Minutes of the sitting of Thursday, 19 February 2004
Date: 2004-04-30
Institutions: ACP–EU Joint Assembly
Subjects: ACP countries, Caribbean Islands, ECHO, EU aid, European Development Fund, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, World Trade Organisation, births, cooperation agreement (EU), cotton, cyclone, democratisation, development policy, economic agreement, economic development, environmental risk prevention, establishment of peace, export aid, export policy, illness, international cooperation, least-developed country, position of women, poverty, primary product, public health, sexually transmitted disease, social development, sustainable development, the EU's international role, world market price

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Official Journal of the European Union

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MINUTES OF THE SITTING OF THURSDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2004

(2004/C 120/04)

(The sitting resumed at 9.20 a.m.)

IN THE CHAIR: Mrs KINNOCK

Co-President

1. Substitutes

The Co-President announced the following substitutes: Bébéar
(for Averoff), Boumediene-Thiery (for Lucas), Bremmer (for
Gouveia), Bushill-Matthews (for Balfe), Gahler
(for Foster),
García-Margallo y Marfil (for Musotto), Klass (for Vidal-Quadras
Roca), Knolle (for Sudre), McAvan (for McCarthy), Ribeiro (for
Vinci), Roure (for Carlotti) and Scarbonchi (for Wurtz).

2. Approval of the minutes of Tuesday afternoon 17
February and Wednesday afternoon 18 February 2004

The minutes were approved.

3. Report on the United Nations World Summit on the
Information society (Geneva, 10-12 December 2003)

Mrs Junker made a presentation on this subject.

The following spoke: Wijkman, Kamestou (Kenya), van den
Berg, Boureïma (Niger), Khanbhai, Kamuntu (Uganda) and
Junker.

4. Rapporteur's summary of the workshops

— Mrs Sanders-ten Holte on food security in the Horn of

Africa.

6. Vote on the motions for resolutions in the reports of
the three committees and on the urgent motions for
resolutions

The following spoke: Khanbhai, Callanan, Imbarcaouane (Mali)
and Rod.

— APP/3643 on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA):
problems and prospects: adopted with 13 amendments

— APP/3601 on conflict prevention and resolution and the
establishment of a lasting peace: adopted unanimously with
18 amendments

— APP/3640 on poverty diseases and reproductive health in
ACP countries in the context of the ninth EDF: adopted
with 8 amendments

— APP/3668 on cotton and other commodities: problems
encountered by ACP countries: adopted unanimously with
17 amendments

— APP/3669/COMP on the damage caused by cyclones in the
Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean and the need
for a rapid response to natural disasters: adopted unani-
mously with 3 amendments.

— Mr Ndayisaba (Burundi) on health and education in the

7. Any other business

Horn of Africa.

— Mr Lesrima (Kenya) on the development of the private

sector in Ethiopia.

The following spoke: Sanders-ten Holte, Ndayisaba (Burundi),
Lesrima (Kenya) and Lulling.

5. Continuation of the debate on the urgent topic ‘damage
caused by cyclones in the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and
the Caribbean and the need for a rapid response to
natural disasters’ (ACP-EU 3669/04)

The Co-President observed that this would be the last session of
the Joint Parliamentary Assembly to be attended by Honorary
Co-President John Corrie. She thanked him for his work and
bid him farewell in the name of the Assembly.

The following spoke: Straker (Saint Vincent and the Grena-
dines), the Co-President, Sardjoe and Corrie.

8. Date and place of the 8th session of the Joint Parlia-

mentary Assembly

The following spoke: Safuneitunga (Samoa), Howitt, Sithole
(Mozambique) and Malin (European Commission).

The 8th session of the JPA would be held in the Hague (the
Netherlands) from 22 to 25 November 2004.

(The sitting closed at 12 a.m.)

Ramdien SARDJOE and Glenys KINNOCK

Jean-Robert GOULONGANA and Dietmar NICKEL

Co-Presidents

Co-Secretaries-General

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ALPHABETICAL LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

ANNEX I

ACP Representatives

EP Representatives

SARDJOE (SURINAME), Co-President
BARBADOS, V-P
CONGO, V-P
DJIBOUTI, V-P
FIJI, V-P
GABON, V-P
NAMIBIA, V-P
SAINT LUCIA, V-P
SIERRA LEONE, V-P
SOLOMON ISLANDS, V-P
SOUTH AFRICA, V-P
TOGO, V-P
UGANDA, V-P

ANGOLA
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
BAHAMAS
BELIZE
BENIN
BOTSWANA
BURKINA FASO
BURUNDI
CAMEROON
CAPE VERDE
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
CHAD
COMOROS
COOK ISLANDS
CÔTE D'IVOIRE
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
DOMINICA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
ERITREA
ETHIOPIA
GAMBIA
GHANA
GRENADA
GUINEA
GUINEA-BISSAU
GUYANA
HAITI
JAMAICA
KENYA
KIRIBATI
LESOTHO
LIBERIA
MADAGASCAR
MALAWI
MALI
MARSHALL ISLANDS (REPUBLIC of the)
MAURITANIA
MAURITIUS
MICRONESIA (FEDERATED STATES of)
MOZAMBIQUE
NAURU (REPUBLIC of)
NIGER
NIGERIA
NIUE

KINNOCK, Co-President
CORNILLET, V-P
JUNKER, V-P
SCHWAIGER, V-P
MARTINEZ MARTINEZ, V-P
FERRER, V-P
CARLOTTI, V-P
CORRIE, V-P
BUSK, V-P
BRIENZA, V-P
ROD, V-P
THEORIN, V-P
SYLLA, V-P

