ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
73.

Welcomes the work on RM and sustainability in the OECD, G8 and G20 and stresses the further need for a G20 dialogue on RM in order to develop a common perspective; further welcomes the will of G8 and G20 members to fight RM price volatility and calls for the development of concrete measures to curb speculation in that field; calls on the Commission to promote the work of the OECD on the impact of export restrictions and their use as a policy tool; supports the inclusion of non-OECD members in these discussions; calls for the creation of strategic cooperation between the EU, US and Japan on CRM towards a "global RM watch" by sharing demand and supply data, common forecasting, encouraging the exchange of best practice, technological know-how and patents, analysing supply chains, investigating the possibility for joint strategic stocks and the establishment of joint R&D projects; takes the view that such issues should be part of the agenda of the next EU-US Summits; calls on the Commission to promote Track-II diplomacy on RM by supporting the exchange of non-governmental organisations, academia and think-tanks from the EU and other resource-relevant countries; calls on the Commission to organise regular events, such as JOGMEC's ‧Metal Saloons‧ on RM with other resource-relevant countries; further asks the Commission to investigate the feasibility of an international statistics initiative on CRM based on the example of the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI), as well as whether an international covenant for metals might be a useful tool; calls on the European Defence Agency to contribute, in accordance with Article 42(3) of the TEU, to the identification of measures to strengthen the industrial and technological base of the defence sector with regard to RM;
C.

whereas, following the ban on the dissemination of Ahmadi Muslim teachings in 2008, the Indonesian Minister for Religious Affairs has repeatedly called for the imposition of a total ban on the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, a step which has already been taken by three provinces, West Java, South Sulawesi and West Sumatra; whereas on 6 February 2011 a mob of at least 1 500 people attacked 20 Ahmadi Muslims in Cikeusik, in Banten province, killing three of them and severely injuring several others, prompting a condemnation and a call for an investigation by the President of Indonesia,
B.

whereas human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, Chair of the ‘Viasna’ Human Rights Centre and Vice-President of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), after being held at the detention centre of the Belarusian Interior Ministry, was arrested in Minsk on 4 August 2011 on the formal charge of large-scale tax evasion (‘concealment of profits on a particularly large scale’) and indicted on 12 August 2011 under Part II of Article 243 of the Belarusian Criminal Code; whereas he faces a penalty of either up to five years’ ‘restricted freedom’ or three to seven years’ imprisonment and the confiscation of his assets, including the premises from which ‘Viasna’ is run;
26.

Calls on the Commission to collect and present data quantifying the impact of the various remaining requirements which, if removed, would improve the functioning of the Single Market for services; calls on the Commission to prioritise its targeted actions on removing those requirements which would bring the highest level of added value to the functioning of the Single Market in services in full compliance with Article 1 of the Services Directive; calls on the Commission, furthermore, to focus its action on the sectors and professions with a high growth potential for the cross-border provision of services;
53.

Notes that preventing disasters is often more cost-effective than combating them; therefore, stresses the vital need to complement the policy for enhancing the EU’s emergency reaction capacity by stepping up the EU’s and Member States’ risk prediction and prevention policies and encourages the Commission to prepare a comprehensive and innovative EU strategy on disaster risk reduction; calls for sufficient resources to be dedicated to early identification of possible disasters and asks the Commission to ensure that the revision of the Structural Funds and the Solidarity Fund are used to encourage the development of policies and investments in these areas; furthermore, calls for improved education on disaster prevention, investment in the prevention of disasters and climate change, appropriate legislation on water management and efficient risk management and for close monitoring of the implementation of the Floods Directive at regional and local level; points out, in this context, that regional and local authorities play a key role in disaster prevention by implementing risk prevention strategies at territorial level, including joint interventions involving teams from different countries;
44.

Highlights the call from stakeholders to place greater emphasis on continuous professional development (CPD), including (life-long) formal, non-formal and informal learning, and on the need to assess it; points out that global competition and the orientation towards a knowledge-based economy are creating new challenges for skills development and education; calls on the Commission, therefore, to explore methods of documenting all education, perhaps via European Skill Passports and the European Qualifications Framework, as well as IMI, and to devise a comparability table of the various CPD systems existing in the Member States; calls further on the Commission to evaluate whether an appropriate solution to the varying levels of CPD for healthcare workers might be compensation measures; encourages the competent authorities to provide information on CPD during the recognition process, to exchange best practices in this area and to exchange information on CPD, especially in respect of those sectors and Member States in which it is mandatory;
4.

