EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 332/106

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Recommendation to the Council on the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly

P7_TA(2012)0240

European Parliament recommendation to the Council of 13 June 2012 on the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly (2012/2036(INI))

2013/C 332 E/23

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Treaty on European Union (TEU), in particular Articles 21 and 34 thereof,

— having regard to the proposal for a recommendation to the Council, by Alexander Graf Lambsdorff on behalf of the ALDE Group, on the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) (B7-0132/2012),

— having regard to its recommendation of 8 June 2011 to the Council on the 66th Session of the UNGA (1), and to its resolution of 11 May 2011 on ‘the EU as a global actor: its role in multilateral organisations’ (2),

— having regard to the EU’s priorities for the 66th Session of the UNGA, as adopted by the Council on 10 June 2011 (3),

— having regard to the 66th Session of the UNGA, in particular that body’s resolutions on ‘The United Nations in global governance’ (4), ‘Promoting the efficiency, accountability, effectiveness and transparency of public administration by strengthening supreme audit institutions’ (5), ‘The situation in the Syrian Arab Republic’ (6), ‘People’s empowerment and development’ (7), ‘Towards global partnerships’ (8), ‘South-South cooperation’ (9), ‘The role of the United Nations in promoting development in the context of globalisation and interdependence’ (10), ‘Strengthening the role of the United Nations in enhancing periodic and genuine elections and the promotion of democratisation’ (11), ‘Report of the Conference on Disarmament’ (12), ‘Promotion of a democratic and equitable international order’ (13), and ‘The universal, indivisible, interrelated, interdependent and mutually reinforcing nature of all human rights and fundamental freedoms’ (14),

— having regard to the UNGA resolution of 19 December 2011 on combating intolerance, negative stereotyping, stigmatisation, discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against persons based on religion or belief (15),

— having regard to the UNGA resolution of 3 May 2011 on the participation of the European Union in the work of the United Nations (16),

— having regard to the UNGA resolution of 31 March 2010 on the implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (17),

— having regard to the United Nations Millennium Declaration of 8 September 2000, which set out the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as objectives established jointly by the international community for the elimination of poverty,

— having regard to the Commission communication of 10 September 2003 on ‘The European Union and the United Nations: the choice of multilateralism’ (COM(2003)0526),

— having regard to the remarks by the President of the European Council following his meeting with the United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) on 16 April 2012,

— having regard to its resolution of 16 February 2012 on Parliament’s position on the 19th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) (18),

— having regard to its resolution of 17 November 2011 on ‘EU support for the International Criminal Court (ICC): facing challenges and overcoming difficulties’ (19),

— having regard to its resolution of 7 July 2011 on EU external policies in favour of democratisation (20),

— having regard to its resolution of 15 December 2010 on the future of the EU-Africa strategic partnership following the 3rd EU-Africa Summit (21),

— having regard to its resolution of 25 November 2010 on the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security (22),

— having regard to its resolution of 23 November 2010 on civilian-military cooperation and the development of civilian-military capabilities (23),

— having regard to its resolution of 9 June 2005 on the reform of the United Nations (24),

— having regard to the report of the joint delegation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on Human Rights to the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, dated 28-29 November 2011,

— having regard to Rules 121(3) and 97 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Development (A7-0186/2012),

A. whereas common international values and norms aim to ensure peace, the protection of human rights, security and prosperity in the world, and to share the benefits of globalisation among all on a more equitable basis;

B. whereas the UN is at the centre of global governance, while at the same time it is pursuing its own reforms in order to boost its transparency, effectiveness and efficiency;

C. whereas there is a growing need for common rules and decision-making mechanisms in order to jointly address emerging global challenges and the negative impact of the global economic crisis;

D. whereas the EU needs to strengthen its cohesion in order to remain a key player in an increasingly multipolar world in need of global concerted action; whereas EU Member States are obliged by the treaties to coordinate their action in international organisations and at international conferences;

E. whereas the EU is committed to effective multilateralism with a strong UN at its core, since this is essential in order to address global challenges;

F. whereas the EU and its Member States are the largest financial contributors to the UN system; whereas the EU-27 fund 39 % of the UN’s regular budget and more than 40 % of UN peace-keeping operations;