ANDREWS
AVEROFF
AYUSO GONZALEZ
BALFE
BEREND
van den BERG
van den BOS
BOWIS
BULLMANN
CALLANAN
COÛTEAUX
VAN HECKE
DESIR
FAVA
FERNANDEZ MARTIN
DYBKJÆR
FOSTER
FLESCH
HOWITT
FRUTEAU
GEMELLI
GHILARDOTTI
GLASE
GOEBBELS
GOUVEIA
HAUG
ISLER BEGUIN
KARAMANOU
KEPPELHOFF-WIECHERT
KHANBHAI
LANNOYE
LUCAS
LULLING
McCARTHY
MAES
MANDERS
MARTENS
MENDILUCE PEREIRO
MAURO
MENENDEZ del VALLE
MIRANDA
MORILLON
MUSOTTO
PANNELLA
RIBEIRO E CASTRO

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PALAU
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
RWANDA
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
SAMOA
SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE
SENEGAL
SEYCHELLES
SOMALIA
SUDAN
SWAZILAND
TANZANIA
TONGA
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
TUVALU
VANUATU
ZAMBIA
ZIMBABWE

SANDBAEK
SANDERS-TEN HOLTE
SAUQUILLO PEREZ DEL ARCO
SCHEELE
SCHNELLHARDT
SCHÖRLING
SJÖSTEDT
SOUCHET
SPERONI
SUDRE
TORRES MARQUES
VAIRINHOS
VALENCIANO MARTINEZ-OROZCO
VIDAL-QUADRAS ROCA
VINCI
WIELAND
WIJKMAN
WURTZ
ZIMMERLING

COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL AFFAIRS

ACP Members

EP Members

JEAN-PIERRE (HAITI), Vice-President
FIJI, V-P
BURUNDI, V-P
ANGOLA
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
BELIZE
BENIN
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
COOK ISLANDS
DJIBOUTI
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
GRENADA
GUINEA
GUYANA
LIBERIA
MAURITANIA
NAMIBIA
NIGERIA
NIUE
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
SUDAN
SURINAME
TOGO
TUVALU
UGANDA
ZIMBABWE

SCHWAIGER, Vice-President
MARTINEZ MARTINEZ, V-P
VAN DEN BOS, V-P
BRIENZA
CALLANAN
CARLOTTI
DYBKJÆR
THEORIN
FAVA
FERNANDEZ MARTIN
KARAMANOU
GEMELLI
JUNKER
MAES
MAURO
MORILLON
MUSOTTO
RIBEIRO E CASTRO
ROD
SYLLA
VAN DEN BERG
VAN HECKE
VIDAL-QUADRAS ROCA
VINCI
SAUQUILLO PEREZ DEL ARCO
WIELAND

COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, FINANCE AND TRADE

ACP Members

EP Members

LEBOKA (REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO), Vice-President
MALI, V-P
JAMAICA, V-P
BOTSWANA
CAMEROON
COTE D'IVOIRE
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
DOMINICA
ERITREA
ETHIOPIA
GABON
GHANA
KENYA
MAURITIUS
MICRONESIA (FEDERATED STATES of)

HOWITT, Vice-President
KHANBHAI, V-P
ZIMMERLING, V-P
BULLMANN
CORNILLET
COUTEAUX
CORRIE
DESIR
FERRER
FLESCH
FOSTER
FRUTEAU
GHILARDOTTI
GOEBBELS
GOUVEIA

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PALAU
SAINT LUCIA
SAMOA
SENEGAL
SIERRA LEONE
SOUTH AFRICA
SWAZILAND
TANZANIA
TONGA
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
ZAMBIA

KINNOCK
LANNOYE
LUCAS
LULLING
MANDERS
AVEROFF
MIRANDA
SANDBÆK
SOUCHET
SUDRE
TORRES MARQUES

COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL AFFAIRS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

ACP Members

EP Members

MOTHEJOA METSING (LESOTHO), Vice-President
RWANDA
NIGER
BAHAMAS
BARBADOS
BURKINA FASO
CAPE VERDE
CHAD
COMOROS
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
GAMBIA
GUINEA-BISSAU
KIRIBATI
MADAGASCAR
MALAWI
MARSHALL ISLANDS (REPUBLIC of the)
MOZAMBIQUE
NAURU
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
SÃO TOME AND PRINCIPE
SEYCHELLES
SOLOMON ISLANDS
SOMALIA
VANUATU

WIJKMAN, Vice-President
SCHEELE, V-P
SCHÖRLING, V-P
ANDREWS
AYUSO GONZALEZ
BALFE
BEREND
VALENCIANO MARTINEZ-OROZCO
BOWIS
MENENDEZ DEL VALLE
BUSK
GLASE
HAUG
ISLER BEGUIN
KEPPELHOFF-WIECHERT
MARTENS
McCARTHY
MENDILUCE PEREIRO
PANNELLA
SANDERS-TEN HOLTE
SJÖSTEDT
SPERONI
SCHNELLHARDT
VAIRINHOS
WURTZ

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RECORD OF ATTENDANCE AT THE SESSION FROM 14 TO 19 FEBRUARY IN ADDIS ABABA

