European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a European Parliament and Council
regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 on the harmonisation of technical re-quirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation (COM(2000) 121 Jdash
C5-0170/2000 Jdash 2000/0069(COD))
(Codecision procedure: first reading)
The European Parliament,
3dash having regard to the Commission proposal to the European Parliament and the Council
(COM(2000) 121)(
1),
3dash havingregardtoArticle251(2)andArticle80(2)oftheECTreaty,pursuanttowhichtheCommission
submitted the proposal to Parliament (C5-0170/2000),
3dash having regard to Rule 67 of its Rules of Procedure,
3dash having regard to the report of the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism and the
opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (A5-0393/2000),
1. Approves the Commissionproposal as amended;
2. Calls on the Commission, should the representatives of the airlines and the employees reach an
agreement on flight and duty time limitations and rest requirements for flight crew and cabin crew by1 May 2001, to make a proposal on the basis of that agreement to modify this Regulation;
3. Calls on the Commission, should the representatives of the airlines and the employees be unable to
reach an agreement on flight and duty time limitations and rest requirements by 1 May 2001, to comeforward with a proposal setting out the flight and duty time limitations and rest requirements for flightcrew and cabin crew, by 1 July 2001;
4. Asks to be consulted again should the Commission intend to amend its proposal substantially or
replace it with another text;
5. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.
(1) OJ C 311 E, 31.10.2000, p. 13.
2. Bangladesh
B5-0048/2001/rev.1
European Parliament resolution on Bangladesh
The European Parliament,
3dash having regard to the new EC-Bangladesh Cooperation Agreement,
3dash having regard to its position of 17 January 2001 on the proposal for a Council decision concerning
the conclusion of the Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and the People’sRepublic of Bangladesh(
1),
3dash havingregardtoitsresolutionof20November1997onthesituationintheChittagongHillTracts(2),
3dash having regard to the oral question to the Commissiontabled on 20 October 2000 by the Committee
on Development and Cooperation (B5-0004/2001),
(1) ‘Texts Adopted’, Item 6.
(2) OJ C 371, 8.12.1997, p. 213.C 262/228 EN18.9.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 18 January 2001
A. whereas respect for human rights is an absolute condition for any cooperation between the EU and
Bangladesh; whereas the government in Bangladesh musttherefore doitsutmosttoensure the imple-mentationofmeasures tosafeguard humanrights, including action against discrimination ongroundsof gender, ethnic origin, religion, etc.; whereas the Commission must ensure that the human rightssituation in Bangladesh is monitored and that the European Parliament is kept informed of it,
B. whereas the new agreement is an affirmation of the good relations between the European Union and
Bangladesh and provides a framework for further expansion,
C. noting that while Bangladesh remains a least developed country (LDC) there has been encouraging
economic growth, a decline in the birth rate, an increase in the level of literacy, a growing numberofwomenparticipating inelectionsandamovefromautocraticruletodemocraticgovernmentinthepast decade,
D. considering the various catastrophes which have frequently ravaged the country,
E. concerned at the recent increase in political violence in Bangladesh and deterioration of the situation
as regards law and order, with widespread reports of police brutality,
F. concerned at the lack of dialogue between the government and the main opposition party, which has
led to a boycott by the latter of parliamentary sessions and has deprived the country of an effectiveand responsible parliamentary opposition,
G. aware that a general election will take place before November 2001,H. recalling that the previous general election in June 1996 was monitored by the EU which noted cer-
tain abuses but concluded that it was ‘conducted substantially in accordance with the rules, and thepeople of Bangladesh were able to exercise their democratic choice’,
I. noting the invitations from both the government and opposition to the EU to send election monitors
to the next general election,
J. recalling its efforts over a number of years to ensure protection for the tribal peoples in the Chitta-
gong Hill Tracts,
1. Calls on the main political parties in Bangladesh to overcome their longstanding differences and
cooperate tomaketheparliamentary systemwork,providing thecountrywith thebasisfortheprotectionof human rights, the rule of law, good governance and democratic freedoms;
2. Calls on the government of Bangladesh to ensure that preparations for the forthcoming election, in
