ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
B.

whereas the report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Philippines of 30 June 2020 found that the killings related to the government’s anti-drug campaign were ‘widespread and systematic,’ and that at least 8 663 people had been killed according to government data; whereas there are estimates of up to triple that number; whereas President Duterte has explicitly encouraged the police to commit extrajudicial executions, and promised them immunity, while police officers involved in such practices have received promotions; whereas President Duterte has vowed to continue his anti-drug campaign until the end of his current presidential term in 2022; whereas a majority of victims are from poor and marginalised communities;
18.

Believes that every EU citizen should be able to enjoy culture and entertainment in his or her own language; points out that linguistic minorities are often too small or lack the institutional support to build up a comprehensive system of media services of their own; calls on the Commission in this regard to make an assessment and take the most appropriate measures to support the development of such media services; notes that since the submission of the Minority SafePack ECI to the Commission in 2013, essential copyright and audiovisual media services-related proposals have already adopted by the co-legislators; acknowledges the recently adopted Commission communication on the first short-term review of the Geo-blocking Regulation (COM(2020)0766), in which the Commission proposes a detailed stock-taking exercise for 2022, by when the full effects of the regulation will have become apparent; welcomes the Commission’s plan to engage in a dialogue with stakeholders on audiovisual content as part of its media and audiovisual action plan; stresses the need to ensure that minority language concerns are taken into consideration in future regulations;
N.

whereas the ICC Prosecutor’s Office announced on 14 December 2020, in advance of its preliminary report, after a detailed evaluation and analysis of the available information that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the civil authorities, members of the armed forces and individuals in favour of the Government in Venezuela are responsible for ‘imprisonment, torture, rape and/or other forms of sexual violence and persecution of a group or community for political reasons, and may have committed very serious crimes against humanity’; whereas a final decision will be taken on the matter in the first half of 2021; whereas on 16 September 2020 the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela reported that the government and security forces of the regime, with the knowledge of President Maduro and some of his ministers, had committed crimes against humanity including executions and torture, stating that the Venezuelan State must hold to account those responsible for extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture, and prevent further acts of this nature from taking place;
1.

Welcomes the role of the ECB in safeguarding euro stability; highlights that the statutory independence of the ECB, as laid down in the Treaties, is a prerequisite for it to fulfil its mandate, as well as to safeguard its democratic legitimacy; notes that independence requires that the ECB must not seek or take instructions from Union institutions or bodies, from any government of a Member State or from any other body; stresses that this independence must not be infringed on, and highlights moreover that central bank independence should always be complemented by a corresponding level of accountability; stresses that the TFEU states that, besides its primary mandate of maintaining price stability, the ECB must also support the general economic policies in the Union with a view to contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Union, as long as they are not in conflict with the primary mandate; underlines that sustainable development, convergence, full employment, and social progress are general objectives of the Union as defined in Article 3 TFEU;
37.

Calls on the Commission to study the feasibility of supplementing instruments on procedural rights, such as those on admissibility of evidence and prison conditions in pre-trial detention, in particular on the basis of Council of Europe standards or higher, including with regard to time limits on pre-trial detention; states that the Commission should aim for the highest standards while respecting the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality; believes that the absence of minimum standards on prison conditions and pre-trial detention at EU level, of the limitation of the use of pre-trial detention to being a measure of last resort and of the consideration of alternatives, coupled with the lack of a proper assessment of whether the cases are trial-ready, can lead to unjustified and excessive periods being spent by suspects and accused persons in pre-trial detention; recalls that this situation has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic; calls on the Commission to achieve EU minimum standards, particularly on criminal procedural safeguards and on prison and detention conditions, as well as to strengthen the information tools for national executing authorities on the conditions of pre-trial detention and imprisonment in each Member State;
14.

Regrets the fact that the Cambodian Government failed to meet its responsibility in overcoming serious and systematic violations of political participation, freedom of expression and freedom of association, which led to the Commission’s decision to withdraw part of the tariff preferences granted to Cambodia under the European Union’s EBA trade scheme as of 12 August 2020; urges the Commission to insist on clearly defined human rights benchmarks in all its interactions with the Cambodian Government, and to include the issues of concern highlighted in this resolution as part of its ongoing enhanced engagement with the authorities, including on EBA; calls on the Commission to closely monitor the situation, and to assess the effect of the partial EBA withdrawal on the most vulnerable segments of civil society;
10.

