16 Amendments of Ana GOMES related to 2013/2152(INI)
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers human rights to be at the centre of EU relations with all third countries, including its strategic partners; stresses that EU human rights policy needs to be consistent in complying with the Treaty obligations and avoiding double standards in external policies; calls therefore for the adoption of EU Foreign Affairs Council Conclusions on human rights and strategic partners that would establish a common threshold for Member States and for EU officials in terms of the human rights concerns that they have to raise, as a minimum, with their strategic partner counterparts;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recognises the crucial role played by civil society in the protection and promotion of democracy and human rights and improve the protection of civilians caught in the middle of armed conflicts; calls on the VP/HR to ensure close cooperation with civil society; considers also that the EU should throw its full weight behind all advocates of liberty, democracy, transparency and human rights throughout the world;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. (new) Calls furthermore on the EU Foreign Affairs Council to hold an annual public debate on human rights, reflecting the EU institutions' and all 28 Member States' responsibility to exercise a firm, coherent and uniform approach to human rights abuses worldwide, in a transparent and accountable manner;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Commends the EU SR on the openness of the dialogue conducted with the European Parliament and civil society, thus establishing an important practice that should be continued and consolidated to ensure due transparency and accountability; welcomes, furthermore, the attention given by the EU SR to a number of countries of concern, including Russia, Egypt, China, Ethiopia and Bahrain;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Notes the continued difficulties in achieving concrete progress in several of the EU human rights dialogues and consultations; encourages the EU to seek new ways of making the dialogues with countries of concern more meaningful; underlines the need to pursue determined, ambitious, and transparent human rights policy in these dialogues; calls on the EU to ensure that human rights dialogues and consultations are ambitious and accompanied by clear public benchmarks based on which their success can be objectively measured; calls therefore on the EU to draw clear political conclusions when the human rights dialogue is not constructive and, in such cases, to put more emphasis on political dialogue, démarches and public diplomacy; warns furthermore against diverting human rights discussions away from high-level political dialogues;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Reminds the fact that corruption in public and private sectors perpetuates and aggravates inequalities and discrimination when it comes to equal enjoyment of civil, political, economic or social and cultural rights and underlines that it is proven that acts of corruption and human rights violations involve the misuse of power, lack of accountability and various forms of discrimination; requests the highest level of accountability and transparency of external aid and public budgets when it comes to EU budget and external aid.
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Notes the efforts made by the EEAS to finalise the first cycle of EU human rights country strategies; reiterates its support for the objective of giving ownership of the country strategy to the EU delegation on the ground, while ensuring quality control at headquarters level; regrets, however, the lack of transparency regarding the contents of the country strategies; urges for the public disclosure of, at least, the main areas of intervention of each country strategy, so as to allow a certain degree of scrutiny;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Supports the practice of including legally binding human rights clauses in the EU's international agreements, and considers that these clauses should also be included in all sectoral trade agreements; regrets that the enforcement of human rights clauses and human rights conditionality in partnership agreements between the EU and third countries remains elusive and unsatisfactory; considers that, when faced with cases of persistent human rights violations, the EU should speak up and channel criticism at high- level ministerial meetings to ensure its message is heard both by abusive governments and their people;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Emphasises that political transition and democratisation need to be bonded with respect for human rights, the promotion of justice, transparency, accountability, reconciliation, the rule of law and the establishment of democratic institutions; stresses the importance of redressing human rights abuses committed by former regimes; insists that the EU always advocate a context-sensitive approach to transitional justice;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Welcomes the European Commission's decision to place the rule of law at the heart of the enlargement process; urges the EU to remain vigilant during the enlargement processes and to demand rigorous implementation of provisions critical to human rights, such as protection of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities, establishing the rule of law and effective access to justice, fighting corruption and guaranteeing fundamental freedoms;
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Notes the particular complexity of developing consistent policies for transitions in post-conflict contexts; emphasises, therefore, the need to enhance compliance with, and monitoring of, international human rights and humanitarian law norms in armed conflict situations and encourages the EEAS to support civil society organisations dedicated to promote respect for humanitarian law by armed state and non-state actors;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
Paragraph 48
48. Calls attention also to the trapped transitions in countries where reform movements and transitional processes have been stopped or put down by the ruling regime; calls on the EU to continue its efforts to persuade the ruling elites in these countries, as well as in other countries of concern still under authoritarian rule, to initiate a reform process to develop strong and stable democracies in which the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms are upheld; takes the view that this persuasion must take place in all dialogues with its partners, including at the highest political level, by making use of all relevant fields of EU external policy, i.e. development, trade, etc.;
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54 a (new)
Paragraph 54 a (new)
54a. (new)Is of the opinion that the EU should follow the example of the United States in enacting the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 and adopt similar legislation at EU level, as an emblematic and operational framework establishing the link between corruption and breaches of human rights; calls, therefore, on the Council to adopt a decision establishing a common EU list of officials involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, in the subsequent judicial cover-up and in the on-going and sustained harassment of his family; adds that this Council Decision should impose targeted sanctions on those officials, such as an EU-wide visa ban and a freezing order on any financial assets that they or their immediate family may hold inside the European Union;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54 b (new)
Paragraph 54 b (new)
54b. (new) Calls on the Commission to draw up an action plan, with a view to creating a mechanism for listing and imposing similar targeted sanctions against officials of third countries (including police officers, prosecutors and judges) involved in grave human rights violations and judicial 'manipulations' against whistleblowers, journalists reporting on corruption and human rights activists in third countries; stresses that criteria of inclusion on the list should be built up on the basis of well-documented, converging and independent sources and convincing evidence, allowing for mechanisms of redress for those targeted;
Amendment 278 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 58 a (new)
Paragraph 58 a (new)
58a. (new) Stresses that the EU must emphasise the importance of implementing the right to participation and the right to access information and mechanisms of public accountability such as open data as core principles of democracy in all platforms of dialogue with third countries, including in bilateral relations and at the highest level; stresses that freedom of the press and media, both online and offline are vital in this regard; suggests that the EU finance projects in third countries to support the enforcement of these principles, especially in countries going through democratisation processes, ensuring gender mainstreaming, making sure that such processes involve civil society, especially human rights defenders, trade unions, women and particularly vulnerable groups, and assisting in the formulation of laws for the effective protection of whistleblowers;
Amendment 285 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 64 a (new)
Paragraph 64 a (new)
64a. (new) Calls on European Foreign Ministers to adopt Foreign Affairs Council conclusions affirming the strong support of the EU and its member states for the International Criminal Court, taking note of the EU's efforts to continuously review, update, and expand its instruments on the International Criminal Court, and expressing renewed commitment to work towards the universality of the Rome Statute in order to widen access to justice for victims of serious crimes under international law;