Resolution on respect for human rights in the European Union in 1994
Date: 1996-09-17
Institutions: Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament
Subjects: European Union, activity report, human rights













EUR-Lex - 51996IP0223 - EN






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51996IP0223

Resolution on respect for human rights in the European Union in 1994  


Official Journal C 320 , 28/10/1996 P. 0036 





A4-0223/96Resolution on respect for human rights in the European Union in 1994The European Parliament,- having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,- having regard to the United Nations Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 19 December 1966 and the protocols thereto,- having regard to the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, as well as the recommendations of the UNHCR,- having regard to the United Nations Conventions on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women,- having regard to the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, adopted in New York in 1989,- having regard to the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the protocols thereto,- having regard to the Commission communication of 19 November 1990 on the accession of the Community to the European Convention on Human Rights and its resolution of 18 January 1994 thereon ((OJ C 44, 14.2.1994, p. 32.)),- having regard to the Council of Europe Social Charter adopted in Turin in 1961, and its additional protocol adopted in Strasbourg in 1988;- having regard to the Final Declaration and action platform adopted in Beijing at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women,- having regard to its resolution of 12 April 1989 adopting the Declaration of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms ((OJ C 120, 16.5.1989, p. 51.)),- having regard to the principles of international and European law relating to human rights,- having regard to the Treaties establishing the European Community,- having regard to the Treaty on European Union and, in particular, Articles F(2) and K.2 thereof,- having regard to its resolution of 9 July 1991 on human rights ((OJ C 240, 16.9.1991, p. 45.)),- having regard to the Council of Europe's Vienna Declaration of 9 October 1993,- having regard to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, adopted in Strasbourg in 1987,- having regard to the past decisions of the European Court of Human Rights,- having regard to its resolution of 12 March 1992 on the death penalty ((OJ C 94, 13.4.1992, p. 277.)),- having regard to the motions for resolutions tabled by:(a) Mrs Crawley and others on the Bridgewater Four (B4-0440/94),(b) Mr Papayannakis on conscientious objection in Greece (B4-0362/95),(c) Mr Bertens and others on right of association of conscripts and regular service personnel (B4-0135/95),- having regard to the following petitions:(a) No 605/93 by Mr Fred Higgs (British), on behalf of the European Federation of Chemical and General Workers Unions (EFCGWU), on the alleged violation of freedom of association by the Shell Oil Company,(b) No 20/94 by Mrs Stéphanie VALLIN (French) on problems concerning her civil status,(c) No 21/94 by Mr Raymond Liénard, on behalf of the International Association for the Defence of Religious Freedom (Belgian) bearing 1260 signatures, on the indication of religion on identity cards in Greece,(d) No 142/94 by Mr José Antonio Goyena Lusarreta (Spanish), on behalf of Navarra Association of Families of Conscientious Objectors and Protestors, on conscientious objection,(e) No 255/94 by Mr Thomas Doheny (British) on an order banning him from Northern Ireland(f) No 376/94 by Mr Cecil Howard (British) and 74 other signatories on a statement by UK Labour Members of the European Parliament against racism,(g) No 644/94 by Mr Brian Griffiths (British) on the conditions in British prisons,(h) No 784/94 by Mr J.M. Cox (British) on the imprisonment in Greece of Jehovah's Witnesses who are conscientious objectors,(i) No 1029/94 by Mr Thanasis Reppas (Greek) on the release from prison of Jehovah's Witnesses who are conscientious objectors,(j) No L-29/94 by Mr Romain Ongwal (Zairean) on violation of human rights by Belgium,(k) No 57/95 by Mrs Maria Assunta Turcatti (Italian), and 17 co-signatories on homosexuality,(l) No 207/95 by Mr Frank Schuman and Mr Jens Carl (German), on the right of homosexuals to enter into marriage in Germany,(m) No 221/95 by Mrs Elena Criado de Leon (Spanish), on behalf of the Lesbian Rights Committee (CRECUL) on the rights of homosexuals (of both sexes) in the European Community,(n) by Mr Vladimir Guadagno (Italian), on behalf of 'Azione omosessuale' (National Federation of Gay and Lesbian Associations) on the representations made by the European Parliament to the Italian authorities in respect of the motion passed by the Verona city council on 14 July 1995,- having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens' Rights and the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media (A4-0223/96),A. whereas, pursuant to Article F(2) of the TEU, human rights as guaranteed by the international instruments agreed upon by the Member States and in particular by the European Convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as those that result from constitutional traditions common to the Member States are basic principles which must be fully respected