particular theappointmentofelectioncommissionersandofthereturning officers,andthecompilationofthe electoral register, are carried out in an objective fashion, if possible in collaboration with the opposi-tion;
3. Calls on the opposition to resume attendance at parliamentary sessions and to refrain from poten-
tially violent extra-parliamentary activities such as the instigation of hartals or general strikes;
4. Calls on the government to encourage the opposition’s resumption of responsible full parliamentary
activity by refraining from any provocative actions aimed at persecuting or intimidating their politiciansand activists from non-governmental parties;
5. Expects thecaretaker government,which willbeformedupontheresignation ofthepresentgovern-
ment and will remain in office for a period of three months leading up to the general elections, to carryout election preparations in a neutral and effective manner;18.9.2001 EN C 262/229 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 18 January 2001
6. Calls on all political parties to use the period before the forthcoming general election to engage in
responsible political debate, explaining their policies for the advancement of Bangladesh and refrainingfrom any potentially violent or disruptive activity;
7. Considers that it would be appropriate in the light of the potentially unstable political situation and
of its deepening relationship with Bangladesh, shown by the new Cooperation Agreement, for the EU tosendamissiontomonitortheforthcominggeneral election,andcallsontheCouncilandtheCommissionto decide on this in the near future;
8. Believes for the same reason, and recalling that MEPs were present in Bangladesh as observers in
elections in both 1991 and 1996, that the European Parliament should send a delegation as observers tothe next election;
9. Expresses concern abouttheexistence ofvarious pressuresaimedatundermining thecountry’slong-
standing secular traditions, and calls on the Bangladesh government to ensure that organisations and indi-viduals undertaking efforts to protect the country’s secular culture can work without fear of repression;
10. Supports, in line with its resolution of 21 April 1994(
1), the efforts being made by the Bangladesh
government to bring before an international court Golam Asam and other leading politicians responsiblefor war crimes committed during the country’s independence war in 1971;
11. Welcomes the fact that the new Cooperation Agreement will provide for a deepened political dia-
logue, taking full account ofthe clause on human rights and democratic freedoms, as well as encouraging
expansion of trade and investment, the continuation of humanitarian aid and the intensification of devel-opment activities;
12. Calls in particular for projects to be developed which involve women both in respect of education
and other relevant projects which may help involve women in communal life and in local government;
13. Notes that Bangladesh’s poverty is accompanied by problems arising from flooding and erosion
resulting in homelessness and loss of life, an educational system which does not yet ensure full literacyor enable the country’s youth to realise their full potential;
14. Expresses its strong concern over the arsenic poisoning of Bangladesh’s drinking water provided
through tube wells which might affect up to 80 million people, over half of the country’s population,and which has been classified by the WHO as ‘the largest mass poisoning of a population in history’;calls on the government of Bangladesh to do everything within its power to speed up the provision ofarsenic-free water supply to the affected communities and to declare an immediate moratorium on the
drilling of new tube wells;
15. Calls on the government of Bangladesh to take decisive steps for the improvement of the situation
of the landless population, and in particular to put the provisions of the ‘land manual’ of 1987 into prac-tice which foresees the handing out of one acre of land to landless men and one acre of land to landless
women thus respecting the right of women to have access to land;
16. Recalls in this context the delicate geological and environmental equilibrium of the Bramaputra
deltawhich hasalreadyledBangladeshigovernmentsinthepasttobecomecautioustowardshigh techno-logy solutions proposed by international donors, e.g. the World Bank or the European Union, in order tosolve problems like malnutrition or floods,such as the now abandoned Flood Action Plan;
17. Is therefore worried at information that the government of Bangladesh will reportedly sign an
agreement for construction of a first nuclear reactor in the country;
(1) OJ C 128, 9.5.1994, p. 310.C 262/230 EN18.9.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 18 January 2001
18. Welcomes the great improvements Bangladesh has made over recent years towards reducing the
devastating effects of the regularly occurring floods, in particular the loss of lives, in stressing disasterpreparedness and the capacity to live with the floods;