Reiterates that as stipulated in the RCD Member States must not hold a person in detention for the sole reason that he or she is an applicant, and that applicants may be detained only under very clearly defined exceptional circumstances; recalls its joint provisional agreement with the Council on the recast RCD that specifies that Member States shall not detain an applicant on the basis of her or his nationality; stresses that the RCD stipulates that detention must remain a measure of last resort, last only for as short a period as possible, and only for as long as the grounds set out in Article 8(3) of the RCD are applicable, and that persons detained must be given an opportunity to appeal against their deprivation of liberty; reiterates that the right to liberty as laid down in Article 6 of the Charter and Article 5 of the ECHR also applies at the EU’s borders; regrets that hardly any alternatives to detention have been developed and applied in border procedures, and encourages Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that alternatives to detention are available;
19.

Welcomes the launch of the second phase of the IPD with the National Assembly of Serbia, facilitated by the European Parliament, with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders and pro-European political forces in Serbia in order to improve the political climate and trust across the political spectrum, and to build consensus on outstanding issues related to the electoral process, in accordance with the recommendations of international observation missions; urges that new rounds of a more inclusive IPD take place as soon as possible and calls on all sides to define clear goals, criteria, benchmarks and interlocutors; stresses that the IPD should be concluded well in advance of the forthcoming elections to leave sufficient time to implement the necessary legal and other changes to electoral conditions and put them into practice, in order to create a level playing field ahead of the elections; recalls that the government and independent bodies have to ensure the full and proper implementation of the legal frameworks related to the commitments undertaken in the framework of the IPD;
H.

whereas not all EU citizens and residents will have been vaccinated by the time the regulation on the EU COVID-19 certificate enters into force, either because they have not been offered the vaccine yet, or because they cannot or do not wish to be vaccinated, and therefore will have to rely on certificates based on testing or recovery to facilitate free movement;
8.

Believes that the fight against corruption needs to be constant; welcomes the fact that transparency has proven useful in the process to concluding the VPA and should be fully ensured in the forthcoming implementation process; stresses that the success of the FLEGT also depends on tackling fraud and corruption throughout the timber supply chain; calls, to this effect, for the EU to strengthen the scope and enforcement of the EU Timber Regulation in order to tackle corruption risks in the EU’s timber supply chain, including through more regular and systematic controls and investigations at EU ports; notes Honduras’ efforts hitherto in making advances towards greater transparency and urges the Government of Honduras to provide incentives in the various stages of the forest value chain so as to increase transparency and ensure inclusion of the most vulnerable operators, such as young people and women from indigenous communities, people of African descent and small farmers; urges the Government of Honduras, furthermore, to work to stop widespread corruption and address other factors fuelling illegal logging and forest degradation, with particular regard to customs, the Honduras Forest Authority and the ministries dealing with forests and land rights, and other authorities that will play a pivotal role in the implementation and enforcement of the VPA; stresses the need to end impunity in the forest sector by ensuring that infractions are prosecuted;
39.

Emphasises the need to protect all of the national minorities’ rights, in particular as some of them no longer have minority party representatives in the Skupština ; urges the Montenegrin authorities to pay special attention to issues related to the national and ethnic affiliation of Montenegrin citizens; takes note, in this respect, of the recent proposal by the Montenegrin Government on amending the Montenegrin citizenship law; underlines that any amendments to such sensitive laws must undergo a broad consultation process and should only be adopted in line with democratic norms and established European practice and with a view to advancing Montenegro’s European perspective; calls for respect of the multi-ethnic identity of the country, including the languages used, cultural heritage and the traditions of local communities; stresses that further progress has to be made in the social inclusion of Roma and Egyptians in the labour market, education and public life in Montenegro, and calls on the authorities to ensure their access to personal documents, to guarantee their legal status and to take effective measures against hate speech;
3.

Points out that 11 billion doses are needed to vaccinate 70 % of the world’s population and that only a fraction of that amount has been produced; points out that an approach based on pledges of excess doses is insufficient; recalls that COVAX is facing a shortfall of 190 million doses due to the current COVID-19 situation in India and will not meet its supply objectives for the foreseeable future; notes that the EU is a major donor to the COVAX Facility in terms of financing and vaccine-sharing, both via COVAX and bilaterally; calls for the EU and its partners, however, to significantly increase financial and non-financial contributions to COVAX; welcomes in this respect the pledge by certain manufacturers to supply 1,3 billion vaccine doses at production or low cost, and the Team Europe commitment to donate 100 million doses to low- and middle-income countries by the end of the year, recalling that EU Member States are estimated to receive a surplus of at least 400 million vaccine doses in 2021; welcomes also the support made available for the delivery of the vaccines and ancillary material by the EU Civil Protection Mechanism; underlines the need to prioritise supplying COVAX; regrets moves by the UK and the US in developing a secondary re-sale market to sell surplus vaccines to other industrialised countries;
14.

