, Mr Buzek stressed that Europe must fully engage with its strategic partners on addressing common challenges like climate change, economic and financial crisis, and the fight against terrorism but at the same time have an open and frank dialogue on human rights and clearly set out European values with regard to human rights, democracy and rule of law.
China
Acknowledging the need to engage with China on the most pressing global challenges, Mr Buzek said "When we talk to the Chinese and we talk about matters of such great importance as climate change, the fight against terrorism, nuclear weapons, economic and financial crisis, whenever we do this we have to remember about the human rights issues."
Referring to his discussion with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Mr Buzek said "We talked at length about human rights issues, about democracy and the rule of law and I appreciated his openness and his listening to my message. I told him we appreciate the fact that he keeps an open mind and listens to the European approach."
Another topic addressed during the China visit, at Nanjing university, was the importance of free access to internet and knowledge.
Commending President Buzek on his commitment to human rights during his visits abroad, MEP Eduard Kukan (EPP, SK) called for a co-ordinated and consistent approach towards the Chinese, declaring that "we should not be satisfied just because we can have discussions with them."
Russia
Assessing the first visit of a European Parliament President to Russia in 12 years, which had taken place in a very open-minded and frank atmosphere and represented an important step forward in EU-Russia bilateral relations, Mr Buzek underlined that the modernisation agenda promoted by President Medvedev must go hand in hand with the development of a genuine civil society and progress in the human rights field: "No modernisation is possible unless you mobilize civil society, unless you impel certain organisations to act and I said in this dialogue that we have the first hand experience of this in Europe".
Although some positive developments had taken place in Russia - the ratification of Protocol 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and moratorium on the capital punishment - Mr Buzek had taken up with the Russian leadership individual cases of human rights defenders, the serious situation of violence and impunity in Northern Caucasus and the need for judicial reform.
Replying to Charles Goerens (ALDE, LU), who called for an adequate funding of the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg in order to reduce the lengthy legal processes, including the numerous cases of Russian citizens, Mr Buzek agreed and called on the Member States and other EU institutions to be active in this field.
The President assured MEPs Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, FI) and Liucija Andrikiene (EPP, LT), that the question of more access to information, needed especially to evaluate the outcome of Human Rights Dialogues like that with Russia, would be addressed in the context of the new inter-institutional framework agreement.
Sakharov Prize Network
Referring to the effectiveness of human rights policy, Mr Buzek recalled the establishment of the Sakharov network of previous winners, who will be invited to each December plenary session of the Parliament and will serve as a platform for addressing human rights.
Subcommittee on Human Rights - a full-fledged EP committee?
Barbara Lochbihler (Greens/EFA, DE) and Marietje Schaake (ALDE, DE), asked that the Subcommittee given a wider range of responsibilities, and upgraded to a fully-fledged the committee, because currently it can deal only with the external dimension of human rights and cannot address human rights violations within the EU. Mr Buzek observed that the scale of human rights violations in Europe is scarcely comparable with that of those elsewhere, adding that one should be careful about making such comparisons.
In the chair: Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, FI)