ANNEX II

KINNOCK, Co-President
ANDRE-LEONARD (for MANDERS) (1) (2) (3)
BEBEAR (for AVEROFF)
BEREND (2) (3) (4)
van den BERG
van den BOS
BOUMEDIENE-THIERY (for LUCAS)
BOWIS
BREMMER (for GOUVEIA)
BULLMANN
BUSHILL-MATTHEWS (for BALFE)
CALLANAN
CORRIE, V-P
DESIR (1)
FERNANDEZ MARTIN (2) (3) (4)
FLESCH
GAHLER (for FOSTER)
GARCIA MARGALLO (for MUSOTTO) (4)
GLASE
GOEBBELS (1) (2) (3)
HOWITT
ISLER BEGUIN
JUNKER, V-P
KEPPELHOFF-WIECHERT
KHANBHAI
KLASS (for VIDAL-QUADRAS ROCA)
KNOLLE (for SUDRE)
LULLING
McAVAN (for McCARTHY)
MAES
MARTENS
MARTINEZ MARTINEZ, V-P
POMES RUIZ (for AYUSO GONZÁLEZ) (3)
RIBEIRO (for VINCI)
ROD, V-P
ROURE (for CARLOTTI)
SANDBÆK
SANDERS-TEN HOLTE
SAUQUILLO PEREZ DEL ARCO
SCARBONCHI (for WURTZ)
SCHEELE
SCHNELLHARDT (2) (3)
SCHÖRLING
SCHWAIGER, V-P
SJÖSTEDT (2) (3)
SOUCHET
SPERONI
SYLLA, V-P
THEORIN, V-P
VOLCIC (for FAVA) (1)
WIELAND (2) (3) (4)
WIJKMAN
ZIMMERLING

SARDJOE (Suriname), Co-President
DE SOUSA (Angola)
PRESCOD (Barbados, V-P)
AKPOVI (Benin)
MASALILA (Botswana)
TAPSOBA (Burkina Faso)
NAHIMANA (Burundi)
NYASSA (Cameroon)
FERREIRA QUERIDO (Cape Verde)
THYSTERE-TCHICAYA (Congo, V-P)
TAPI TAIO (Cook Islands)
AMON AGO (Côte d'Ivoire)
ONUSUMBA YEMBA (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
ARNAOUD (Djibouti, V-P)
BULLEN (Dominica)
NGUEMA OWONO (Equatorial Guinea)
YOHANNES (Ethiopia)
NABUKA (Fiji, V-P)
MAKONGO (Gabon, V-P)
TOURAY (Gambia)
OSEI-PREMPEH (Ghana)
BARRY (Guinea)
RAMOTAR (Guyana)
JEAN-PIERRE (Haiti)
HAY-WEBSTER (Jamaica)
KAMOTHO (Kenya)
METSING (Lesotho)
REFENO (Madagascar)
JANA (Malawi) (5)
IMBARCAOUANE (Mali)
OULD GUELAYE (Mauritania)
GUNNESS (Mauritius)
SITHOLE (Mozambique)
YA FRANCE (Namibia, V-P)
DION TAUFITOU (Nauru)
AROUNA MOUNKEILA (Niger)
BAWA BWARI (Nigeria)
TAUFITU (Niue)
ANGGO (Papua New Guinea)
POLISI (Rwanda)
THOMAS (Saint Kitts and Nevis) (5)
FRANCOIS (Saint Lucia, V-P)
STRAKER (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
SAFUNIETUUGA (Samoa)
SACRAMENTO DIOGO (São Tomé and Príncipe)
SOW (Senegal)
FAURE (Seychelles)
CONTEH (Sierra Leone, V-P)
SANGA (Solomon Islands)
DAVIES (South Africa, V-P)
BEDA (Sudan)
DLAMINI (Swaziland)
MPOROGOMYI (Tanzania)
NATCHABA (Togo, V-P)
BEREAUX (Trinidad and Tobago)
KAMUNTU (Uganda, V-P)
MATONGO (Zambia)
KANGAI (Zimbabwe)

(1) Present 16.02.2004
(2) Present 17.02.2004
(3) Present 18.02.2004
(4) Present 19.02.2004
(5) Country represented by a non-parliamentary representative.

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Observers:

Cuba: POLANCO

Also present:

ANGOLA

ALEXANDRE
CALITAS
LOPES
DOS SANTOS
VALENTE

BARBADOS

HUMPHREY

BENIN

NUAGOVI
HINVI

BOTSWANA

GEORGE

BURKINA FASO

KERE
LANKOANDE
NIKIEMA

BURUNDI

BANKINYAKAMWE
NDAYISABA
NIYUHIRE

CAMEROON

AWUDU MBAYA
BAH OUMAROU
DANATA

CONGO

BOUNKOULOU
DIMI
LEKOBA
LOUBOTA
G. OBA-APOUNOU
OPIMBAT
OBIA

COTE D'IVOIRE

BLEU VOUA

DJIBOUTI

DATO
DAWALEH
MAHAMOUD IBRAHIM
YOUSSOUF

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

MBA BELA
MOICHE
MOCONG ONGUENE
NKA OBIANG

ETHIOPIA

ANMUT
BEYENE
GESSESSE
OLANGO
TADDESE

FIJI

MATAITOGA

GABON

NDONG NGOUA

GHANA

AMPORFUL
AWIAGA
WUDU

HAITI

MYRTIC

KENYA

KAHENDE
LESRIMA

LESOTHO

MATLANYANE
RAMMOMENG

MADAGASCAR

RAZOARIMIHAJA
BERIZIKI

MALI

Imbarcaouane

MAURITIUS

GUNESSEE

NAMIBIA

KATJAVIVI
LISWANISO

NIGER

ABDOURHAMANE
ASSA
BALARABE
BOUREIMA

NIGERIA

GANA
OYEDE

RWANDA

AYINKAMIYE
KAYITANA
SOMAYIRE

SOLOMON ISLANDS

TEAVA
SISILO

SOUTH AFRICA

EGLIN
MASIZA
PELLE
TSHEOLE

SUDAN

ABU ASHAWA
BADRI
MAKUR
MALUIT
MUSTAFA
YOUSIF

SURINAME

HIWAT
KRUISLAND
SITAL

SWAZILAND

A. DLAMINI
M. DLAMINI

TANZANIA

MLAY

TOGO

ATI ATCHA
KORGA
KLUTSE

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

ROUSSEAU

UGANDA

MWANDHA
RWABITA
WONEKHA

ZIMBABWE

DOKORA
MAKUVAZA
PUNUNGWE

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ACP-EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