within the European Union,B. whereas the European Convention has been ratified by all the Member States and whereas it is laid down in Articles F(2) and K.2 of the Treaty on European Union that the Union will respect basic rights as guaranteed by the Convention on the same basis as the fundamental rights which are protected by the constitutional traditions common to the Member States,C. whereas the legal protection of the human rights of any person within the territory of the European Union should be guaranteed by the Member States, under the supervision of the Commission and the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, whatever that person's race, sex, nationality, origin, language, religion, culture, beliefs or opinions,D. whereas the EU Member States have laid down a system of human rights guarantees by means of democratic, pluralist political systems with effective parliamentary institutions and independent legal systems,E. concerned, however, at the observance of what constitute, by action or omission, effective human rights violations in various Union Member States during 1994, and whereas the Member States should take the necessary action to prevent further violations,F. acknowledging the work carried out by the Council of Europe and various non- governmental organizations in the field of human rights protection in the European Union,G. recalling, as the United Nations has done since the 1993 World Conference, that the basic rights of women and young girls are an inalienable, integral and indissociable aspect of human rights,H. whereas the traffic in human beings for the purpose of exploitation is increasing in the European Union; whereas this traffic constitutes a crime against human rights and is contrary to the concept of respect for human dignity,I. whereas, the protection of human rights is a ceaseless task which requires constant vigilance and in which the EP has an active role to play,J. whereas all public authorities should exercise their powers, taking account of this rule, which is both an obligation to act and an obligation not to act, and whereas permanent watchfulness is called for from parliaments in this respect,K. whereas the European Union has expressed its commitment to equal rights for men and women,L. reminding the Member States of their international undertakings with regard to combating crimes against humanity,M. recalling the terms of the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs on a social charter for prisoners (A3-0493/93),N. alarmed at the conditions of detention in certain Member States, partly as a result of chronic prison overcrowding, and sharing the opinion of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture that such conditions must be considered as constituting inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,O. condemning the practice of certain Member States of allowing third-country nationals to enter their countries as 'domestic servants' of either their own citizens or of legally resident wealthy third-country nationals, outside the normal requirements of immigration regulations, but without affording them proper legal status and protection;A European Union system for the protection of human rights1. Reaffirms that not only the European Community but also the European Union should accede to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and, having regard to the opinion of the Court of Justice of the European Communities ((Opinion 2/94, 28.3.1996.)), which states that, as Community law now stands, the Community has no competence to accede to the Rome Convention, calls on the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference to make the changes necessary to the Treaty which would make accession possible;2. Stresses, as the Court of Justice has done, the insufficiently broad nature of the criteria for admissibility of individual proceedings for annulment of regulations and directives; calls therefore for Article 173 of the EC Treaty to be amended at the IGC to guarantee that European Union citizens are effectively protected against violations of their fundamental rights which may result from the legislative action of EU institutions;3. Stresses that the protection of human rights and basic freedoms is one of the main tasks of the European Union, as asserted in the preamble to the Maastricht Treaty, and that, since the Treaty (and, in particular, Article F(2) thereof) came into force, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has been recognized as a principle of the European Union which must be guaranteed by the Court of Justice;4. Reaffirms the principles, content and scope of the European Parliament's resolution of 11 March 1993 on respect for human rights in the European Community ((OJ C 115, 26.4.1993, p. 178.)), and furthermore welcomes this resolution as further support for the protection of human rights;5. Recognizes the symbolic importance that accession to the ECHR would have in respect of third countries, notably for the applicant countries, as this would testify to the importance the EU attaches to respect for human rights within its borders, thus strengthening the credibility of the Union's position in favour of respect for human rights in third countries;6. Considers that the EU should promote the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of its citizens and nationals of third countries and also