Britse Europarlementariër: 'EU moet mensenrechten de voorrang geven boven handelsbelangen' (en)

The EU i should avoid double standards, learn from past mistakes and set clear and objective conditions on human rights before entering into agreements with countries, says British Labour MEP Richard Howitt, whose recommendation on the EU's annual human rights report was discussed in committee this week. He says the EU and its member states have at times been guilty of sidelining human rights and calls for a systematic approach using indices and benchmarks. We interviewed him ahead of the debate.

The foreign affairs committee discussed Mr Howitt's draft report on 21 March 2012 and approved it the following day. The document calls on the EU to act consistently and avoid double standards between its human rights policy and other external policies. In addition it welcomes the review of the EU's human rights and democratisation policy outlined in the Joint Communication of 12 December 2012. The report will be debated and voted on during the April plenary.

In these tough economic times do you think there is a risk that the EU and its member states prioritise economic interests at the expense of human rights? How do you strike the right balance?

There has never been a time when upholding and promoting human rights has been easy and it's not supposed to be easy. When developing countries say to us we can't afford to respect human rights, we tell them that these are fundamental rights that everyone has to respect irrespective of the stage of development. If it is true of developing countries, then it has to be true of us in Europe too.

In your draft report you call for a more systematic approach, including the use of indices and benchmarks for individual countries. How do you envisage such a system?

There is a gap between what we say and what we are prepared to do in practice. I'm very critical in my report about the fact that just a few weeks before France and Britain started bombing Libya, the European Union was still negotiating an enhanced trade agreement with Gaddafi.

We have to learn the lessons, not just from Libya, but also from being too close to autocratic and repressive regimes in many countries worldwide. Instead of wringing our hands about past failures, we should come up with detailed benchmarks and indices so that we can measure how countries are doing in terms of human rights and set clear and objective conditions before we enter into advanced agreements with countries.

If we do that then past mistakes such as Libya cannot be repeated in the future.

How do you see the role of the Parliament in promoting human rights?

It's very easy for us to sit back and criticise the European Commission and the High Representative about double standards, but it is a challenge for us in the European Parliament as well. There are people in this parliament that argue that political alliances or trade benefits outweigh the respect for human rights and that appears to me to also be part of that same double standard. We have to address our own responsibilities first and foremost and I hope that I do that in the report.

The human rights review is our chance as Parliament to have input as the human rights policy won't be reviewed very often. We have come up with a number of concrete proposals to contribute to the human rights review, such as a European special representative for human rights, which Catherine Ashton, the EU's High Representative for foreign affairs, has now agreed to. I am deeply proud that Parliament is playing such a constructive role. When people look back they will say human rights has been elevated as a priority because of the work we are doing this year.