G. whereas a solid and stable EU-UN partnership is fundamental to the work of the UN under all three pillars – peace and security, human rights and development – and is also key to the EU’s role as a global actor;

H. whereas the EU and the UN are natural partners in peace-and state-building, and together provide a framework for collective peace- and state-building efforts;

I. whereas human rights and democracy are founding values of the EU and principles and objectives of European external action, including international trade; whereas respect for, and the promotion and safeguarding of, the universality and indivisibility of human rights are cornerstones of European unity and integrity;

J. whereas justice and the rule of law are pillars of sustainable peace, guaranteeing human rights and fundamental freedoms; whereas the Rome Statute of the ICC makes a decisive contribution to the upholding of human rights, to international law and to the fight against impunity;

K. whereas all countries and all citizens as well as the international community itself benefit from continued support for democratic processes; whereas they are confronted with the challenges of building, restoring and preserving democracies;

1. Addresses the following recommendations to the Council:

The EU at the UN

(a) to coordinate to the fullest extent possible, to put across unified positions and to strengthen the coherence and visibility of the EU as a global actor at the UN; to meet the expectations of UN members regarding the ability of the EU to act and deliver in a timely fashion; to adopt a broad and flexible approach to Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) positions at the UN level in order to give the EU the capacity to act in a swift and comprehensive manner on CFSP-related issues;

(b) to enhance its contribution to the work of the UN by reaching a common interpretation of the UNGA resolution on the modalities of the EU’s participation in the work of UNGA and by working with partners towards its full implementation; to present a report to Parliament on its application in practice;

(c) to work with EU Member States and the EU Delegation to the UN towards improving coordination, transparency and the exchange of information in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the defence of the positions and interests of the EU in the UNSC by those Member States which are members of that body, or, alternatively, by an EU representative upon the invitation of the Chair; to reinforce the EU’s impact on UNSC decisions and to raise the profile of the EU at the UN on crucial UNSC matters;

(d) to ensure strong EU representation throughout all UN institutions and specialised agencies;

(e) to develop a long-term strategy targeting the UN’s membership and to pursue stronger public diplomacy on UN affairs;

The EU and global governance

(f) to advance effective multilateralism as an overriding strategic concern of the EU, by enhancing the representativeness, transparency, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness of the UN, with the aim of improving its delivery on the ground; to recall the need to strike a new institutional balance between the emerging role of the G-20, the UN and its agencies and international financial institutions (IFIs); in this connection, to enhance global governance and to seek solutions with a view to further improving coordination between the G-formations and the UN system, insofar as the economic dimension could usefully be covered by these groups, provided that the UN maintains its central role and remains the legitimate body for global action;

(g) to engage more actively with strategic and other bilateral and multilateral partners, especially the USA, in order to promote effective solutions to problems which affect both EU citizens and the world at large, including the poorest and most vulnerable;

(h) actively to support a comprehensive and consensual reform of the UNSC in order to strengthen its legitimacy, regional representation, accountability and effectiveness; to recall that an EU seat in an enlarged UNSC remains a central, long-term goal of the European Union; to ask the High Representative/Vice-President (HR/VP) to develop a common position of the Member States to that end; in order to achieve this goal in the future, to work on prior coordination of positions in the Council of the EU on the introduction of new members of the UNSC and on the reform of the UNSC’s decision-making;

(i) to engage in the reflection started in the UNGA on the role of the UN in global governance, with a view to improving transparency and cooperation; to promote greater cooperation between the EU and the UNGA;

(j) to help revitalise the UNGA and to increase its efficiency, inter alia by supporting the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group, by facilitating more in-depth and result-oriented thematic debates on topical, important issues, and through closer engagement of the UNGA with other stakeholders, including civil society and other international and regional organisations and forums; to stress the need for further streamlining of the agendas of the UNGA and its main committees; to underline the fact that revitalisation can be ensured only if the UNGA takes relevant and appropriate action on issues of common concern to the international community;

(k) to reconfirm its commitment to ensuring that UN financial resources are adequate and managed efficiently and effectively, according to the principles of budgetary discipline and coherence and in conformity with the highest international standards;