Underlines that the GSP+ scheme offered to Sri Lanka has made a significant contribution to the country’s economy, from which exports to the EU have increased to EUR 2,3 billion, making the EU Sri Lanka’s second-largest export market; highlights the ongoing monitoring of Sri Lanka’s eligibility for GSP+ status and stresses that the continuance of GSP+ trade preferences is not automatic; calls on the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) to take into due account current events when assessing Sri Lanka’s eligibility for GSP+ status; further calls on the Commission and the EEAS to use the GSP+ as a leverage to push for advancement on Sri Lanka’s human rights obligations and demand the repeal or replacement of the PTA, to carefully assess whether there is sufficient reason, as a last resort, to initiate a procedure for the temporary withdrawal of Sri Lanka’s GSP+ status and the benefits that come with it, and to report to Parliament on this matter as soon as possible;
D.

whereas Abdullah al-Howaiti was tried in a mass trial of six individuals in an armed robbery case; whereas the Criminal Court in Tabuk (northern Saudi Arabia) sentenced Abdullah al-Howaiti to death on 27 October 2019 despite the fact that his DNA sample was taken after his arrest, invalidating his identification as possible suspect; whereas al-Howaiti was arrested in May 2017, when he was 14 years old; whereas according to court documents, he was detained in solitary confinement for four months and subjected to torture during his interrogation without the presence of his parents or lawyer; whereas he was detained in the Tabuk Criminal Investigations Unit during this time, instead of in a juvenile detention centre; whereas Abdullah al-Howaiti, who was 14 at the time of his alleged crimes, still remains in detention and on death row; whereas the Supreme Court has been reviewing his case since June 2021;
54.

Reiterates that the mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights must complement and reinforce — but by no means substitute — ongoing and future proceedings under Article 7 TEU; strongly regrets the inability of the Council to make meaningful progress in enforcing EU values in ongoing Article 7 TEU procedures; notes that the Council’s hesitance to apply Article 7 TEU is in fact effectively enabling a continued disregard for the values provided for in Article 2 TEU, including blatant non-compliance with CJEU judgments and the harassment of those seeking to uphold the rule of law in some Member States; regrets the Council’s failure to organise hearings, using COVID-19 as a pretext for this, despite the fact that there is no legal obligation whatsoever to require hearings to be held in person as opposed to via videoconferencing; requests that any legal opinion issued by the Council’s legal service arguing otherwise should be made public; urges the Council to move forward with proceedings under Article 7(1) TEU and to ensure that hearings recommence as a matter of urgency and also address new developments; reiterates its call on the Council to address concrete recommendations to the Member States in question, as stipulated by Article 7(1) TEU, as a follow-up to the hearings, and to provide deadlines for the implementation of those recommendations; calls for a reflection at the Conference on the Future of Europe on a revision of Article 7 TEU, including the voting requirements, in order to render its procedure more effective, with particular regard to overcoming unanimity for the imposition of sanctions; insists that Parliament’s role and competences be respected, in particular the right to be duly informed on the procedures of the rule of law instruments, including Article 7 TEU hearings;
B.

whereas Mr Rusesabagina’s arrest in August 2020 was arbitrary, carried out under false pretences and involved an unlawful transfer to Rwanda, enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention; whereas no warrant was produced for his arrest in line with the requirements of Article 37 of the Rwandan Code of Criminal Procedure of 2019 and no statement of charges was produced until his conviction, in contravention of Article 68 of the Rwandan Code of Criminal Procedure; whereas Mr Rusesabagina had publically stated on several occasions that he could not return to his native country for fear of retribution;
O.

whereas, in spite of its vast natural resources, the Horn of Africa is one of the poorest regions in the world; whereas food security is extremely precarious and millions of people living in the region suffer from malnutrition and are at risk of famine; whereas drought and armed conflicts are the two main reasons for displacement of persons in the region, including in Kenya, as stressed by the Nairobi Global Plan of Action adopted at the summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on 26 March 2017; whereas conflicts such as those in Somalia and Ethiopia, and pre- and post-election violence in Uganda and Tanzania, make voluntary return unjustifiable for reasons of safety and dignity for most refugees in Kakuma camp; whereas since late 2019, Kenya has been affected by a combination of unprecedented threats and severely impacted by climate change, witnessing the largest desert locust invasion in the last 60 years, floods that have marked the rainfall seasons and COVID-19 restriction measures;
22.