include, in all agreements which it concludes with those countries, human rights clauses, providing for suspension or even non-implementation of the agreement in the event of failure to respect those rights;Right to life7. Calls on those Member States whose legal system still provides for capital punishment (even if death sentences are never handed down or executed) to abolish that penalty completely (by also removing it from their military criminal codes) once and for all;8. Calls on the Member States to refuse to extradite prisoners to states where the offences for which the request for extradition is based would make them liable to the death penalty;9. Calls on the Member States which have not yet done so to accede to or ratify Protocol 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Protocol 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;10. Condemns the murders, mutilations and acts of violence and torture, both physical and mental, carried out by terrorist groups;11. Calls on the Member States to cooperate closely in the fight against terrorism and stresses the need to strengthen European legal cooperation to ensure that the disappearance of internal frontiers does not work to the advantage of terrorist groups or enable them to act with impunity;12. Calls for greater priority to be given to crime prevention measures in Europe;13. Reaffirms its resolution of 12 September 1989 on compensation for victims of violent crimes ((OJ C 256, 9.10.1989, p. 32.)) and calls on the Member States and the Commission to implement its recommendations;14. Affirms the right to the highest possible standards of health care which should be available according to the needs of a person;15. Calls on the Commission to submit a communication providing for operational instruments to combat trafficking in human beings and calls on the Member States to introduce appropriate social measures to assist and support the victims;16. Calls for effective cooperation to combat drugs gangs, whose members have so many deaths and ruined lives on their consciences;Torture and ill-treatment17. Vehemently condemns torture and inhuman or degrading treatment and reaffirms the right to life and to physical integrity of every human being and its belief that inhuman or degrading treatment of any kind, meaning not only physical attacks but also threats, harassment and sexual or racial insults aimed at humiliating or degrading individuals, should be proscribed;18. Considers it alarming that both the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the United Nations Committee Against Torture have reported that acts of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment have been inflicted in certain Member States on persons under arrest or in detention by representatives of the police force and prison staff, in many cases with racial undertones;19. Calls on the Member States to carry out exhaustive inquiries into each and every confirmed report of ill-treatment, to investigate with the utmost thoroughness any abuse of power by members of their security forces and to combat the impunity which perpetrators of acts of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment too often enjoy, in particular by carrying out exhaustive inquiries into each and every report of such acts, conferring responsibility for these investigations on an independent authority and applying penalties appropriate to the seriousness of the offences committed by representatives of the public authorities;20. Considers that the Member States should step up their efforts to prevent and fight against inhuman or degrading treatment, in particular by establishing a control system for the procedures for dealing with complaints in order to ensure that measures for the legal and administrative protection of citizens are respected;21. Considers that the following procedural guarantees in the event of detention should therefore be included in the laws of all the Member States:- the right immediately to notify a third party of the detention or arrest,- the right of access to a doctor of one's own choosing,- immediate access to a lawyer;- the right to an interpreter, where appropriate;- the right to urgent judicial review in the case of decisions which deprive persons of their liberty;22. Calls on the Member States to provide initial and in-service training to police and prison officers regarding appropriate conduct during interrogation sessions from the moment of arrest and during detention, towards the persons who are being interrogated or who have been arrested or detained, since such measures may help to prevent the ill-treatment of detainees; calls on the Member States to provide special training for police officers and detention centres on drug addiction and AIDS;23. Recommends that police, prison and army personnel should receive training on the basic principles contained in international human rights standards;24. Maintains that the right to good quality housing at an affordable cost is a basic human right in a civilized society which should be respected in all Member States;25. Urges the Member States to agree to the publication of the reports by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, to study its recommendations and to put them into practice;26. Voices its concern at the conditions of overcrowding suffered by detained persons in certain cases in the prisons of certain