Peace and security

Peace-keeping and peace-building

(l) to strengthen the operational partnership and to promote the strategic coherence and effectiveness of collective peace-building efforts, inter alia through the work of the Special Committee on Peace-keeping Operations;

(m) to advance cooperation and build partnerships in the area of conflict prevention, civilian and military crisis management, and conflict resolution with the UN, the OSCE, the African Union (AU), the Arab League and other international and regional organisations, as well as with civil society; to improve the peace-building capacities of regional organisations, inter alia through the proposed EU–UN–AU and EU–UN–ECOWAS tri-partnerships;

(n) to promote the collaboration of different actors in the peace-building architecture, notably between the UN Secretariat, the UNSC, the UNGA, and the UN member states involved in peace-building missions; to pursue efforts to ensure that EU Member States contribute to UN peace missions with special capacities, such as transport and logistics, and training; to consider the option of launching a military operation under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), including the possible deployment of a battlegroup to precede a UN peace mission if requested by the UN, while paying special attention to the protection of all members of peacekeeping missions and of any battlegroups; to support the development of conflict prevention and management as well as mediation, peace-keeping and peace-building capacity at national and subnational levels; to promote the exchange of know-how and good practices among partners;

(o) to provide support to the UN Civilian Capacity Review in identifying practical ways of matching demand with supply in critical civilian capability areas; to expedite recruitment, eliminate operational incompatibilities and avoid overlapping when deploying civilian CSDP capabilities in support of UN actions; to explore options for the joint deployment of crisis response teams within a UN operation in cases where rapidly deployable capacities are required;

(p) to ensure the participation of women at all stages of peace processes and systematically to engage them in preventive diplomacy, early warning and security monitoring; to focus, in line with UNSC Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security, on the need to mainstream gender perspectives in conflict prevention, peacekeeping operations, humanitarian assistance, post-conflict reconstruction and DDR (25) initiatives; to work actively to ensure the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 by all UN member states;

(q) to cooperate with the UN to tackle the current global threats, such as climate change, nuclear weapons proliferation, organised crime and terrorism, and pandemics;

(r) to contribute to the successful outcome of and follow-up to the 2012 UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty and the 2012 Review Conference on the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons;

Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

(s) to assist states in fulfilling their responsibility to protect their populations; to stress the need for timely and adequate international action to prevent and halt genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity;

(t) to generate further political and institutional progress on the implementation of the R2P concept in UN organs, particularly in the UNSC, the UNGA and the UNHRC, drawing conclusions and learning lessons both from the intervention in Libya and from the inability to take swift action in the case of Syria; to facilitate the debate on how the UN bodies, in particular the UNSC, could utilise this concept to ensure greater cooperation between UN member states during crises; to advance the positive role of regional organisations, in developing and applying an operational approach to R2P;

(u) to work with partners to ensure that this concept focuses on prevention, protection and post-conflict reconstruction, in line with the tripartition of R2P into responsibility to prevent, to protect and to rebuild; to assist states in building capacities to this effect, inter alia by strengthening early warning mechanisms and relevant UN mediation capacities; to encourage, in cooperation with UN member states, the establishment of focal points to monitor emerging conflict situations, and to build relevant capacities in EU delegations;

(v) strongly to reconfirm the EU’s commitment to the concept of R2P and to initiate the development of an inter-institutional consensus on R2P between the European Parliament, the EEAS and the EU Member States that could ensure more consistent EU action on such issues in UN forums;

Mediation

(w) to promote mediation as a cost-effective tool in the peaceful prevention and resolution of disputes, as well as in preventing post-conflict countries from relapsing into conflict; to develop more effective mediation guidelines in the field of the rule of law and democratic accountability;

(x) to prioritise and develop the implementation of this tool and further to develop mediation capacities within the EEAS, based on the Concept of Strengthening EU Mediation and Dialogue Capacities;

(y) to cooperate closely with the UN and other actors in mediation; to strive for synergies in mediation activities with the UN Department for Political Affairs (DPA); to advance partnerships and cooperation by international, regional and subregional organisations with the UN, with each other and with civil society, for example through an EU-UN joint partnership on mediation capacities; to improve information-sharing, cooperation and coordination in order to ensure the coherence and complementarity of the efforts of actors involved in specific mediation;

