WRITTEN QUESTION E-0569/96 by James Janssen van Raay (PPE) to the Council (13 March 1996)

Subject: Common position (J2) of the Council of Ministers containing material condemnation of Indonesia for violation of human rights

Pursuant to Article J2 of the Maastricht Treaty the Council of Ministers recently defined a common position including a material condemnation for violation of human rights.

1. Which other countries have been tackled on this subject on the basis of the same Article?

2. Out of the ten Asian countries (7 ASEAN + People's Republic of China, Japan and South Korea) Indonesia is the only one to have been thus honoured. Why should the People's Republic of China, for example, not also be tackled, having a far worse human rights record?

3. The Council of Ministers is to be commended for keeping its decision secret until the solution of the hostage crisis in Irian Jaya, but can it explain why the decision itself could not be postponed?

4. Why has the European Union's mission in Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei the lower status of representation and not the higher status of delegation as elsewhere in the world, for example Thailand?

5. In answer to questions from a member of parliament, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs stated that the following European Union Member States recognize Indonesia's sovereignty over East Timor: Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Austria and Sweden. Does the Council consider this list correct?

Reply (2 August 1996)

1. The European Union has to date, for various reasons, adopted common positions on the following countries: Ukraine, former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sudan, Libya, Burundi and Angola.

2. Common positions are adopted by the European Union on a case-by-case basis according to criteria of the current situation and political expediency.

As regards the specific instance of China cited by the Honourable Member, the European Union is conducting an institutionalized dialogue with China on human rights. The PRC has, moreover, formed the subject, since 1990, of draft Resolutions in the Geneva Commission on Human Rights, condemning its human rights situation.

For the record, the poor human rights situation in East Timor has been raised regularly through declarations by the Presidency in the CHR in Geneva. The continual worsening of the human rights situation in East Timor was, moreover, noted by the UN High Commission for Human Rights, Ayala Lasso, in the course of his mission from 4 to 8 December 1995.

3. Political Agreement was reached on the text of a common position on East Timor at the 29 January General Affairs Council, taking into account the negotiations between Portugal and Indonesia under the aegis of the UN Secretary-General.

4. The decision to give the Mission of the European Commission the title of "representaion" rather than "delegation" dates back to an internal Council Decision in 1986, taking into account in particular the special relations between one Member State and Indonesia.

5. All Member States of the European Union support the UN Resolutions on East Timor (Resolution of the Security Council of 22.12.1975 and Resolution 3130 of the General Assembly of 30.11.1982).