Member States, which, in the view of the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture may be considered as constituting inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment;27. Calls on the Member States to adopt measures to enable this overcrowding to be reduced, mainly and at the very least by avoiding holding certain categories of individual in detention, such as minors, conscientious objectors and drug dependents;28. Urges the Member States to ensure that living conditions and health conditions in prisons meet the necessary requirements to maintain human dignity and to take the necessary measures to allow the social reintegration of prisoners;29. Condemns the increasingly systematic practice of holding asylum-seekers, pending the conclusion of proceedings, in 'parallel' and/or supposedly extra-territorial detention centres;30. Calls for special attention to be given in prisons to persons requiring special treatment;31. Calls for special attention to be given to women in prisons and other places of detention and for effective protection to be provided against rape, abuse or sexual harassment and, to this end, for female members of staff to be present during questioning and body searches;32. Calls on the Member States to take all the necessary measures to ensure that minimum criteria for the respect of human dignity are complied with in prisons, in particular with regard to impartial treatment, non- discrimination, material health conditions, medical care, access to work, contacts with the outside world, prison leave, conditional release, religious and moral assistance, and access to work and socio- educational, cultural and sporting activities; calls, to this end, for the Council of Europe prison standards (R(873)) to be rigorously applied in prisons;33. Calls for Members of the European Parliament to be authorized to visit any prison in the European Union and calls for all the necessary measures to be taken to ensure that the protocol on privileges and immunities of the European Communities annexed to the Treaty of 8 April 1965 is amended accordingly;34. Regards it as quite intolerable that psychiatric patients should be subjected to living conditions which are nothing less than inhuman and which endanger their health;35. Stresses that any third country nationals admitted by a Member State under 'domestic servant' status should have proper working conditions and calls on the Member States to adopt the appropriate legal measures;Asylum, immigration and trafficking in human beings36. Calls on the Member States to recognize 'ius soli' in questions of citizenship;37. Calls on the Member States to apply the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol thereto in a comprehensive and non- restrictive manner, in accordance with the Handbook on procedures and criteria for determining the status of refugees, drawn up by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR);38. Recalls in particular that the Geneva Convention does not make a distinction between acts of persecution whose victims it is intended to protect and which are perpetrated by organs of State and such acts which are perpetrated by any other agent, insofar as the State cannot or will not guarantee the person concerned the protection which he is entitled to expect; calls again on the Council and the Member States to fully respect this principle;39. Calls on the Member States to ensure that detention prior to expulsion is ordered only for a short period, that persons detained are not confined with persons whose political or other views might be expected to lead to conflicts and that such detainees are at all times accommodated in humane conditions;40. Reminds Member States of their obligation to respect unreservedly the fundamental principle of non-refoulement, as set out in Article 33 of the 1951 Convention; maintains that the return of a person to a country where he risks being persecuted constitutes a violation of human rights;41. Expresses its very real concern that the procedures for determining refugee status used in several Member States fail to respect certain minimum guarantees, such as the suspensive effect of appeals or the obligation incumbent on border officials to forward any request for asylum to the independent authority responsible for taking decisions concerning such requests;42. Voices its deep concern at the tendency to generalize and systematize the application of the idea of 'safe third country' by the Member States of the Union; calls on the Member States to ensure that asylum seekers are not deported to a State without prior guarantees that this State will allow the individual applicant access to a fair and efficient refugee status determination procedure, and only after having provided the applicant with a document, in the language of the receiving State, explaining that the application for asylum was rejected solely on third country grounds;43. Asks that the subjects currently included under Articles K.1 to 3 of the TEU be dealt with in a more transparent and democratic manner;44. Calls on Member States to apply certain minimum guarantees with regard to asylum procedures, giving the asylum-seeker the right to a personal interview with a qualified official, respecting his right to have access to a lawyer and interpreters in cases where he does not know the language, and granting him the opportunity to appeal against