MOUSSA

KITT

Minister for the Plan, Regional Planning and Economic Integration of
Republic of the Congo), President-in-Office of the ACP Council

the

Minister for Development and Human Rights (Ireland), President-in-Office of the
EU Council

COMMITTEE OF AMBASSADORS

OBIA (Rep. Congo)

President-in-Office

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

NIELSON

LAMY

Commissioner with responsibility for development and humanitarian aid

Commissioner with responsibility for external trade

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (ESC)

SHARMA

Member

CENTRE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENTERPRISE (CDE)

MATOS ROSA

Director

TECHNICAL CENTRE FOR AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL COOPERATION (CTA)

GREENIDGE

Director

COMMISSION OF THE AFRICAN UNION

MAZIMHAKA

DJINNIT

Vice-President

Member

DJOMATCHOUA-TOKO

Executive Secretary

UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND

OBAID

Executive Director

INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION

SINDING

Director

ACP SECRETARIAT

GOULONGANA

Co-Secretary-General

EU SECRETARIAT

NICKEL

Co-Secretary-General

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ANNEX III

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED

— on Economic
3643/04/fin)

Partnership Agreements

(EPAs): problems

and prospects

(ACP-EU

— on conflict prevention and resolution and the establishment of a lasting peace (ACP-EU

3601/04/fin)

— on poverty diseases and reproductive health in ACP countries in the context of the ninth

EDF (ACP-EU 3640/04/fin)

— on cotton and other commodities: problems encountered by ACP countries (ACP-EU

3668/04/fin)

— on the damage caused by cyclones in the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean and

the need for a rapid response to natural disasters (ACP-EU 3669/04/fin)

Page

16

22

29

40

44

on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA): problems and prospects

RESOLUTION (1)

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly,

— meeting in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 16 to 19 February 2004,

— having regard to Article 17(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to Article 37(1) of the Cotonou Agreement concerning the negotiation of economic part-

nership agreements during the preparatory period which shall end by 31 December 2007,

— having regard to its ‘Cape Town Declaration’ on future ACP-EU negotiations of new trading arrange-

ments, which was adopted on 21 March 2002 in Cape Town (South Africa) (2),

— having regard its resolution on the use of European Development Funds, adopted in Rome on 15

October 2003 (3),

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 26 September 2002 on the European Parlia-
ment's recommendations to the Commission concerning the negotiation of Economic Partnership
Agreements with the ACP countries and regions (4),

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic development, finance and trade (ACP-

EU 3643/04),

A. whereas the Cotonou Agreement provides that ‘economic partnership agreements shall be negotiated
during the preparatory period which shall end by 31 December 2007 at the latest’, and that EPAs must
contribute to the ‘smooth and gradual integration of the ACP States into the world economy, with due
regard for their political choices and development priorities, thereby promoting their sustainable devel-
opment and contributing to poverty eradication in the ACP countries’ and are not an end in them-
selves,

B. whereas the negotiations conducted so far have revealed serious divergences between the ACP and the
EU on key elements of the content and scope of the negotiations and the opening of the second phase
of EPA negotiations at the regional level,

C. whereas both parties agreed in October 2003 that EPAs must be compatible with the WTO rules then

prevailing and will need to take account of the evolutionary nature of relevant WTO rules,

(1) Adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 19 February 2004 in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).
(2) OJ C 231, 27.9.2002, p. 9
(3) OJ C 26, 29.1.2004, p. 7
(4) OJ C 273E, 14.11.2003, p. 202

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D. whereas Article 37(6) of the Cotonou Agreement provides that, in 2004, the EU will assess the situa-
tion of the non-LDCs which, after consultation with the EU, decide that they are not in a position to
enter into EPAs, and will examine all alternative possibilities in order to provide these countries with a
new framework for trade which is equivalent to their existing situation,

E. whereas the Cotonou Agreement calls for the progressive removal of barriers to trade between the two

parties,

F. whereas Article 37(3) of the Cotonou Agreement states inter alia that ‘the preparatory period shall also

be used for capacity building in the public and private sectors of ACP countries’,

G. whereas the objectives of poverty eradication, sustainable development, equal and effective participa-
tion of women and involvement of non-state actors, reaffirmed in the Cotonou Agreement, must
underpin the EPA negotiations,

H. whereas the JPA consistently attaches importance to the accountability and legitimacy of parliamentar-

ians, and the need for consultation, information and scrutiny in respect of the EPA negotiations,

I. whereas impact assessments of EPAs show that ACP countries will lose a significant amount of public

revenue by removing tariffs on EU exports,

J. whereas Article 25 of the Cotonou Agreement calls for special attention to be paid to ensuring

adequate levels of public spending in the social sectors,

K. whereas ACP exports to the EU are hindered by a range of non-tariff measures including Sanitary and

Phytosanitary measures (SPS), standards and rules of origin,

L. whereas the failure of the 5th WTO Ministerial Conference at Cancún has underlined the gap between
the aspirations of the developing countries and the approach of the industrialised countries with regard
to multilateral trade negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda,

M. whereas the failure of Cancún creates uncertainty for multilateralism and the Doha Development
Agenda that could lead to the proliferation of bilateral agreements that are certainly less favourable to
developing countries,

N. whereas the ACP and the EU recognise the importance of a more balanced and equitable multilateral
trading system under the WTO underpinned by an explicit link between trade and development, by
real special and differential treatment for developing countries - and in particular LDCs and vulnerable
small, landlocked and island countries - and also by transparency and inclusiveness in the decision-
making process,

