Activities of Laima Liucija ANDRIKIENĖ related to 2012/2145(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Annual report on human rights and democracy in the world 2011 and the European Union's policy on the matter - EU's human rights strategy (debate)
Amendments (20)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1 a (new)
Citation 1 a (new)
- having regard to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) and other key international human rights treaties and instruments;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6
Citation 6
– having regard to the European Union's Guidelines on Human Rights, Guidelines;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 29
Citation 29
– having regard to the Council Conclusions of 21 February 2011 on intolerance, discrimination and violence on the basis of religion or belief, and having regard to United Nations General Assembly resolution 66/167 on combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatisation of, and discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against, persons based on religion or belief;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Welcomes also activities undertaken under the Eastern Partnership initiative in promoting human rights, democracy, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law in partner countries; calls on the European Union to use the transitional experience of its own Member States of moving from authoritarian to democratic regimes, and to translate the lessons learned from these experiences into concrete, results-oriented programmes in the Union's Eastern partner countries; urges the EU to take a more active and coherent stance while promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law in partner countries;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)
Paragraph 39 a (new)
39a. Stresses that human rights dialogues are an additional mechanism to other consultations with third countries and should not be used to sideline human rights at higher political levels such as summits; furthermore urges that human rights considerations are part of all discussions with third countries;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 b (new)
Paragraph 39 b (new)
39b. Stresses the importance that the EU uses these dialogues to raise individual cases of concern, particularly for prisoners of conscience who have been imprisoned for practising the peaceful right to freedom of speech, assembly and religion or belief, and calls upon the EU to effectively follow up these cases with the countries in question.
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40
40. Reiterates its concern, however, with the persistently disappointing lack of progress in a number of human rights dialogues, and the lack of transparent benchmarks to genuinely assess improvements or deterioration in human rights; notes the continued EU difficulties to negotiate improved modalities for the dialogue with China and Russia; calls on the newly appointed EUSR onfor Human Rights to inject new momentumtake the lead into these and other dialogueshuman rights dialogues and inject new result-driven approach into them;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Welcomes EU efforts to include a human rights clause in all EU political framework agreements, but reiterates its call for all contractual relationships with third countries – both industrialised and developing, and including sectoral agreements, trade and technical or financial aid agreements – to include clearly worded clauses on human rights and democracy, without exception; considers that the current threshold in Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) schemes that could trigger action on the human rights clauses is high but should be adjusted to each country concerned; notes the new GSP reform proposal from 2011 which suggests that the consultation procedure should be widened and ease investigations of human rights violations in the GSP Committee; in this regard expresses deep concern about the deteriorating human rights situation in Cambodia where land grabbing leads to poverty increase and leads to the violation of human rights clauses which are part of the EU- Cambodia agreements;
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Welcomes the commitment in the EU Human Rights Action Plan to develop a methodology to improve the analysis of the human rights situation in third countries in connection with the launch or conclusion of trade and/or investment agreements; calls upon the EU to ensure that the granting of GSP+ status is firmly linked to a country's ratification and implementation of key international human rights instruments, enabling a regular evaluation of such obligations, paying particular attention to the respect of freedom of expression, assembly, association, and religion or belief, and the rights of minorities, women and children.