a preliminary negative decision, with suspensive effect, thus allowing the asylum-seeker to remain in the country until such time as the appeal has been dealt with;45. Calls on the Member States to ensure when applying the concept of 'safe' third countries that asylum-seekers are given the opportunity of access to personalized procedure, and that prior guarantees are obtained in each specific case that the person in question will enjoy effective, lasting protection from expulsion there and will have access to a satisfactory and fair procedure for establishing his refugee status;Right to liberty and security, rights of persons charged with an offence46. Recalls that the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg noted in various cases during 1994 that EU Member States had infringed Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to a fair trial;47. Criticizes the slowness of legal proceedings in the Member States and the implications thereof, which cannot be described as anything other than an abuse of human rights;48. Draws attention to the risk, if not serious damage, to guarantees of a fair trial, an integral part of the very nucleus of human rights, caused by violation of the secrecy of pre-trial proceedings and by the abuse of measures for preventive detention;49. Affirms that the right to silence, the right not to make a statement and the presumption of innocence are an inalienable part of the right of defence and an essential legal foundation;50. Affirms that in cases such as that of the Bridgewater Four, where investigative or legal procedures applicable at the time of the trial are later changed because of acknowledged 'flaws', or where there is serious evidence to indicate that the integrity of a person or persons involved in the obtaining of confessions is in doubt, those convicted under these conditions should have the right to appeal against such convictions at the earliest possible opportunity;51. Considers that, in the case of detainees or persons under arrest accused of having committed offences outside their own country, the right to prepare their own defence before a court, to submit evidence and call witnesses and to authorize translators and interpreters to act in their defence are rights which must be guaranteed in the Member States of the Union;52. Considers that better measures need to be taken to protect the civil rights of people arrested and held pending trial for offences they are alleged to have committed in another Member State to the one in which they are normally resident. It is a denial of human rights that citizens of other Member States should in practice be discriminated against by being held for long periods before trial, simply for technical and bureaucratic reasons. Calls therefore:(i) for all such people to be accorded access to legal advice on the judicial system of the country in which they are being held and if necessary this should be available in their own language,(ii) for consideration to be given to establishing an EU legal advisory service to help facilitate this,(iii) for every effort to be made to ensure speedy co-operation between the law enforcement agencies and the courts of each Member State to avoid unreasonable delays in such people being brought to trial;Right to respect for private and family life, property and correspondence53. Stresses that respect for private and family life, for one's reputation and residence and for the private communications of both natural and legal persons, and also the protection of personal data, are basic fundamental rights for which the Member States must provide special protection in view of the detrimental effect thereon of new technologies, and this challenge can only be met by harmonization of national legislation in this area to provide a high level of protection;54. Asks that databanks set up to compensate for the opening of borders, such as SIS and the data systems belonging to Europol should be subject to a genuinely effective system of assessment to ensure that they respect private life;55. Condemns illegal telephone tapping and believes that the Member States should adopt laws which respect existing international conventions and balance the demands of the fight against crime of all kinds against those of the need to protect the basic rights of individuals;56. Demands that SIS, EIS, CIS and the Europol databank be subject to an independent assessment system, in order to respect private life; demands that personal information such as references to religion, philosophical or religious beliefs, race, health and sexual habits be excluded from these databanks;Freedom of thought, conscience and religion57. Considers that all persons have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion;58. Reaffirms that conscientious objection to military service is an integral part of the concept of freedom of thought, conscience and religion, condemns those Member States which do not protect this right and urges the Member States to guarantee and protect this right;59. Reaffirms its resolution of 19 January 1994 on conscientious objection in the Member States of the Community ((OJ C 44, 14.2.1994, p. 103.)), once again urges the Member States which have not yet done so to introduce a civilian service of the same duration as the period of military service and insists that conscientious objectors should not suffer on account of the