29 Amendments of Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS related to 2021/2023(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the EU and India are to convene a leaders’ meeting on 8 May 2021 in Porto, Portugal, following their commitment to convene regularly at the highest level and to strengthen the strategic partnership established in 2004, with a view to enhancing economic and political cooperation;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas, according to the Freedom in the World 2021 report, some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in India face threats, legal harassment, excessive police force, and occasionally lethal violence; whereas recent amendments to the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) impose restrictions upon the civil society organizations and permits greater government control upon their activities, including silencing critical NGOs;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
B b. whereas human rights defenders and journalists in India lack safe working environment and police protection, for executing professional activities they face harassment, physical violence, including by the police, death threats, including killings, detention and prosecution under charges of sedition, promoting communal disharmony and making statements prejudicial to national integration inter alia, many of which are related to covering or participating in the protests critical to the government;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B c (new)
Recital B c (new)
B c. whereas legislation such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the National Security Act are being used to criminalize Indian citizens who exercise their rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
B d. whereas in 2020 the Internet shutdowns report 129 cases of Indian government-imposed disablement of access to the Internet, such restrictions are often used during the major protests, including protests against the citizenship law and the farmers' protest;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B e (new)
Recital B e (new)
B e. whereas in 2018 Thomson Reuters Foundation survey India was named as the most dangerous country for women, particularly on the risk of sexual violence and harassment against women, the danger women face from cultural, tribal and traditional practices, and the danger of human trafficking, including forced labour, sex slavery and domestic servitude;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B f (new)
Recital B f (new)
B f. whereas, despite being prohibited, caste-based discrimination remains a systemic problem in India preventing Dalits from access to employment, education, health, budgetary allocations for Dalit development and in the criminal justice administration system, it particularly affects Dalit women and girls who are disproportionately often victims of sexual abuse and violence;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B g (new)
Recital B g (new)
B g. whereas Adivasi communities are being denied rights under the Forest Rights Act for their ancestral land and face constrains to raise their righteous demands;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point a
Paragraph 1 – point a
a) consolidate the progress in the Strategic Partnership achieved since last year’s Summit and make tangible advances on priority issues, notably resilient global health, climate change and green growth, digitalisation and new technologyies, connectivity, trade and investment, and foreign, security and defence policy;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c
Paragraph 1 – point c
c) reiterate the need for a regular political dialogue and a deeper partnership based on the shared values of democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, a commitment to promoting an inclusive, coherent and rules-based global order, effective multilateralism and sustainable development;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g
Paragraph 1 – point g
g) promote greater synergy in foreign and security policy through the existing relevant dialogue mechanisms and within fora set up under the Agenda for Action 2020, and in light of the EU’s recent strategic emphasis on enhanced security cooperation in and with Asia, where India plays an important strategic role;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point h
Paragraph 1 – point h
h) emphasise the need for closer thematic coordination of international security policies and for action in areas such as nuclear security and the non- proliferation and control of weapons of mass destruction, mitigation of chemical, biological and radiological weapons, the promotion of regional conflict prevention and peacebuilding, counter-piracy, maritime security, countering radicalisation and violent extremism, as well as cybersecurity, hybrid threats and outer space; consider India’s participation in Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) projects so as to bolster the EU- India strategic partnership;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point i a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point i a (new)
i a) note that the EU closely follows the situation in Kashmir; reiterate its support for stability and de-escalation and remain committed to respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point j
Paragraph 1 – point j
j) take positive note of the six regular EU-India consultations on disarmament and non-proliferation that have taken place and encourage India to strengthen regional cooperation in this regard; acknowledge that India has joined three major proliferation-related multilateral export control regimes and encourage a closer EU-India partnership within these fora;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point k
Paragraph 1 – point k
k) coordinate positions and initiatives in multilateral fora, notably the UN, by pushing for joint objectives, increasing dialogue and effectively aligning positions; underline that India will hold a UN Security Council seat in 2021-2022 and the G20 presidency in 2023, marking an opportunity for the EU and India to enhance coordination on global governance and further promote a shared vision of rules-based multilateralism; support India’s bid for permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point m a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point m a (new)