O. whereas the EU made a commitment in the Cotonou Agreement that, at the end of the EPA negotia-
tions, no ACP country should, in its trade relations with the EU, find itself in a more unfavourable
situation after 2007 than under the current ACP-EU trade arrangements,

P. whereas the first phase of the EPA negotiations has not resulted in the conclusion of a legally binding

framework agreement as proposed by the ACP,

Q. whereas, for many ACP countries, external debt constitutes an insurmountable obstacle to economic

and social development,

Calls for the socio-economic viability, sustainability and legitimacy of the EPAs to constitute the
1.
guiding principles, and asks the European Commission to take into account the following aspects in the
course of the negotiations on EPAs:

— managing the benefits and costs of the fiscal, economic and balance of payments adjustments of EPAs,

— managing the social and political effects of EPAs,

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— being commensurate with the institutional and human capacities of ACP countries to master the EPA

process,

— the ability of ACP countries to implement the EPAs,

— contributing to the economic transformation of the ACP States while building on the ‘acquis’, in par-
ticular as regards Article 36(4) of the Cotonou Agreement, in order to achieve inter alia the integration
of ACP States into the world economy,

— the importance of the principles of special and differential treatment when dealing with ACP countries;

2.
Calls upon the ACP States and regions to urgently undertake appropriate impact and sustainability
studies with a view to providing information for the EPA negotiation process and calls upon the Commis-
sion and EU States to provide appropriate and adequate financial support for studies that:

— involve research on the impact of trade arrangements on women in the different ACP countries, which
should involve the collection of statistics disaggregated by gender for ACP countries and the develop-
ment of gender-specific indicators, which allow the accurate measurement of the impact of different
aspects of trade arrangements on men and women in the different ACP countries,

— involve research on non-tariff measures and their impact on poverty;

3.
Stresses that assessments of the probable impact, from an environmental and social point of view, of
the introduction of trade liberalisation between the EU and ACP countries under the EPAs, have been
called for by the European Parliament, and that they must be formulated and forwarded to the ACP and
EU members to allow further steps towards liberalisation to be taken;

Calls for the ACP and the EU to work together in the WTO to obtain flexible trade arrangements

4.
that best address poverty, acknowledging the evolutionary nature of relevant WTO rules;

5.
Reminds the negotiating parties of their responsibilities pursuant to the Cotonou Agreement with
regard to the participation of non-state actors (including women's organisations, trade unions, employers,
and economic and social actors) in the determining and implementation of, inter alia, their development
and trade strategies;

6.
Urges that there should be capacity building to ensure that proper scrutiny of the EPA negotiations
can take place in national parliaments in ACP countries, and confirms that European parliamentarians will
similarly need to have adequate information and consultation in order that proper scrutiny of the EPA
negotiations can take place;

Calls upon the European Commission to support, in a transitional period, the principle of commer-
7.
cial non-reciprocity which must govern relations between the industrialised and developing countries, and
to develop flexibility towards ACP countries during the EPA negotiations in view of their level of develop-
ment, of the relatively small size of their economies, and of their financial, development and trade needs,
and to ensure that, in reality, EPAs become instruments for sustainable development in the ACP countries;
calls on the Commission, in this connection, with a view to promoting sustained economic growth in ACP
countries and regions, to improve ACP export opportunities to the EU market, inter alia through:

— widening the scope of products, both semi-finished and finished, of interest to them under the EPAs,

— addressing both tariff and non-tariff measures and

— wherever possible, improving and injecting flexibility into the Cotonou rules of origin, including the
acceptance of asymmetric rules of origin to take into account the differences in the level of industrial
development between the EU and ACP countries;

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8.
Calls for ACP-EU trade arrangements to focus, inter alia, on addressing the problem of non-tariff
barriers (as opposed to tariff barriers) that have been shown to be detrimental to poverty reduction in the
ACP countries, as this would still be in line with Article 36(1) of the Cotonou Agreement;

9.
Emphasises the need to take account of and compensate for the likely negative impact of reciprocity
on ACP countries and to allow non-reciprocity where this is reasonable and necessary to permit growth of
ACP industries, protection of vulnerable farmers and structural development, and to support the sustainable
development and poverty reduction targets of ACP governments;

Reiterates that EPAs should include effective safeguard measures that protect ACP producers from

10.
the influx of EU imports;

11. Welcomes the adoption of a joint report which contains joint agreement on a number of important
issues that will guide the second phase negotiations with regional configurations, but calls for this to be
consolidated by effective implementation of the ‘all-ACP-EU’ mechanism during the second phase of the
EPA negotiations to facilitate appropriate consideration of issues of common interest to all ACP States;

Reaffirms the commitment in the Cotonou Agreement to taking account of the situation of women

12.
and gender issues in all areas, including trade;

Underlines the need to preserve and improve the Cotonou ‘acquis’ and, in particular, the need to
13.
improve market access for agricultural and industrial products from ACP countries, and stresses that it is
essential to ensure that ACP countries preserve the right to protect sensitive products in their own markets
from exports from the industrialised countries as well as to apply appropriate safeguard measures; stresses
the importance of the impact of the EU's export subsidies and domestic support on the economies of ACP
States in these areas, with a view to facilitating diversification, the preservation of family and cooperative
agricultural structures and food sovereignty and increasing the added value of agricultural and industrial
exports from the ACP countries;

14.
Reaffirms the crucial importance of agriculture in pursuing the objectives laid down in the Cotonou
Agreement, and, in this regard, calls upon the EU to appropriately address the issues of trade liberalisation
and of sequencing financial support for agriculture and fisheries during EPA negotiations in these areas, so
as to facilitate diversification and addition of value to agricultural exports of the ACP countries through the
provision of direct technical assistance and adequate financial resources, and through initiatives aimed at
promoting the processing, marketing, distribution and transportation (PMDT) of ACP products;