non-existence of a law providing for a substitute form of service;60. Calls once again on Greece to refrain from prosecuting conscientious objectors, to release those who have been imprisoned and to adopt legislation without delay recognizing the right to conscientious objection to military service and establishing non-military service on a non- discriminatory basis;61. Urges the Member States not to require religious affiliations to be stated on identity documents or in passports;Freedom of expression62. Confirms the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to receive or communicate information or ideas, subject to the limits imposed by the need to protect children and young people - in particular against the misuse of technologies for the purposes of mistreating or abusing children - and the privacy and the image of the person and to ban activities or demonstrations designed to stir up racism, xenophobia and anti-semitism;63. Regards the establishment or maintenance of public or private information oligopolies as unacceptable;64. Considers open access to information to be an essential condition for exercising the freedom of expression and calls on the Member States and the Commission to adopt appropriate measures to facilitate open access for journalists and the general public to information from national governments and the Union;65. Reaffirms the right of individuals to have access to diverse sources of independent information and therefore believes that the directive on media concentration should be submitted by the Commission as soon as possible;66. Considers the confidentiality of journalists' sources of information to be linked to the freedom of information and the press and calls on the Member States to ensure that their laws enable such confidentiality to be respected;67. Believes that the freedom of the press is a fundamental right of all individuals, and that the exercise of this right therefore, with all the responsibilities which may be incumbent thereupon, should not be compulsorily dependent upon membership of a professional body of journalists, as is the case in certain Member States;68. Considers art, science and research to be free and calls for respect for academic freedom and proper protection of intellectual rights;69. Welcomes its resolution of 9 February 1994 on cultural and linguistic minorities in the European Community ((OJ C 61, 28.2.1994, p. 110.)) and calls for the cultures of these minorities to be recognized as an integral part of the European cultural heritage;Freedom of association70. Reaffirms the right to free association for all citizens and reminds the Member States that this right is also applicable to ethnic minorities and is independent of any official recognition;71. Deplores the many attacks on trade union freedoms and the rights of trade union delegates in a number of Member States and calls for them to be stopped, recognizing trade union freedom as a fundamental right in all the Member States;72. Takes the view that two important human rights are the right for workers to associate in a trade union and the fright to take industrial action, including the right to strike, without the threat of retaliatory sacking or court action, and therefore calls on Member States to guarantee a statutory right to trade union recognition, with a statutory framework of positive rights for trade union members to be represented by their trade union both for collective bargaining and for individual representation;73. Condemns the Government of the United Kingdom for its unilateral removal of trade union rights from the workers at GCHQ in contravention of ILO Convention 87, calls for the restoration of those rights, and calls for full compensation and reinstatement of those workers sacked for refusing to give up their membership of independent, free trade unions;74. Urges the Member States to recognize the right of association of military personnel (both conscript and regular) serving in the armed forces in ways which are compatible with the special characteristics of hierarchy and discipline proper to any military organization and with whatever restrictions the Member States consider necessary on account of the role they play in guaranteeing national security;75. Condemns all forms of compulsory membership of organizations which makes the membership of certain organizations a requirement for the holding of an occupation, especially if such organizations pursue objectives which are not simply of a professional nature and lend support to particular political parties;76. Reaffirms that the European Union and the Member States should unreservedly ratify and apply the Council of Europe's Social Charter, that they should respect the international conventions and recommendations of the ILO, and that the Government of the United Kingdom should without delay sign the agreement on social policy appended to the Maastricht Treaty;Equal treatment77. Considers it essential to maintain as one of the general principles of Community law the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination and urges the Member States to continue guaranteeing that principle;78. Regards as unacceptable any kind of discrimination based on race, skin colour, ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion and political beliefs;79. Reaffirms the need for equal rights and opportunities for women and reaffirms its