Activities of László TŐKÉS related to 2014/2216(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Annual report on human rights and democracy in the world 2013 and the EU policy on the matter (debate)
Amendments (10)
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Reiterates its support for dedicated human rights dialogues as a tool of EU human rights policy; recognises the value of engagement in human rights-specific dialogue alsoin particular with countries with serious human rights problems; underlines, however, the need for the EU to draw clear political conclusions when the human rights dialogue does not lead to positive outcomes, and in such cases to place more emphasis on public diplomacy with a view to ensuring that the public credibility of the EU’s human rights policy is not endangered; warns, furthermore, against diverting human rights discussions away from high-level political dialogues;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Urges the EEAS to continue further engaging with all countries that it currently has human rights dialogues in place by requesting concrete commitments from the respective authorities and by regularly following up on their demands raised during consultations
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Urges the EEAS to develop a comprehensive review mechanism to help evaluate the dialogues in light of failure in achieving significant and tangible results in certain countries such as China, further urges the EU to strengthen its mechanism of benchmarks in order to help measure success and make the dialogues more effective, which would contribute to bringing countries with serious human rights problems closer to international standards of human rights
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. Notes with regret that while certain countries, such as China, subscribe to the universality of human rights, at the same time they state that human rights must be considered in the national context bearing in mind the local economic, cultural, historical and religious backgrounds, which allows a relative application of human rights that contradicts their universal, indivisible and interdependent nature; while initiatives promoting human rights as universal, such as the 2012 ASEAN Human Rights Declaration are commendable, they equally advocate the relativist approach and undermine the promotion of human rights as universal; urges the EU to continue further engaging with these countries in all possible international fora and strengthen the UN human rights system, key to the advancement of universal rights;
Amendment 251 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. Reiterates its call for the systematic inclusion of human rights clauses in the EU’s international agreements, including trade and investment agreements, concluded with third countries, and calls for effective monitoring of their application as well as for reporting back to the relevant committee of Parliament on the agreements’ human rights aspects;
Amendment 321 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54
Paragraph 54
54. Condemns all violence and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief, as Article 5 of the Lisbon Treaty prescribes; expresses its serious concern over the continued reports of violence and discrimination against religious minorities around the world; stresses that the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, is a fundamental human right, interrelated with other human rights and fundamental freedoms, encompassing the right to believe or not to believe, the freedom to practise theistic, non-theistic or atheistic belief alike, and the right to adopt, change and abandon or return to a belief of one’s choice, as enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Amendment 327 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 54 a (new)
Paragraph 54 a (new)
54a. Strongly condemns attacks against Christians in several countries around the world and expresses solidarity with the families of the victims; is deeply concerned about the growing number of episodes of repression, discrimination, intolerance and violent attacks against Christian communities, in particular in Africa, Asia and Middle-East; further calls on governments to bring all those responsible to justice; is deeply concerned about the current situation of Christians in North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Nigeria and many other countries, where Christians live in fear of being killed, face torture, rape and abduction and see their churches damaged or destroyed;
Amendment 457 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 76
Paragraph 76
76. Calls for concerted EU action to address the problem of land-grabbing; notes that the denial of access to land and natural resources to the rural and urban poor is one of the key causes of hunger and poverty in the world, thereby having an impact on the local communities’ enjoyment of their human rights, and particularly on their right to adequate food; welcomes the EU’s involvement in the development of the voluntary global guidelines on tenure of land, fisheries and forests, adopted under the aegis of the UN; emphasises, nevertheless, the urgent need to mainstream human rights and poverty reduction considerations in decision- making regarding the acquisition or long- term lease of large areas of land by investors; considers the EU’s response to this issue to be an important test of its commitment to move toward a rights-based approach in its development cooperation policy, as envisioned in the Lisbon Treaty through which the EU's development policy would further contribute to the sustainable economic, social and environmental development of developing countries with the primary aim of eradicating poverty in the world;
Amendment 459 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 76 a (new)
Paragraph 76 a (new)
76a. Calls on the EU and Member States to better coordinate their development agendas in the spirit of the Lisbon Treaty placing development policy at the forefront of the Union's external relations, so that national priorities and European agendas on human rights promotion are better coordinated via development, considering the complexities embedded in EU development policy;
Amendment 460 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 76 b (new)
Paragraph 76 b (new)
76b. Calls on the EEAS, under the coordination of the High Representative/Vice-President of the Commission, to better link foreign and security policy with development policy in order to build synergies and ensure a coherent approach aimed at the universal application of human rights via EU development policy; it further calls on the EU to better coordinate externally with emerging economies, such as the BRICS, in multilateral fora to address global governance issues and to promote human rights via the coordination of their different development agendas;