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph - 81 a (new)
Paragraph - 81 a (new)
- 81a. Stresses that freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental right, encompassing the right to believe or not to believe and the freedom to practice that belief either in private or public, alone or in community with others;
Amendment 353 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph - 81 b (new)
Paragraph - 81 b (new)
- 81b. Notes the importance of the right to freedom of religion or belief, including theistic, non-theistic or atheistic beliefs alike, to all individuals, which as an essential right should be promoted and protected; stresses that the enjoyment of this right is fundamental to the development of pluralist and democratic societies and one of preconditions for the enjoyment of many other rights, such as freedom of expression, assembly and association; calls upon the EU to systematically defend the unconditional right to freedom of religion or belief for all in political dialogues and high-level summits with third countries and organisations;
Amendment 358 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 81
Paragraph 81
81. Remains deeply concerned that discrimination based on religion or belief continues in many regions of the world, and that persons belonging to particular religious communities, including religious minorities, continue to be denied their human rights; is particularly concerned by the situation in China where individuals who practise their religion outside officially sanctioned channels, including Christians, Muslims, BuddhCondemns any intolerance, discrimination or violence on the grounds of religion or belief wherever and to whomever it occurs; expresses concern about violations perpetrated against religious minority representatives and those modest voices in majority religious traditions promoting pluralists and Falun Gong practitioners, often face persecution; urges China to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as it has promised; urges the Chinese authorities to suspend and subsequently amediverse societies based on mutual respect between individuals; expresses worry about impunity of such violations, the bias of the police and judiciary systems in dealing with such matters and, through genuinely consultative processes with Tibetans, the policies that most negatively impact Tibetan Buddhism, culture and traditione lack of appropriate victim compensation schemes in many countries in the world;
Amendment 366 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 81 a (new)
Paragraph 81 a (new)
81a. Is particularly concerned by the situation in China where individuals who practise their religion outside officially sanctioned channels, including Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Falun Gong practitioners, often face persecution; urges China to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as it has promised; urges the Chinese authorities to suspend and subsequently amend, through genuinely consultative processes with Tibetans, the policies that most negatively impact Tibetan Buddhism, culture and tradition; is deeply concerned about the situation of freedom of religion in Cuba, in particular the increased persecution of leaders of Catholic and Protestants churches and believers;
Amendment 377 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82
Paragraph 82
82. Stresses the need for a toolkit to advance the right to freedom of religion or belief as part of EU's external policy; notes that this toolkit should include a checklist on the necessary freedoms pertaining to the right of freedom of religion or belief, in order to assess the situation, as well as a methodology to help identify infringements of freedom of religion or belief; encourages the EEAS to involve civil society organisations in the preparation of the toolkit; welcomes the EU's commitment to develop Guidelines on freedom of religion or belief, as per section 23 of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy; urges the Council and Commission that the creation, implementation and evaluation of these guidelines, is accompanied by a full and inclusive consultation and engagement with the Parliament, civil society organisations, academics and other relevant stakeholders in this field; encourages the EU to ensure coherence between the new guidelines and the priorities listed in EU human rights country strategies, mainstreaming freedom of religion or belief in strategies for third countries where such violations occur and making sure that human rights defenders, civil society, and religious communities in such countries are consulted;
Amendment 383 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82 a (new)
Paragraph 82 a (new)
82a. Stresses the importance of mainstreaming freedom of religion or belief in development, conflict prevention, and counterterrorism policies; welcomes inclusive efforts of intercultural and interfaith dialogue and cooperation at various levels, involving community leaders, women, youth and ethnic minority representatives, in fostering societal cohesion and peaceful societies;
Amendment 386 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82 b (new)
Paragraph 82 b (new)
82b. Urges the EU to respond proactively to the increased use of apostasy, blasphemy and anti-conversion laws and the role they play in increasing religious intolerance and discrimination; emphasises that international law includes the right to have, adopt and change a religion or belief; encourages the EU to speak out against the use of these laws by governments, including Iran and Pakistan, to deny the rights of individuals to change religion, in particular when the death penalty is given as a punishment;
Amendment 395 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 83 a (new)
Paragraph 83 a (new)
83a. Notes that freedom of religion or belief is inter-related with issues pertaining to recognition, equal citizenship and equal enjoyment of rights in a given society; encourages the EU to work for equality and equal citizenship as a matter of priority for representatives of marginalised or discriminated groups in society, including inter alia the Muslim Rohingyas in Burma and neighbouring countries, Ahmadi Muslims in Indonesia and Pakistan, Copts in Egypt, Christians, Jews and Baha'is in Iran etc.;
Amendment 401 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 83 b (new)
Paragraph 83 b (new)
83b. Welcomes the EU's commitment to presenting and promoting the right to freedom of religion or belief within international and regional fora including the UN, the OSCE and the Council of Europe and other regional mechanisms, and calls for a constructive dialogue with the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) on moving away from terminology related to combating defamation of religions; encourages the EU to continue tabling its yearly resolution on freedom of religion or belief at the UN General Assembly;
Amendment 402 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 83 c (new)
Paragraph 83 c (new)
83c. Urges the EEAS to develop a permanent capacity within its structure to monitor and analyse the role of religion or belief in contemporary societies and international relations and to mainstream the issue of freedom of religion or belief across the geographical and thematic directorates and units; encourages the EEAS to report to the Parliament on an annual basis on progress on freedom of religion or belief in the world;
Amendment 403 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 83 d (new)
Paragraph 83 d (new)
83d. Stresses the importance of supporting initiatives of and enabling funding for civil society and human rights defenders in their efforts to combat discrimination, intolerance and violence on the grounds of religion or belief; Country-Based Support Schemes should prioritise funding for protecting and promoting freedom of religion or belief in countries where the EU country strategy has identified this right as a priority issue.