resolution of 10 March 1994 on the situation of women in the European Union ((OJ C 91, 28.3.1994, p. 244.));80. Calls for the principle of equality between men and women to be provided for in the revision of TEU and calls on the Member States to verify the situation in all sectors and implement the recommendations concerning the balanced involvement of men and women in the decision-making process;81. Calls on the Commission to propose changes to existing equality directives, where those directives have not led to greater equality for men and women in the Member States;82. Stresses the need to incorporate into Community policies the basic right of the disabled to equal opportunities and non-discrimination on the basis of their disability;83. Urges the Member States to abolish all laws of whatever nature which criminalize and discriminate against emotional and sexual relations between adults of the same sex;84. Calls, pursuant to its resolution of 8 February 1994 on equal rights for homosexuals and lesbians in the EC ((OJ C 61, 28.2.1994, p. 40.)), for the abolition of all discrimination against and unfair treatment of homosexuals, particularly as regards the differences which still persist with regard to the age of consent and discrimination with regard to the right to work, criminal law, civil law, law of contract and economic and social legislation;85. Insists on the rights of the elderly to a decent life and reaffirms the contents of its resolution of 24 February 1994 on measures for the elderly ((OJ C 77, 14.3.1994, p. 24.));Racism and xenophobia86. Condemns racism once again in all its forms, and also xenophobia and anti- semitism, and calls for such a condemnation to be incorporated into the Treaty on European Union;87. Regrets that the Council has not so far adopted a strategy to combat racism, xenophobia and anti-semitism and that the Commission has not yet submitted a proposal for a directive to combat discrimination, despite repeated calls from the European Parliament;88. Reaffirms the contents of its resolution of 27 October 1994 on racism, xenophobia and anti-semitism ((OJ C 323, 21.11.1994, p. 154.)) and its resolution of 21 April 1994 on the situation of gipsies in the Community ((OJ C 128, 9.5.1994, p. 372.));89. Urges the Member States to take the necessary action to protect people within their territory against any kind of racist, xenophobic or anti-semitic discrimination or act and to make incitement to racism a criminal offence;90. Regrets the fact that, in several Member States, there have been racially- motivated cases of ill-treatment of detainees by the security forces and forces of public order; therefore asks the governments of the Union that they react vigorously as soon as such facts are brought to their knowledge;91. Stresses the need for education and training measures to be promoted in order to secure success in the fight against racism, xenophobia and antisemitism and calls on the Member States to provide specific training to social workers, police and law enforcement agents, in order to enable them to deal with the cultural specificities of people of foreign origin or belonging to ethnic minorities;92. Voices its concern that various international bodies have noted an increase in violence directed at persons of foreign origin or members of ethnic minorities, particularly in the case of asylum-seekers, and calls on the governments of the Member States to take effective action in response to such situations as soon as they become aware of them;Right to marriage, cohabitation and a family and rights of the child93. Considers protection of the family - whether officially recognized or de facto - to be essential and is concerned at initiatives seeking to restrict the right to family reunification; calls for greater attention to be paid to the protection of children and young people;94. Calls for measures to protect children from violence and sexual abuse to be strengthened;95. Calls for all children to be entitled to a full education and calls on the Member States to prevent any premature termination of studies;96. Affirms that every child should have the right to good health including clean accommodation, healthy nutrition, and a non-polluted environment;97. Calls on Member States to treat pimping and the abuse of minors by their citizens abroad (sex tourism) as criminal offences, on a par with such acts perpetrated in their own countries;98. Expresses its concern that, even today, there are cases of economic exploitation of children and child labour in some Member States of the European Union;II. ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS; THE ENVIRONMENTRight to education99. Believes that basic education is a right which should not be geared to economic interests but to personal development and should therefore be freely and widely available at no cost; calls, consequently, on the Member States, to implement special measures to ensure that the right to basic education also effectively applies to street children and to the children of asylum seekers and refugees;100. Considers that the right to select an education system is inherent in the right to education (throughout the territory of the Union);101. Reiterates its view that education and training are rights which should be life-long;Poverty and economic, social and cultural rights102. Emphasizes that poverty and social exclusion require