International justice

(z) to strengthen the international criminal justice system; to highlight the role of the ICC in fighting impunity and further to promote the ICC as the only permanent judicial body with jurisdiction over individual perpetrators for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so;

(aa) to strengthen the ICC by providing political, diplomatic, financial and logistical support; to encourage all UN member states to join the Court by ratifying the Rome Statute; to foster strong cooperation with the Court by the UN and its bodies and agencies;

Human rights

(ab) to strengthen international efforts aimed at ensuring that all human rights agreed under UN conventions are considered universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated; to help strengthen national capacities for the fulfilment of international human rights obligations; in this connection, to stress the need to secure the right of freedom of religion and belief for all;

(ac) actively to support the African-led initiative and the recommendation of the Commission on the Status of Women by working towards the adoption of a UNGA resolution in 2012 with a view to banning female genital mutilation (FGM) worldwide; to call on the HR/VP and the Commission to give the utmost priority to ensuring the success of this process;

(ad) further to promote the mainstreaming of human rights in all aspects of the UN’s work, reaffirming the fact that human rights are inextricably linked to the UN’s other goals on peace and security, and development;

(ae) to participate proactively in the work of the UNHRC by co-sponsoring resolutions, issuing statements and taking part in interactive dialogues and debates in order to ensure greater balance in the UNHRC’s work;

(af) to enhance the early warning capacity of the Special Procedures by providing for a mechanism allowing them to automatically trigger the consideration of a situation by the UNHRC; to reinforce the follow-up process for the implementation of the recommendations of Special Procedures;

(ag) to seek to strengthen the process of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by embedding recommendations in bilateral and multilateral dialogues with UN member states, and by basing these dialogues on and around international norms and standards;

(ah) to continue its endeavours in the UNGA and its committees in relation to the call for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, which continues to receive increasing support from an ever-larger number of countries, and in relation to the rights of the child, free media and religious tolerance; to support all efforts to eradicate torture; particularly to encourage the adoption of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on Torture;

Democracy support

(ai) to help ensure local ownership of the democratic process and the development of a culture of democracy and the rule of law; to expand democracy support beyond the election process in order to sustain it in the long term and be able to deliver tangible results to citizens; to ensure the inclusion to a greater extent of parliaments and political parties in programmes supporting democracy; to emphasise the importance of independent NGOs that can function freely for the development of a strong civic culture;

(aj) to focus on social and economic inclusion, democratic transition and political/electoral processes, capacity-building, the strengthening of civil society, the participation of young people in parliamentary democracy, the protection of freedom of expression, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion and the protection of women’s rights, including in terms of their participation in public and political life, at the level both of social practices and of legislation;

(ak) to better integrate democracy support into European external action; to support democratic governance through its different financial instruments, using the resources of the EU delegations whenever possible; to work with the UN and other partners globally and locally to enhance the rule of law, foster independent media and build and strengthen democratic institutions that can deliver;

(al) to ensure that the mandates of peace-keeping missions reflect the need to support electoral observation missions and to provide them with the necessary means to ensure the safety of the observers on the ground;

Development

(am) to mainstream EU development-related policies at all levels, in order to avoid contradictions between pro-development policies, on the one hand, and obstacles to partner countries’ development in bi-, pluri- and multilateral agreements and forums, on the other; to pay particular attention to human rights and development implications in free trade agreements and during negotiations at WTO level;

(an) to continue working towards putting people at the centre of the development process; to follow up the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, focusing on practical steps towards its implementation;

(ao) to ensure that the share of overall European aid channelled through the EU budget is not reduced and retains a poverty and hunger focus; to consider earmarking 20 % of all EU assistance for basic social services as defined by the UN, with a special focus on free and universal access to primary health care and basic education, taking into account the EU’s support for the ‘Education for All’ initiative and its commitment to playing a role in global health;

(ap) to contribute to enhancing policy coherence for development and to improving the effectiveness of development aid, since these remain key issues for achieving the MDGs;

(aq) to lead and speed up the effort in the UN to achieve the MDGs by focusing particularly on those goals for which the least progress has been achieved so far;