Notes with concern that the length of time between a disaster and the full payment of aid, as reported by the Commission in its annual reports on the EUSF, remains one of the central challenges of the EUSF; emphasises that this is of special importance in the current situation, as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change will likely trigger a substantial increase in the number of applications, which could lead to further delays; takes note of the Commission’s view that the scope for accelerating the decision-making process for EUSF mobilisation has been fully exploited through the changes introduced in the 2014 EUSF revision and that scope for further accelerating mobilisation of the EUSF is limited; recalls that a rapid response to emergency situations can be crucial to guaranteeing the effective functioning of the EUSF; emphasises that this is especially relevant in regions with limited alternative funding sources; calls on the Commission to exhaust all possible avenues to accelerate the mobilisation of the EUSF under the new MFF arrangements, particularly for less developed regions;
2.

Recalls that lasting stability and peace in Somalia can only be achieved through social inclusion and good governance based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law; calls, therefore, on Somalia’s leaders to step up efforts towards the completion of the country’s electoral process and finish holding inclusive and credible elections for the Lower House before the end of 2021, so that the presidential elections can then be held as soon as possible; underlines that the electoral process must proceed peacefully, in line with the previously agreed timetable of 27 May 2021; calls further on Somalia’s leaders to show restraint and refrain from any actions that could escalate political tensions or violence, in order to establish stability and deny Al-Shabaab the opportunity to gain political influence; calls for full respect for fundamental rights during the campaign and electoral periods, including the right to peaceful assembly, and freedom of movement, association, and expression; condemns all excessive use of force by government forces against the political opposition or against protesters; cautions against any further initiatives leading to an extension of prior mandates without broad support from Somali stakeholders and opposes any parallel processes or partial elections;
16.

Notes with concern that global online platforms have a vast disruptive impact on the media sector, as they dominate the data and advertising market, and have radically changed audience consumption patterns; underlines the need for a level playing field; stresses, in this respect, that current legislation does not entirely provide for a fair environment on pivotal issues in the online ecosystem, such as access to and transparency of data, platforms and algorithmic accountability, and advertising rules, especially as regards online political advertising, all of which are crucial in order for European media and audiovisual stakeholders to be able to compete fairly with these platforms; is concerned about the business practices employed by platforms to remove or interfere with lawful content provided under a media service provider’ s editorial responsibility and that is subject to specific standards and oversight; considers the timely adoption of legislation, through relevant provisions, to help address these shortcomings to be a matter of urgency, notably the future Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, and a significantly reinforced code of practice on disinformation; notes that citizens increasingly access news and diverse content via third-party platforms such as social networks and news aggregators; underlines, at the same time, that informed use of online platforms also allows people to access information, especially in countries and regions with a low rate of media freedom;
4.

Reaffirms its full support for the NPT and its three mutually reinforcing pillars, as one of the most universally accepted legally binding instruments and as a cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime; recalls that the NPT has contributed to the upholding of a broad set of norms related to disarmament and the peaceful use of nuclear energy, while enforcing the nuclear non-proliferation norm; expects nuclear-weapon states to take steps in good faith to fulfil their treaty obligations to demonstrate their genuine commitment to nuclear disarmament by taking the concrete actions laid out in the final 2010 NPT and by strengthening the non-proliferation norm and expanding the IAEA’s safeguards capacity; warns that the future of the NPT should not be taken for granted and exhorts states parties to do their utmost to contribute to a successful and ambitious outcome of the upcoming 10th Review Conference in all its pillars — disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy — by agreeing on a substantive final declaration that further strengthens the NPT and helps to preserve strategic stability and inhibit a new arms race; calls on all states to sign, accede to and remain committed to the NPT: calls on the 10th NPT to discuss the NPT loophole on exports of nuclear propulsion reactors for military purposes; calls on the EU Member States to send their highest-ranking politicians to the Review Conference; invites all NPT states parties to therefore constructively engage in the NPT framework and agree on realistic, effective, tangible, reciprocal and verifiable measures conducive to achieving the shared goal of nuclear disarmament;