m a) recognize constructive neighbourly relations India maintains with Afghanistan, India’s important role in stabilization and reconstruction of Afghanistan and in supporting Afghan- owned and Afghan-led peace process, and pursue continuous EU-India cooperation on assistance to Afghanistan and the Afghan people;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point n
Paragraph 1 – point n
n) underline that preserving peace, stability and the freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region remains of critical importance to the interests of the EU and its Member States; increase mutual engagement to ensure that trade in the Indo-Pacific region will not be hampered by an increasingly assertive Chinese stance; intensify cooperation in maritime security and joint training missions in the Indo-Pacific region;
Amendment 179 #
t) address the human rights situation and challenges faced by civil society in its dialogue with the Indian authorities, including at summit level; encourage India, as the world’s largest democracy, to demonstrate its commitment to respecting and protecting the freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, to end attacks against - and to release arbitrarily detained - human rights defenders, activists and journalists, including in the Indian- administered part of Kashmir, to repeal laws that may be used to silence dissent, particularly the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the National Security Act and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, that may be used to silence dissent, to refrain from imposing Internet shutdowns upon critical voices, and to ensure accountability for human rights violations;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point t
Paragraph 1 – point t
t) address the human rights situation and challenges faced by civil society in its dialogue with the Indian authorities, including at summit level; encourage India, as the world’s largest democracy, to demonstrate its commitment to respecting and protectingrespect, protect and fully enforce the constitutionally guaranteed rights to the freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, to prevendt attacks against - and to release arbitrarily detained - human rights defenders and journalists, including in the Indian- administered part of Kashmir, to repeal laws that may be used to silence dissent, and to ensure accountability for human rights violations;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point t a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point t a (new)
t a) address the harmful effects of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to the civil society organizations;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point t b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point t b (new)
t b) address the issue of rising violence against women and girls in India by encouraging thorough investigations of violent crimes against women and girls, including training officers in trauma- informed policing and investigation, and speeding up legal processing and improving protection for victims;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point t c (new)
Paragraph 1 – point t c (new)
t c) address the issue of prevailing caste-based discrimination and importance of granting rights under the Forest Rights Act to Adivasi communities;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point u
Paragraph 1 – point u
u) act upon the commitment made in the EU-India Roadmap to resume the bilateral human rights dialogue as soon as possible; make the dialogue meaningful by ensuring high- level participation, setting concrete commitments and criteria for progress, addressing individual cases and facilitating an EU-India civil society dialogue ahead of the intergovernmental dialogue;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point v a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point v a (new)
v a) recall that the EU is India’s largest trading partner and it is in their mutual interest to foster closer economic ties; recognise that India is a solid alternative for an EU that wants to diversify its supply chains to reduce its dependence on China and the United States;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point v
Paragraph 1 – point v
v) seize the opportunity offered by the EU-India Leaders’ Meeting to openly address value-based cooperation at the highest level in matters of trade and investment; reiterate the EU’s readiness to consider launching negotiations on a stand-alone investment protection agreement, which would increase legal certainty for investors on both sides; work towards the achievement of common objectives in these areas that comply with and contribute to respect for universal human rights and the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point w a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point w a (new)
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point ab
Paragraph 1 – point ab
ab) continue common global leadership in support of the Paris Agreement and focus on implementing the clean and renewable energy agenda; reaffirm a joint commitment, as two major global greenhouse gas emitters, to more coordinated efforts in mitigating the effects of climate change and increasing their investment in green and sustainable technologies;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point af
Paragraph 1 – point af
af) call for a deeper partnership in education, research and cultural exchange; call on the EU Member States and India to invest especially in young people’s capacities and leadership and to ensure their meaningful inclusion in political and economic life; promote student and scholar exchanges and use the momentum of Brexit to attract more Indian students to the EU Member States’ educational institutions;