Demands that the Syrian authorities allow humanitarian organisations and doctors to treat the victims of violence, and that they give them access to all parts of the country and enable them to carry out their legitimate and peaceful work without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment; calls on the Syrian authorities to abide by international human rights standards and international commitments guaranteeing freedom of opinion and expression;
J.

whereas the pressure on religious minorities, most notably the Bahai’, converts and dissident Shia scholars, continues to increase; whereas the Bahai’, despite being the biggest non-Muslim religious minority, suffer heavy discrimination, including denial of access to education, and whereas legal proceedings against their seven imprisoned leaders are ongoing and over 100 community members remain under arrest; whereas there are reports that in the first half of 2011 at least 207 Christians were arrested; whereas Sunni Muslims continue to face discrimination in law and in practice, and are prevented from fully exercising their right to practise their religion; whereas a state-supported defamation campaign against (Shia) Nematullahi Sufis, depicting all forms of mysticism as satanic and persecuting Sufi worshippers, is continuing, the most glaring example being the armed attack in Kavar in September 2011, which killed one person and left others seriously injured;
11.

Calls on the Member States to take all necessary action to end discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms, paying particular attention to all people vulnerable to and affected by HIV, to review laws and policies that adversely affect the delivery of effective HIV programmes and to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS are involved and represented when anti-discrimination policies are drawn up; stresses the importance of taking account of the gender perspective in combating discrimination, so as to develop a comprehensive HIV/AIDS approach;
E.

whereas Sotoudeh’s sentence is part of a systematic assault on human rights lawyers and activists in Iran, which includes the sentencing on 7 January 2011 of Shiva Nazarahari, co-founder of Committee of Human Rights Reporters and a prominent activist, to four years in prison and 74 lashes and the sentencing on 30 October 2010 of a prominent lawyer, Mohammad Seifzadeh, to nine years in prison and a ten-year ban from practising law; whereas human rights lawyer Mohammad Oliyafar is serving a one-year sentence for his advocacy on behalf of his clients; whereas other human rights defenders facing imminent prosecution in Iran are Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, Abdolfattah Soltani and Houtan Kian,
14.

Recognises that equality for women is a principle that has been enshrined in Afghanistan’s new Constitution; calls for the revision of the law concerning the personal status of Shiite women in Afghanistan, which, despite some amendments, contradicts the principles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination and the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
8.

Calls on the VP/HR, the EEAS and the Commission to continue to support Tunisia during this democratic transition process by giving priority to drawing up, in accordance with the objectives of the new European Neighbourhood Policy, a programme to support the reform of the security sector, in particular the police, and a programme to support the reform of the judicial system as part of the reform process conducted by the government, and to include therein a mechanism for civil society consultations and assessments; urges the EEAS to ensure that Parliament is duly informed of the progress of the current negotiations on the new EU-Tunisia action plan and the work of the EU-Tunisia Task Force;
4.

Insists also, in particular, that: — the new agreement shall without ambiguity accept explicitly the primacy of EU law over its provisions; — all measures to implement the agreement shall be taken in accordance with the relevant procedures provided for in the EU Treaties; — the agreement must be in conformity with EU law, in particular as regards the figures in the Stability and Growth Pact, and where Contracting Parties wish to commit to targets at variance with EU law, this must be done through the applicable EU legal procedures and must not lead to the establishment of double standards; — all the contracting parties to the agreement, present and future members of the euro, should have the same right to participate in the Eurosummit meetings; — democratic accountability must be respected through a strengthening of Parliamentary participation in all aspects of European economic coordination and governance; — cooperation between national parliaments and the European Parliament must operate within the EU Treaties, in accordance with Article 9 of Protocol 1 to the Treaty; — the new agreement must enshrine, in legally binding form, a commitment by the Contracting Parties to take all necessary steps to ensure that the agreement will in substance be integrated at the latest within five years into the Treaty;
3.

Is concerned about the state of play regarding the establishment of the Euromed Free Trade Area, which was supposed to be in place by 2010 and has failed to materialise; regrets the fact that no real progress has been made by the various actors in creating the necessary conditions; encourages the development of South-South bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation, which would produce tangible benefits for the citizens of the countries involved and improve the political climate in the region; acknowledges that the lack of intra-regional trade among southern Mediterranean countries has been a major stumbling block to the project; insists that the establishment of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area should remain one of the goals of the EU and its southern partners; regards this Convention as a major step towards the establishment of the Free Trade Area and as a possible incentive for South-South trade;
N.

whereas more than 4 000 people were reportedly dismissed from their jobs or expelled from university for having participated in the protests; whereas according to Bahraini trade unions more than 1 000 of them have still not been reinstated and whereas dozens of university students are still waiting to be allowed to resume their studies; whereas many of those reinstated have been pressured to sign statements in which they pledge to refrain from any trade union related activities and consent to being appointed to posts other than their original ones;
4.