(ar) while remaining committed to ending poverty in collaboration with the international community, to work towards the definition of the ambitious post-2015 MDG Agenda, taking into account the progress made but also the remaining challenges;

(as) to follow up on, and work towards the full implementation of, the outcome of the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, inter alia by promoting sustainable development as the guiding principle for long-term global development;

(at) to create a UN panel of eminent persons;

(au) to follow up actively the conclusions adopted in Busan;

(av) to make a decisive contribution to the fight against food speculation and to solving the urgent problem of poverty and hunger;

(aw) to give priority to food security, productive capacity in agriculture, infrastructure, capacity-building, inclusive economic growth, favourable markets and new businesses, access to technologies, and human and social development in the LDCs, in accordance with the Istanbul Programme of Action and the conclusions adopted at the 13th UNCTAD session in Doha on 26 April 2012;

(ax) to reiterate its commitment to the Rome principles for food security; to deplore the consequences of speculation on food commodities;

(ay) to encourage developing countries, with the support of international donors, to take long-term measures to ensure that drought does not inevitably lead to famine; to implement disaster risk reduction strategies and early warning systems;

(az) to support fully the core role played by the UN, and particularly by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs;

(ba) to reaffirm the EU’s long-term commitment to supporting the welfare of the people in the Horn of Africa and addressing the underlying causes of structural food insecurity and conflict;

Climate change, global environmental protection and sustainability

(bb) to take the lead in global climate governance and international cooperation on climate change; to contribute to an institutional architecture that is inclusive, transparent and equitable and provides for balanced representation of both developed and developing countries on relevant governing bodies; further to develop a dialogue with key actors, such as the BRICS countries and developing countries, given that climate change has become a key element of international relations; further to develop the EEAS’s capacities to build up an EU climate diplomacy policy;

(bc) to continue to empower citizens in environmental governance through the effective global implementation of Rio Principle 10; in this connection, to expand the provisions of the Aarhus Convention beyond the United Nations Commission for Europe (UNECE) through a global convention or by opening the Aarhus Convention to parties outside the UNECE; to promote improved governance in sustainable development, inter alia by strengthening the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); actively to cooperate with partners on better global enforcement of environmental laws;

(bd) to push the joint AU and EU position in favour of upgrading the UNEP to a specialised UN agency with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya; to address, within this new institutional framework, the issues of financing, technology transfer and capacity-building for sustainable development;

(be) to support biodiversity and climate protection in the developing countries in line with the objectives set under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity; to make seas and oceans one of the key pillars of the Rio Framework, alongside climate and biodiversity protection;

(bf) to support the Commission’s active participation in the ongoing debate on Protection Gaps and Responses launched by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as part of the 2010 High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges, which aims to improve the existing international protection framework for forcibly displaced and stateless people; to participate actively in the debate on the term ‘climate refugee’ (intended to describe people who are forced to flee their homes and seek refuge abroad as a consequence of climate change), including a possible legal definition of this term, which is not yet recognised in international law or in any legally binding international agreement;

Miscellaneous

(bg) to promote interaction on global issues between governments and parliaments and foster debate on the global role of parliaments; to strengthen the democratic nature, accountability and transparency of global governance and allow for greater public and parliamentary participation in the activities of the UN;

2. Instructs its President to forward this recommendation to the HR/VP, the Council and, for information, the Commission.

(1) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2011)0255.

(2) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2011)0229.

(3) Council of the European Union 11298/2011.

(4) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/256.

(5) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/209.

(6) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/253.

(7) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/224.

(8) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/223.

(9) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/219.

(10) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/210.

(11) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/163.

(12) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/59.

(13) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/159.

(14) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/151.

(15) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/167.

(16) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/65/276.

(17) UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/64/236.

(18) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2012)0058.

(19) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2011)0507.

(20) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2011)0334.

(21) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2010)0482.

(22) OJ C 99 E, 3.4.2012, p. 56.

(23) OJ C 99 E, 3.4.2012, p. 7.

(24) OJ C 124 E, 25.5.2006, p. 549.

(25) Disarmament, demobilisation, reinsertion and reintegration.