15.
Considers that efforts to secure guaranteed and stable commodity prices, essential for the develop-
ment of the ACP countries, continue to be of fundamental and vital importance and that, following Stabex
and Sysmin, new systems along these lines must be proposed and furthered by the Commission and the
EU as a whole at bilateral and international level;

16.
Reiterates that the review of the commodity protocols in the context of EPA negotiations under
Article 36(4) of the Cotonou Agreement should lead to safeguarding the benefits derived therefrom,
bearing in mind the special legal status of the Sugar Protocol, and recognising that the process of CAP
reform will significantly erode the value of existing agricultural trade preferences;

Underlines the need to increase current quotas under the protocols on commodities in order to take

17.
due account of new members in the spirit of maintaining and improving the Cotonou ‘acquis’;

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18.
Reaffirms the need for the EU and the Member States to make firm commitments to provide ACP
countries with adequate financial resources and technical assistance during the preparatory period and tran-
sitional phase of the EPAs, including a better use of available funds to make improvements in the following
areas in order to maximise the benefits deriving from EPAs:

— improvements in their capacity to produce and export,

— transport infrastructure (roads, railways and ports), and the need to plan and undertake transport

improvements at regional level,

— access to energy (electricity and renewable energy),

— access to water, for drinking and other uses, such as manufacturing and agricultural production,

— improvements to the telecommunications infrastructure and measures to bridge the ‘digital divide’ (in
accordance with the ACP-EU Joint Position on the Information Society, signed at the World Summit on
the Information Society in Geneva, Switzerland, December 2003),

— labour productivity (linked to education standards, health system, housing conditions, etc.),

— institutional and macroeconomic management (including balance of payments support, exchange rate

stabilisation, etc.),

— development of competitive and diversified supply capacities;

19.
Stresses that major investment must be made before the economies of these countries enter into
competition with EU undertakings; observes that this financial effort must be better evaluated and calls on
the EU to explore appropriate measures to address the funding requirements in this regard;

Asks the Commission to submit an estimate of the costs of adjustment and loss of earnings for ACP

20.
countries resulting from foregone tax revenue;

21.
Underlines the importance of trade-based taxes as a significant source of government revenue for
the majority of ACP countries, and, in this regard, calls upon the Commission to make adequate provision
to face the eventual loss of customs revenues resulting from the implementation of the EPAs in ACP coun-
tries with a view to sustaining the respective governments' capacity to finance:

— social capital investments as referred to in Article 25 of the Cotonou Agreement, in line with the

commitments related to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),

— poverty reduction programmes (as contained in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers – PRSPs – and

overall development programmes), and

— measures to attract and retain national investment and foreign direct investment (FDI), by promoting
good governance and upgrading the countries' locational assets, which means also investing in health,
education, water supply, sanitation, power, transport and telecommunications, and effective marketing
and promotional actions;

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22.
Calls on the Commission to promote the development of ACP agro-industry involving technology
promotion and skill building in the agricultural, manufacturing and services sector as well as an improve-
ment in the financing of small agricultural producers and small businesses in rural areas;

23.
Calls on the EU to allow the external effects of CAP reform to be taken up and addressed in the
negotiations, with a view to maintaining and enhancing as far as possible the value of existing ACP agri-
cultural preferences and ensuring effective protection of ACP markets from unfair competition from EU
agricultural and food product exports;

24. Welcomes the principle of regional integration processes in which ACP governments are allowed to
develop and pursue their own processes of integration as spelled out in Article 35(2) of the Cotonou
Agreement; calls for the best processes of sequencing for different sets of negotiations in line with the
goals they have set to generate sustainable development;

25.
Reaffirms the importance of a vibrant service sector for the development of the economies of ACP
countries and regions; reaffirms also the need to strengthen this sector in these countries and regions, and,
in this regard, calls upon the Commission and EU States to provide adequate finance to support the devel-
opment of this sector in ACP countries and to scrupulously adhere to the provisions of Article 41 of the
Cotonou Agreement during the Second Phase of EPA negotiations;

Calls upon the EU and the ACP to mutually accept the right to regulate the supply of public services

26.
within their territories in order to meet national policy objectives;

27.
Calls upon those ACP states and regions which choose to negotiate EPAs to negotiate them taking
full account of their development policies, and also calls upon the EU to negotiate EPAs taking full account
of the Community's development co-operation policies;

Calls on the Commission to establish an inventory of all non-tariff barriers, especially sanitary and
28.
phytosanitary measures that inhibit the export of ACP products into the EU, and to establish an exchange
of information with the ACP on the design and implementation of SPS measures, so that the promotion of
food safety in Europe does not become a barrier to trade from small and least developed ACP countries;
notes that this should include arrangements for financing the costs associated with SPS compliance and
verification;

Calls, in this regard, upon the EU, in partnership with the ACP countries, to intervene at the WTO

29.
with a view to:

— securing full recognition within all international trade regulatory bodies of the legitimacy of long-term

regional trade agreements seeking to improve the situation of developing countries,

— injecting the development dimension into WTO rules in line with United Nations development objec-

tives and the Doha mandate,

— demonstrably and effectively implementing provisions on special and differential treatment for the ACP
countries, and LDCs and vulnerable small countries and island states in particular, and applying all the
necessary flexibility,

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— promoting the introduction of a fair and democratic international trade regulation system by funda-
mentally reforming WTO functioning and objectives with a view to creating a fair trading system and
facilitating equal participation of all members;

30.
Considers that the issue of resolving the external debt problem of the ACP countries must not be
evaded but, on the contrary, be considered by the European Union under the new Economic Partnership
Agreements and that solutions must be found on a bilateral basis and/or by bringing pressure to bear on
international financial institutions and other parties concerned;

31.
Calls on the ACP-EU Council of Ministers, at the meeting to be held in Botswana in May 2004, to
consider adopting a decision in order to postpone until 2006 the review of the situation of non-LDC ACP
States required under Article 37(6) of Cotonou;

Calls for the ACP and the EU to promote and support a greater involvement of civil society in EPA

32.
discussions and negotiations;

33.
Calls for an effective involvement in the EPA negotiation process of parliamentarians from the Euro-
pean Parliament, the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and all ACP and EU countries, and in particular
for effective parliamentary monitoring in all ACP and EU countries throughout the negotiations;

34.
Calls for the ACP and the EU to support greater involvement of civil society groups including
producers' organisations, women's groups and consumer associations in EPA discussions and negotiations;

Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the ACP-EU Council, the Commission and

35.
the WTO Director General.

