Mr President, human rights are individual rights which have found their way into national constitutions and international agreements as universal and inalienable rights or standards. They include the right to personal and political freedom and basic social and economic rights. The idea of human rights is one of the most exalted ideas which mankind has ever had and has its roots in the concentration camps and gulags of the last century. It appeals to everything which makes man a human being and which makes him aware of his dignity, uniqueness, freedom and equality with other men. The way in which human rights have spread illustrates the fact that this human image has huge powers to project and concern for human dignity is at the core of any human rights policy. 50 years after the general declaration of human rights, there is still a huge gap between what we claim and what is real. It is true that more people than ever live under a democratic system and that the awareness of human rights has grown, but on balance the degree to which human rights are implemented or respected is still quite inadequate throughout the world. Respect for human rights is extremely important on both moral and political grounds. Political prisoners, violation of basic women’s rights, child soldiers, too many poor people living below the poverty line, economic exploitation, the destruction of the environment which robs many people of their means of subsistence and massacres of civilians in armed conflicts are just some examples. There is a vicious circle. Lasting economic success is impossible without respect for human rights and without the guarantees of the rule of law and the constitutional state. Failure to respect human rights brings the threat of both strife and economic and social decline. And if the development spiral turns downwards, then human rights are dragged down with it. Respect for human rights is fundamental if conflict is to be prevented and peace consolidated. Trampling over human rights today paves the way for conflict tomorrow. Governments held to democratic account generally take more trouble over the welfare of their people. Here the promotion of democracy is the first rule, combined with principles of tolerance and pluralism; not a pluralism which is free from values, but a pluralism geared precisely towards these human rights. It makes no difference if people are destroyed in the name of a race or a class. There is no political excuse for oppressing people, be it from an extreme right-wing or an extreme left-wing point of view. In a globalised world, human rights are no longer an internal affair and the general acknowledgement of the globalisation of human rights therefore needs to be strengthened further. Human rights are indivisible. The universality of human rights shows that the degree to which they are applied has become a measure of progress, civilisation and culture in politics and society. As a global actor, the European Union must take greater account of human rights, both at home and abroad, in the form of a stronger human rights policy. It must prove itself to be a community of values. It must act preventatively within the scope of its foreign and security policy and its development policy and must react by applying sanctions, for example, by suspending assistance. In this respect, a global human rights policy is increasingly becoming a central aspect of foreign policy. But more responsible human rights policies need to start at home. Democrats who gear their actions towards human rights, who want to include basic rights in their constitutions and apply them, must show that they are prepared to fight right-wing and left-wing extremism on the political battlefield so that there is no cause whatsoever for human rights to be infringed and I think that, here too, we must make it clear to all sides that, for us, human rights cannot be used to justify a specific political system to a greater or lesser degree, and that it is the individual rights of the people which are at stake here, that it is human dignity which is at stake here and that, for this reason, political motives are no excuse for infringing human rights in any manner or at any stage of development. This means that democrats must stand together in fundamental consensus against any form of extremism, not only against right-wing, but also against left-wing extremists. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE