Activities of Ana GOMES 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 (21)
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas justice, rule of law. accountability, fair trials, and an independent judiciary are indispensible elements in the protection of human rights;, democracy, and the pillars of sustainable peace
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the lessons learned from the Arab Spring events must continue, to provide impetus for the EU to review and improve its policies on, inter alia, human rights defenders, international humanitarian law, human rights dialogues with third countries, support for grass roots movements and civil society and social media;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas violations of freedom of religion or belief,thought, religion, belief or political affiliation perpetrated by governments and non-state actors alike, are increasing in many countries of the world, resulting in discrimination, intolerance and violence against certain individuals, groups and religious communities, including religious minority representatives;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes the adoption of local human rights country strategies for individual countries to implement EU policies in the most appropriate and effective way; recognises the key role played by the local EU delegations in developing and following up on the country strategies tailored for the specific circumstances, but stresses the coordinating responsibility of the EEAS in ensuring the coherent application of EU human rights policy priorities set out in the human rights strategic framework and in the EU Guidelines; stresses the importance of completing the network of focal points on human rights and democracy in EU Delegations and CSDP missions and operations; urges the VP/HR and the EEAS and the Member States to adopt as best practice the method of working on human rights issues locally through human rights working groups formed among EU delegations and embassies of EU Member States; supports the EEAS aim to provide training on human rights and democracy for all EEAS, Commission, EU delegation and CSDP mission staff; takes the view that human rights country strategies should be mainstreamed in the EU's CFSP, CSDP, trade and development policies, both in geographic and thematic programmes, to ensure greater efficiency, effectiveness and coherence;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Recommends that human rights country strategies be made public; stresses that public strategies would provide visibility to the EU's commitment to human rights in third countries and provide support to those struggling to exercise and protect their human rights;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Welcomes the commitments made in the Council Decision 2011/168/CFSP, adopted on 21 March 2011, and the subsequent Action Plan adopted on 12 July 2011, and recommends the EU and its Member States to ensure their implementation through effective and concrete measures to promote the universality and integrity of the Rome Statute, to support the independence of the Court and its effective and efficient functioning and to support the implementation of the principle of complementarity;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Reiterates its recommendation that the Rome Statute be added to the package of international treaties on good governance and the rule of law to be ratified by third countries admitted to the System of Generalised Preferences Plus (GSP+); supports consistent inclusion of an ICC clause in EU agreements with third countries; calls for the mainstreaming of the ICC across all EU foreign policy priorities, by, in particular, systematically taking into account the fight against impunity and the principle of complementarity;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Stresses the importance of strong EU action to anticipate and avoid or condemn instances of non-cooperation such as invitations of individuals subject to an ICC arrest warrant and failure to arrest and surrender such individuals; and encourages the EU and Member States to set-up an internal protocol with concrete and standard actions enabling them to respond timely and consistently to instances of non-cooperation with the Court; reaffirms moreover the need for the EU and its Member States, with the help of the EEAS, to put in place a set of internal guidelines outlining a code of conduct for contact between EU/Member State officials and persons wanted by the ICC;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Expresses its deep concern over the outcome of the budget discussions at the December 2011 session of the Assembly of State Parties (10th session 12-21 December 2011), which threatened to leave the Court underfunded; deeply regrets that some European States Parties to the Rome Statute push for the adoption of a zero growth budget/lower budget and that the Assembly did not agree to provide the Court with sufficient resources to effectively fulfil its judicial mandate and to deliver justice in a robust, fair, effective and meaningful manner; calls on the EU Member States to show robust support for the functioning of the Court in advance and during the upcoming 11th session of the ASP ( 14-22 November 2012) and reject the proposal for a zero nominal growth of its budget that would undermine its ability to deliver justice and to respond to new situations;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Emphasises, in view of principles of international humanitarian law spelled out in the 1907 Hague Regulations (arts 42-56) and the Fourth Geneva Convention (GC IV, art. 27-34 and 47-78) as well as in provisions of Additional Protocol I, the need for the EU to ensure that those partners falling under the category of occupying power, respect their duties towards the population in occupied territories; reminds that according to international humanitarian law, public health standards, provision of food and medical care to the population under occupation must be granted by the occupying power; reiterates that any transfer of civilian population of the occupying power into the occupied territory is prohibited, and that the accused of criminal offences must be provided with proceedings respecting internationally recognized judicial guarantees, such as being informed of the reason for their arrest, charged with a specific offence and given a fair trial as quickly as possible.