RESOLUTION (1)

on conflict prevention and resolution and the establishment of a lasting peace

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly,

— meeting in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 16 to 19 February 2004,

— having regard to Article 17(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the Cotonou Agreement, especially Article 11 dealing with peace-building policies,

conflict prevention and resolution (2),

— having regard to the Constitutive Act of the African Union, adopted on 11 July 2000 in Lomé (Togo),

— having regard to the Statute of the International Criminal Court, which was signed on 17 July 1998

and entered into force on 1 July 2002,

— having regard to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the framework document of

which was signed in Abuja, Nigeria, in October 2001,

— having regard to the declarations of the Conference of Heads of State and of Government and the deci-
sions and declarations of the second ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union, held in
Maputo (Mozambique) from 10 to 12 July 2003,

— having regard to its previous resolutions, in particular its resolution on children's rights and child-

soldiers in particular, adopted in Rome on 15 October 2003 (3),

— having regard to the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports,

(1) Adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 19 February 2004 in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
(2) OJ L 317, 15.12.2003, p. 3.
(3) OJ C 26, 29.1.2004, p. 17.

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— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 13 December 2001 on the Commission

communication on conflict prevention (1),

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 15 November 2001 on the trade in small

arms (2),

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 26 October 2000 on the Commission commu-
nication to the Council and the European Parliament on cooperation with ACP countries involved in
armed conflicts (3),

— having regard to EU Council Decision 2003/432/CFSP of 12 June 2003 on the launching of the Euro-

pean Union military operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (4),

— having regard to the EU Council's common position of 29 October 2001 on combating the illicit
traffic in conflict diamonds, as a contribution to prevention and settlement of conflicts (2001/758/
CFSP) (5),

— having regard to the European Union's Programme for the Prevention of Violent Conflicts, approved by

the European Council at its meeting in Göteborg in June 2001,

— having regard to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1467 (2003) of 18 March 2003 on ‘Prolif-
eration of small arms and light weapons and mercenary activities: threats to peace and security in West
Africa’,

— having regard to the United Nations Programme of Action to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit

trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects,

— having regard to the G8 Africa Action Plan adopted at the G8 Summit held in Kananaskis, Canada, on
26-27 June 2002 and to the relevant declarations made at the G8 Summit held in Evian, France, on 1-
3 June 2003,

— having regard to the pioneering role played by the EU in the establishment and implementation of the

Kimberley Process with respect to blood diamonds and the Ottawa Convention on Landmines,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Political Affairs (ACP-EU 3601/04),

A.

having regard to the numerous conflicts raging or threatening to break out in Africa, and taking into
consideration the tensions which could undermine the stability of the Pacific and Caribbean regions,

B. whereas the causes of these conflicts are generally a failure to respect human rights, the absence of
democracy and the rule of law, ethnic and religious tensions, terrorism linked to nationalism and
fundamentalism, inefficient administration, organised crime and drug and arms trafficking, as well as
poverty, unemployment, and social, economic and political injustices and inequalities, rapid popula-
tion growth and poor management and/or exploitation of natural resources, the behaviour of certain
undertakings with a view to controlling the market in raw materials and natural resources,

C. whereas the uncontrolled and illegal proliferation of light and small-calibre weapons encourages the
use of child soldiers and whereas the illegal trade in arms and drugs, the illegal exploitation of natural
resources and the use of child soldiers and mercenaries are contributing to an escalation in conflicts,

D.

convinced that peace is vital as a first step towards political, economic and social development, and
that sustainable and equitable economic development is an essential precondition for a lasting peace,

(1) OJ C 177E, 25.7.2002, p .291.
(2) OJ C 140E, 13.6.2002, p. 587.
(3) OJ C 197, 12.7.2001, p. 390
(4) OJ L 147, 14.6.2003, p. 42
(5) OJ L 286, 30.10.2001, p. 2

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E. whereas there is an urgent need to mainstream a gender perspective into conflict prevention and reso-
lution, peace-building, peacekeeping operations, rehabilitation and reconstruction and to ensure that,
where appropriate, field operations include a gender component,

F.

whereas conflicts in ACP States, especially in Africa, are increasingly taking on a regional or interna-
tional dimension, with the involvement of neighbouring countries and third countries, and whereas
they are frequently fuelled by transnational economic interests,

Conflict prevention

G. whereas it is preferable to prevent the outbreak of conflict by addressing its deep-rooted causes,

rather than to intervene once it has broken out,

H. whereas, on the basis of Article 11 of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, the EU has a specific
responsibility to help the ACP States in the search for a peaceful solution to the conflicts involving
them, while respecting their national identity,

I.