19. In the interest of countries like Bangladesh, calls on the European Union to take a firm stand and
the lead in the negotiations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to halt climate change at the SixthConference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocoland to strengthen assistance to the developing countries;
20. DrawsattentiontothefactthatinternationalcompanieshavestartedtoexploitBangladesh’snatural
gas reserves and calls on the European Union to support the Bangladesh government in its attempt toexploit these resources in the best interests of its population, giving priority to the country’s domesticneeds before embarking on exports;
21. Regrets that the International Jute Organisation which was established in 1984 under the auspices
oftheUnitedNationsConferenceonTradeandDevelopment(Unctad)ceasedoperatinginApril2000duetoa lack ofpolitical support and funding; urgently appeals to the Commissionandthe EU Member Statestodoeverything intheir power torevive the organisation in view ofthe factthatanestimated 30millionpeopleinBangladesh,whichisthemainjuteproducer, aredirectly orindirectly dependentontheproductand considering that diversified jute could make an important future environmentally-friendly fibre;
22. Welcomes the Commission’sproposal of 20 September 2000 to allow duty-free access for all pro-
ducts from least-developed countries except arms to the European market which will hopefully have apositive effect on Bangladesh’s imports into the European Union;
23. Calls on the government of Bangladesh to do everything within its power to further improve the
precarious and unhealthy working conditions of the labour force, in particular in the garment sector,whichrepresentstwothirdsofthecountry’sexportsandwhere85%oftheworkforcearewomen,asectorwhere the violation of trade union freedom through harassment and dismissal of workers found to beunion members remains a tradition;
24. Welcomes the efforts in Bangladesh in recent years to combat child labour; insists however that
much progress still lies ahead;
25. Welcomes the references made in the Cooperation Agreement to the principles of the UN Charter
and different Declarations on human rights; supports in this context the possibility of Bangladesh taking
measures to bar the imports of genetically engineered seeds and food items, in accordance with the Bio-
safety Protocol;
26. Supports the right of Bangladesh to adopt a sui generissystem for intellectual property rights, such
as the draft sui generislaw proposed by the OAU-Committee, that limits the scope for biopiracy (with
reference to Art. 27, 3 of the WTO TRIPS Agreement);
27. Calls on the government of Bangladesh to facilitate the activity of the smaller NGOs by using less
restrictive registration, regulation and security clearance procedures;
28. Stresses the need to promote a balanced and democratic NGO sector, by direct support for small
initiatives at grass roots level;
29. Considersthatwhilemicro-creditremainsanimportantmeansofempowermentthetimehascome
tosupplytheprocessandthesystemwithmicro-financinginordertocreate thefoundationforagri-basedmicro-industry at the grass roots level;
30. Calls on the government of Bangladesh and the Commission, in close cooperation with other
donors, to develop and fund projects for the sustainable development of the country, inter alia:
3dash to reinforce the capacity of state institutions to enable the government to perform its functions more
effectively;
3dash to develop training 3dash to include human rights 3dash for law enforcement personnel;18.9.2001 EN C 262/231 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 18 January 2001
3dash to assist with the problems of silting of rivers, flooding and erosion;
3dash to further support the expansion of micro-credit facilities;3dash to rehabilitate the homeless;3dash to tackle environmental pollution;
3dash to promote the expansion and improvement of education facilities;
3dash to improve the lot of women, promoting their education and increasing awareness of their rights;3dash to improve the health services;3dash to promote research into the problem of arsenic poisoning, and develop and introduce measures to
prevent it;
3dash to improve the country’s infrastructure, upon which will depend its ability to develop its own eco-
nomic activity and attract foreign investment;
3dash to develop human resources and other capacity in the field of information technology and commu-
nications;
31. Notes that there are often serious delays in the disbursement of funds supposedly available for
development projects in Bangladesh and that in some cases earmarked funds are not disbursed at all;
believes that factors contributing to this problem include lack of sufficient human resources on the spot,especially as regards development experts, lengthy procedures, complexity of the decision-making processin the Commissionservices responsible, and an excess of caution in actually making money available;
32. Believesthatthelackofhumanresourcesalsocreatesdifficultiesforthesupervisionandmonitoring