special measures in the social, economic and cultural fields;103. Calls on the Community Institutions and the Member States to operate an effective policy for combating poverty, and to that end to implement measures aimed at dramatically reducing the number of disadvantaged persons in the European Union;104. Recalls that women count for over 70% of the poor at both world and European level, and that a special effort should be made with regard to respect for and development of their social and economic rights;105. Recommends that the protocol and agreement on social policy and the Charter of Fundamental Social Rights should be incorporated into the Treaty by the 1996 IGC, and that the EU should subscribe to the Council of Europe's social charter;106. Believes work to be a fundamental right of all European citizens which is enshrined in various protocols of the Union and calls on the Commission to implement rigorously the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment to enable this right to be put into effect;107. Calls on the Commission to incorporate in all its Community policies a requirement to establish measures to combat unemployment in the Union;108. Calls on the Member States to ensure that the Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights for Workers, known as the Social Charter, which was adopted in Strasbourg in 1989, is definitively enshrined as a right for all citizens of the Union;109. Urges the Member States which have not yet done so to accede to the protocol and the agreement on the implementation of the Social Charter and the promotion of dialogue between management and labour which are annexed to the Treaty;110. Calls on the Member States to ensure that their national legislation establishes minimum guarantees on economic and social rights and, in particular, the fundamental right to work, trade union rights and pension rights;111. Calls on the Member States to implement the recommendations of the Essen European Council on improving the employment situation and to give priority to the efficient development of Community initiatives which encourage job- creation, such as the programmes EMPLOYMENT, SME, ADAPT, etc., which will enable workers to adapt to structural changes in the workplace;112. Calls for the adoption of a directive against sexual harassment in the workplace;113. Reaffirms the right of employees to be given information on the economic situation of their enterprise;114. Welcomes the publication of Directive 94/45/EC on the establishment of a European Works Council (( OJ L 254, 30.9.1994, p. 64.));115. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to make job-creation a priority when implementing the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund;116. Considers it important to give culture a greater role in job-creation by incorporating it in strategies for development and not limiting it solely to heritage conservation but extending it to all investment relating to the cultural and audiovisual sector;117. Repeats the call it made to the Commission in its abovementioned resolution of 12 April 1989 to draw up a study on the basis of Article 128(4) EC analysing what the various policies of the Union mean for cultural diversity and opportunities for cultural expression;118. Urges the Member States to recognize and promote their regional languages, particularly in the areas of education, the media and relations between the public and the administrative authorities, and to support the additional protocol to the Council of Europe Human Rights Convention on this subject;119. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take or encourage measures likely to ensure respect for the cultural identity of minorities and of asylum-seekers and to guarantee these groups means of maintaining contact with their mother tongue and culture of origin, while offering them the means to learn the language of their new country and familiarizing them with its culture;120. Calls on the Commission to take steps to increase the awareness of young Europeans of these issues with a view to promoting genuine human rights education in the various Member States;Right to environmental protection121. Underlines the right to live in an environment as free from pollution as possible, and stresses that present generations have a duty to pass on a clean environment to future generations;122. Considers that the Union and the Member States should carry out an appropriate environmental protection policy, since this is a key requirement for a welfare state;123. Recalls the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities which regards environmental protection as one the key objectives of the European Union;124. Reaffirms the interconnections between the right to environmental protection and the right to health protection and urges the Member States to implement and transpose Community directives on the environment;125. Calls on the Member States to adopt legislation and measures allowing them to prosecute the perpetrators of crimes against humanity or their accomplices who find themselves on their territory, to bring them before the national courts, and to collaborate with the international criminal court for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda;126. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the States which have formally applied for membership of the European Community.