WRITTEN QUESTION E-1036/98 by Fernando Fernández Martín (PPE) to the Commission (6 April 1998)

Subject: Human rights and democracy

Budget heading B7-7020 allocates ECU 19 million to strengthening human rights and democracy in the developing countries. It covers measures relating to the exercise of public authority (support for recently elected national parliaments, increasing the independence of the judiciary, transparency in the administering of public funding, etc.) and the development of civil society (awareness-raising and education in the field of human rights, support for independent media, etc).

What measures have been financed in this way? Does the Commission's monitoring of these measures enable it to provide any information about their long-term impact?

Answer given by Mr Pinheiro on behalf of the Commission (29 April 1998)

For 1997 budget heading B7-7020, human rights and democracy in the developing countries, was allotted ECU 17 million. In that year it was used to finance 56 projects in ACP countries and Asia. Of those, 22 were for strengthening the exercise of public authority, accounting for 51% of the total amount. The rest was spent on strengthening civil society.

A full list of projects financed by all the budget headings in title B7-7020 (European initiative for democracy and the protection of human rights) is attached to the annual report on the implementation of the resolution of the Council and of the Member States meeting in the Council on human rights, democracy and development adopted on 28 November 1991.

Through the implementation reports from the organisations responsible for carrying out projects financed by the budget heading in question, the Commission is able to monitor its implementation, its results and, consequently, its short- and medium-term viability. Monitoring is improved and supplemented by information and comments from Commission delegations in the countries where projects take place. Ad hoc evaluations are also scheduled for politically sensitive projects and those requiring heavy spending.

Project-identification missions are used by the Commission for the gradual mapping-out of cooperation strategies for each country in the medium and long terms. They have to identify not only the priorities to be financed in the human rights field but also sources of finance to be used (budget headings, national indicative programme, counterpart funds and incentive amounts) and organisations for their implementation.

Following the tragic events of April 1994 in Rwanda, for example, strengthening of the legal system was chosen as a priority sector for cooperation. From 1994 the budget heading was used to finance projects in this sector with the support of specialised non-governmental organisations (Réseau des citoyens, Avocats sans frontières and Penal Reform International), in aid of the Rwandan International Penal Tribunal and the Rwandan Ministry of Justice, to the tune of ECU 7.5 million. Over and above that - and coordinated with those projects - the rehabilitation programme approved an ECU 7 million project for rehabilitating legal infrastructures.

The fact that a cooperation strategy is worked out for each country, with effective coordination and complementarity of the funds available, makes projects financed by the Commission more effective and viable.