of projects;
33. ConsidersthatthecurrentreformoftheCommissionmustensurethattheseproblemsareremoved,
improving both staffing levels and procedures;
34. Calls on the government of Bangladesh to establish the previously planned Bangladesh National
Human Rights Commission, endowed with adequate powers and sufficient staff to perform its functionseffectively and properly, before the end of its present term;
35. Draws attention to the persisting lack of any overall settlement of the problem of refugees, in par-
ticular the remaining Rohingya from Burma (Myanmar), and the Biharis which has continued unresolvedfor over 30 years;
36. Notes that whilst there have been some positive developments since the signing of a Peace Agree-
mentin December 1997between the government ofBangladesh andthe Mukhti Bahini ofthe ChittagongHill Tracts, there remains much to be done and the process of implementation should be greatly acceler-ated;
37. Calls for an immediate effective start to the work of the Land Commission which will decide on
land rights disputes between the tribals and the Bengali settlers, and for it to be endowed with adequateresources to pursue this extremely difficult task rapidly;
38. Calls for major reinforcement of the powers of the appointed interim Regional Council, and for
arrangements for the election of a Regional Council to be made before the present government’s term ofoffice expires; considers it important that the withdrawal of security forces provided for in the PeaceAgreement should be completed before then;
39. Calls for projects to be devised in collaboration with the parliamentary opposition to provide for
the fullresettlement oftribal refugees anddisplacedpersonsandtheir rehabilitation within the ChittagongHill Tracts, forthe possibleresettlementofthe 400000Bengali settlersoutside the Chittagong Hill Tracts,pursuant to the outcome of the deliberations of the Land Commission, and for the sustainable develop-ment ofthe area in a way which preserves the culture ofthe tribal peoples; considers that EU funding forsuch projects should be conditional upon substantial progress being made in the implementation of thepeace agreement;C 262/232 EN18.9.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 18 January 2001
40. Encourages the government ofBangladesh tofurther intensifyendeavoursfora closerregional eco-
nomic and trade cooperation within the framework of SAARC;
41. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Govern-
ment of Bangladesh.
3. Council priorities for the meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Com-
mission in Geneva
B5-0040, 0041, 0042, 0044 and 0046/2001
European Parliament resolution on the EU human rights priorities and recommendations for the
upcoming session of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva
The European Parliament,
3dash having regard to the EU Treaty and its provisions on human rights,3dash having regard to Regulations (EC) Nos 975/1999 and 976/1999 of 29 April 1999 on the develop-
ment and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law and respect for human rights and funda-
mental freedoms under Articles 179 and 308 of the EC Treaty, which provide a legal basis for all
human rights and democratisation activities of the EU under Chapter B7-70 of the Budget,
3dash having regard to the 57th session of the UN Commissionon Human Rights, which will take place in
Geneva from 19 March to 27 April 2001,
3dash havingregardtoitsearlierresolutionsontheUNCommissiononHumanRightsadoptedon27March
1996(
1), 20 February 1997(2), 23 October 1997(3), 19 February 1998(4), 11 March 1999(5) and
16 March 2000(6),
A. whereas the promotion and the defence of human rights is a high priority for EU Common Foreign
and Security Policy and one of the fundamental principles of the Union;
B. whereas the EU, in its Declaration on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declara-
tion of Human Rights, stated that its policies in the field of human rights must be ‘continued and,when necessary, strengthened and improved’,
C. whereas all 15 EU Member States subscribed to the obligation to ‘respect and ensure respect for’
international humanitarian law when they ratified the four Geneva conventions, as complemented bythe additional protocols of 1977,
D. whereastheEuropeanParliamenthastheambitiontostronglyinfluencethehumanrightsstrategyand
the human rights priorities of the EU, with regard to thematic issues as well as concerning specificregions or countries,
E. whereas the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has shown an impartial and
consistent commitment to safeguarding and promoting respect for human rights of all individualsand groups worldwide,
(1) OJ C 117, 22.4.1996, p. 13.
(2) OJ C 85, 17.3.1997, p. 143.
(3) OJ C 339, 10.11.1997, p. 154.
(4) OJ C 80, 16.3.1998, p. 237.
(5) OJ C 175, 21.6.1999, p. 254.
(6) OJ C 377, 29.12.2000, p. 335.18.9.2001 EN C 262/233 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 18 January 2001