Calls on the European Commission as guardian of the Treaties to monitor closely the possible amendments and the implementation of the said laws and their compliance with the letter and spirit of the European Treaties and to conduct a thorough study to ensure: (a) the full independence of the judiciary, in particular ensuring that the National Judicial Authority, the Prosecutor’s Office and the courts in general are governed free from political influence, and that the mandate of independently-appointed judges cannot be arbitrarily shortened; (b) that the regulation of the Hungarian National Bank abides by European legislation; (c) that the institutional independence of data protection and freedom of information is restored and guaranteed by the letter and the implementation of the relevant law; (d) that the right of the Constitutional Courtto review any legislation is fully restored, including the right to review budgetary and tax laws; (e) that the freedom and pluralism of the media is guaranteed by the letter and the implementation of the Hungarian Media Law, especially with regard to the participation of civil and opposition representatives in the Media Council; (f) that the new electoral law meets European democratic standards and respects the principle of political alternation; (g) that the right to exercise political opposition in a democratic way is ensured both within and outside institutions; (h) that the law on churches and religious denominations will respect the basic principles of the freedom of conscience and refrain from subjecting the registration of churches to the approval of a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian Parliament;
19.

Calls on the Commission to present, as soon as possible, comprehensive current data on female representation within all types of company in the EU and on the compulsory and non-compulsory measures taken by the business sector as well as those recently adopted by the Member States with a view to increasing such representation, and, following this exercise, if the steps taken by companies and the Member States are found to be inadequate, to propose legislation – including quotas – in the course of 2012 to increase female representation in corporate management bodies to 30 % by 2015 and to 40 % by 2020, while taking account of the Member States’ responsibilities and of their economic, structural (i.e. relating to company size), legal and regional specificities;
9.

Welcomes all multi-stakeholder initiatives involving governments, industry, producers and civil society that aim at eradicating child labour, improving the lives of children and adults on cocoa farms and ensuring that cocoa is grown responsibly, such as the recent regional initiative by the OECD, the Secretariat of the Sahel and West Africa Club and the International Cocoa Initiative to promote best practice in combating the worst forms of child labour on West African cocoa farms; points out that these initiatives require appropriate follow-up in order to ensure genuine progress; encourages governments to increase their support to fair-trade networks in the cocoa sector and to rural cooperatives, and to enable them to send their product directly to the national and international markets, thus avoiding middlemen and obtaining fair prices; calls on the Commission to support such measures;
12.

Condemns the violence and threats surrounding Kiev Pride event on 20 May 2012, at which two gay pride leaders were beaten up, which resulted in the parade being cancelled; recalls that EU agreements are conditional on respect for fundamental rights, as laid down in the Treaties, and therefore calls on Ukraine to introduce legislation to prohibit discrimination, including discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation; is of the opinion that current developments in Ukraine are inconsistent with this requirement; calls on the Ukrainian authorities to immediately revoke the relevant draft laws, propose legislation to prohibit discrimination – including discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation – and commit to making a safe Kiev Pride event possible next year;
15.

Calls on the Andean countries to ensure the establishment of a transparent and binding road map on human, environmental and labour rights, which should be aimed essentially at safeguarding human rights, enhancing and improving trade unionists’ rights and protecting the environment; suggests that they take into account the Action Plan related to Labour Rights between Colombia and the US, with particular reference to the following: — enforcing and implementing legislation and policy measures which guarantee freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively, without loopholes, in particular for workers in the informal sector, and especially through the elimination of the use of cooperatives, collective pacts or other measures that have the purpose or effect of denying workers their trade union rights or the benefits of a direct employment relationship; — conducting strict labour inspections which lead to penalties in the case of discrimination, non-justified dismissals, intimidation and threats against workers; — clear and verifiable steps to strengthen social dialogue at regional and local level as well as on the part of enterprises; — introducing measures to guarantee the effective enforcement of legislation to protect the environment and biodiversity, particularly from the negative effects of deforestation and the extraction of raw materials; — taking the necessary steps to end impunity and investigating, prosecuting and punishing in civil courts those most responsible, both intellectually and materially, for the crimes committed in Colombia; — achieving clear, time-bound and result-based targets in each of the above areas; — calling on the European Commission to immediately begin assisting Colombia and Peru in the establishment and implementation of the above process, and urging it to produce a regular report to be presented and assessed by the European Parliament; — underlining the fact that some of the targets of this road map should preferably come into effect before the entry into force of the FTA;
95.