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22b. Recalls that in order to avoid human rights breaches in the first place, the respect for international law must be at the core of any EU strategy aiming to enhance human rights and democracy in the world, particularly in its relationships with those partners that are parties to an armed or frozen conflict; reminds the need to end any EU support given to parties to a conflict, be it financial, logistical or tactical, including the supply of weapons, munitions and all other types of military equipment as laid down in the EU Common Position on arms exports.
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Reiterates its commitment to the principle of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P), stressing the importance of external actors, including the EU, addressing gross human rights violations in third countries when the governments of these countries are unable or unwilling to protect their own citizens; stresses the importance of engaging in R2P actions under the auspices or authorisation of the UN whenever possible; urges the EU to actively engage and promote the urgent reform and enlargement of the UN Security Council, so as to avoid the obstruction of R2P as imposed now by permanent members Russia and China against the people of Syria;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Reiterates its view that the ‘'more for more’' approach should be based on clearly defined criteria with specific, measurable, achievable, and transparent time-bound benchmarks; calls on the EEAS and the Commission to implement this approach systematically in the Neighbourhood Policy progress reports;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36
Paragraph 36
36. Underlines that a longer-term approach covering the whole election cycle is required to appropriately follow up on the reports and recommendations of the EU Election Observation Missions; stresses the importance of drawing up realistic and achievable recommendations and of ensuring that these recommendations are monitored by the EU delegations; considers that Parliament's standing delegations and the joint parliamentary assemblies should also play an enhanced role in following up these recommendations and analysing progress with regard to human rights and democracy; stresses that the EU needs to invest in the training of local observers in order to build sustainable and autonomous electoral processes in third countries;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 a (new)
Paragraph 37 a (new)
37a. Emphasises that the EU must engage with political parties, so as to allow sharing of tools and techniques that parties can use to develop stronger connections to the public, mount competitive electoral campaigns, and perform more effectively in the legislature; underlines moreover that democratisation is a process which must engage citizens, grass roots movements and civil society; the EU should therefore finance programmes which foster civic participation, voter education, organisation of advocacy actions, freedom of the press and of expression, and generally help citizens to exercise their rights and ensure political oversight;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 b (new)
Paragraph 37 b (new)
37b. Considers that equitable participation of women in politics and government is essential to building and sustaining democracy; stresses therefore that EU programmes in the field of human rights and democratisation shall always privilege the engagement and build up of capacities of women in legislatures, political parties and civil society as leaders, activists and informed citizens; takes the view that the EU must continue to support and encourage women to run for political office and participate meaningfully in every facet of civic and political life;
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 a (new)
Paragraph 43 a (new)
43a. Regrets the lack of enforcement, results and transparency of EU-ACP human rights dialogues under Article 8 and 96 of the Cotonou Agreement, namely in countries such as Angola and Ethiopia, where the EU development strategy has not been affected by, nor is impacting in the seriously deteriorating human rights and rule of the law in recent years;
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64 a (new)
Paragraph 64 a (new)
64a. Takes the view that the EU should never be accomplice in the execution of death sentences; calls therefore for regular and updated control of exports of drugs manufactured by European pharmaceutical companies which might be used in the execution of death sentences in third countries, namely the USA;
Amendment 371 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82
Paragraph 82
82. Stresses the need for a toolkit to advance the right to freedom of thought, 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 situor political affiliation, 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 toolkitpart of EU's external policy;
Amendment 384 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82 a (new)
Paragraph 82 a (new)
82a. 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; 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 388 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 82 b (new)
Paragraph 82 b (new)
82b. 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; stresses moreover the importance of supporting initiatives 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;