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that measures are taken to prevent both the entry of new invasive alien species into the EU and the spread of currently established invasive alien species to new areas; calls, in particular, for clear guidelines under the CAP Rural Development Regulation in order to ensure that afforestation does not harm biodiversity and to prevent the provision of financial support for the planting of invasive alien species; underlines the need for ambitious strategies and up-to-date inventories both at the EU level and in the Member States; takes the view that these strategies should not focus solely on those species considered to be a ‘priority’, as suggested in Target 5 of the Biodiversity Strategy; encourages the Commission, with a view to enhancing the knowledge base, to support similar activities to those supported under the DAISIE (Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe) project;
41.

Emphasises that it is for the Member States to decide whether to allow, prohibit or regulate research with human embryonic stem cells and in vitro fertilisation but that Member States in this respect need to respect the rules set out in Directive 2004/23/EC, including those on quality and safety and those relating to the principle of unpaid donation; points out that the European Union has limited competence in this area and, when applying this competence, needs to respect the principles of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the principles applied in the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union;
56.

While appreciating the importance of the transition to a low-carbon economy, underlines the need to maintain its competitiveness and innovativeness, inter alia by using appropriate trade policy instruments; the transition to a low-carbon economy must be adapted to the potential of the geographical area in question, the specific nature of the energy system and energy mix of the particular Member State and its geological structure; believes that this approach will make it possible to maintain the highest level of energy security and economic competitiveness while at the same time respecting the autonomy of each Member State, as enshrined in the Treaties, to set the conditions for use of its energy resources, to choose between different energy sources and to determine the general structure of its energy supply;
30.

Stresses that the Temporary Committee which conducted the investigation underpinning Parliament’s resolutions of 14 February 2007 and 19 February 2009 exposed the ways in which the procedures for authorisation and control of civilian aircraft overflying the Member States’ airspace or landing in their territory were extremely flawed, thus not only lending themselves to being abused in the CIA’s ‘extraordinary renditions’, but also to being easily evaded by operators of organised crime, including terrorist networks; also recalls the Union’s competence in the field of transport security and safety and Parliament’s recommendation to the Commission that it regulate and monitor the management of EU airspace, airports and non-commercial aviation; calls on the EU and its Member States, therefore, to delay no longer a thorough review of their implementation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (the Chicago Convention) as regards authorisation and inspections of civilian aircraft overflying the Member States’ airspace or landing in their territory, in order to make sure that security is enhanced and checks systematically exercised, requiring anticipated identification of passengers and crews and ensuring that any flights classified as ‘state flights’ (which are excluded from the scope of the Chicago Convention) are given prior and proper authorisation; also recalls Parliament’s recommendation that the Tokyo Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft be effectively enforced by Member States;
F.

whereas the authorities of the United Arab Emirates have insisted that their crackdown is a response to a foreign-inspired Islamist plot that aims to overthrow the government; whereas the detainees all have ties to al-Islah, a peaceful Islamist group that has operated in the United Arab Emirates since 1974; whereas the evidence indicates that national security is the pretext for a crackdown on peaceful activism designed to stifle calls for constitutional reform and reform on human rights issues such as statelessness;
51.

Recognises, in this regard, the natural roles of the European Defence Agency (EDA) as a bridge between the defence community and the Commission and as a facilitator between military stakeholders; is in favour of strengthening the EDA’s role in building political awareness, networking, assisting with the deployment phase of SESAR and supporting Member States in financial and operational risk analysis; notes that the EDA is well placed to contribute to future SES challenges, for example in the field of equipment and training; welcomes the decision by Member States to involve the EU Military Staff (EUMS) in supporting the EDA in connection with SESAR; welcomes the establishment of the SES/SESAR Military Implementation Forum facilitated by the EDA, and encourages its further effective continuation, as it has the strong merit of bringing all relevant actors in the defence community to the table; emphasises that cooperation with NATO is indispensable and welcomes ongoing developments in this regard;