J.

having regard to the recent establishment of the African Union and the role that it might in the
future play in the prevention and resolution of conflicts,

whereas, on 11 December 2003, the ACP-EC Council of Ministers decided to allocate EUR 250
million from the European Development Fund to a Peace Facility for Africa,

K. whereas NEPAD should make a telling contribution to peacemaking by attempting to improve living

conditions for the poor,

L.

having regard, further, to the role which the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) might play
in accordance with the Petersberg tasks and to the humanitarian assistance and mediation that the
European Union can offer the ACP States, but whereas a strengthening of cooperation policy and the
establishment of fairer trading conditions continue to constitute the two essential instruments for a
lasting peace,

Conflict resolution

M. whereas a peace agreement can only be negotiated in an atmosphere of calm, after the signing of a

ceasefire, and only if all the parties to the conflict are observing that ceasefire,

N. whereas a peacekeeping force should be present at that stage,

O.

emphasising the need for mediation and the role that can usefully be played, to this end, by the
African Union, the United Nations and the European Union, but mindful that a conflict can only be
resolved by means of an agreement between the parties and that no outside organisation or state
should presume to impose the terms of the agreement unilaterally,

P. whereas the Artemis operation in Bunia is the first European military stabilisation operation to be

launched under a UN mandate and to take place outside the continent of Europe,

Q.

R.

S.

emphasising the African Union's involvement alongside France in the settlement of the conflict in
Côte d'Ivoire, and the encouraging conclusions of the meeting of the chiefs of staff of the Member
States of the African Union, held in Ethiopia in May 2003, which envisage the possibility of setting
up an African peacekeeping force within the next two years,

stressing the involvement of the African Union and the EU in the consolidation of the peace process
in Burundi,

having regard to the importance and the role of regional African organisations in the prevention and
resolution of conflicts,

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Establishment of a lasting peace

T. whereas there can be no stable peace without national reconciliation, without equitable justice and
without the support of the whole of civil society for the peace process, and whereas the establishment
of the International Criminal Court and of Truth Commissions, could guarantee that the crimes
committed by belligerent parties do not simply go unpunished and do not damage the victims' sense
of justice, thus promoting national reconciliation,

U. whereas, once the conflict has been resolved, the economic and social reintegration of former comba-
tants, among whom child soldiers require particular attention, is a vital part of the process of main-
taining and consolidating peace,

V.

emphasising the duty of the international community, in particular the European Union but also the
neighbouring states, to support the peace process, and mindful of the crucial role of reconstruction
aid and the efforts made by the European Union and its Member States in this connection,

W.

stressing the importance of humanitarian aid and taking the view that this should preferably be
supplied solely via civilian and diplomatic channels,

X. whereas well-informed and independent social players (NGOs, professional associations, independent
media, research institutes, etc.) can play a crucial role in breaking the spiral of violence by encoura-
ging an open debate and demanding a government that meets its responsibilities more fully,

Women and conflict

Y. whereas rape as a weapon of war has been widely documented and has been declared a war crime by

the UN,

Z. whereas in many conflicts armed factions have captured young girls and women and forced them

into sexual slavery,

AA. whereas the full participation of women in decision-making, conflict prevention and resolution and
all peace initiatives is vital; whereas, in the past, their participation in peacekeeping missions has not
been numerically significant, but whereas the increased presence of women in the civilian, military
and police components of peacekeeping operations has resulted in improved relations with local
communities, something which is essential for the establishment of a lasting peace,

AB. emphasising that, in many ways, a lasting peace is contingent on community involvement in and
ownership of the peace process - a process which can be legitimate only if women are equally
involved - and that the role of the international community in supporting civil society networks that
link local, national and international initiatives is crucial to the peace process,

1.
Calls for conflict prevention and structural stability to constitute key objectives of EU development
policy and takes the view that the EU's conflict prevention policy must address the structural causes of
conflicts connected with poverty,
including the unequal distribution of wealth, social injustice, human
rights violations, the oppression of minorities and religious discrimination;

2.
Is convinced of the essential role of both international (AU, EU, UN) and regional cooperation in
conflict prevention and resolution and peacekeeping and expresses its concern at the continuous reduction
in the EU's development cooperation budget;

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3.
Stresses the need to keep up a frank and fruitful dialogue between the European Union, its Member
States and the ACP States and emphasises that the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly is the ideal forum
in which to discuss potential, ongoing and past conflicts and explore how those conflicts may be resolved
and peace maintained;

Conflict prevention

Believes that, in order to prevent and resolve conflicts, it is essential first to identify the underlying

4.
causes and remedy them by:

— respecting the principles of good governance,

— guaranteeing the rights of minorities, and drawing attention to their duties which must be respected,

— increasing the number of agreements between neighbouring countries in order to allay any fears that

may exist and create the conditions for unions from which everyone may benefit;

5.
Takes the view that the EU must strengthen the instruments which allow for greater consistency so
as to ensure convergence between its own policies, the policies pursued and the positions taken by the
Member States, particularly in the international financial institutions, and the dealings of private undertak-
ings active in the ACP States, in order to achieve progress towards the attainment of the priority objectives
of peace and development;

6.
Takes the view that the European Union can play a significant role if it pursues a consistent policy
which seeks to encourage the emergence of genuine political pluralism in Africa that goes beyond free and
transparent elections;

Takes the view that the EU must adopt a consistent trade and development policy so as to help the

7.
African economies to develop and to protect themselves against destabilising competition;

8.
Notes with particular interest the preventive intervention instruments enshrined in the Cotonou
Agreement; is determined to ensure that the signatories honour their commitments, especially the key
clause concerning the establishment of the rule of law and respect for human rights and democracy;

9. Welcomes the establishment of the African Union and is convinced that it will play a central role in
fostering the stability of the African continent; in that connection, applauds its mediating role in the resolu-
tion of the recent conflicts in Côte d'Ivoire and in Burundi;

10.
Takes the view that the rehabilitation of the democratic and legitimate state in Africa is an essential
condition for a lasting peace and, with that in mind, calls on the leaders of the African Union to devise a
durable, independent, proactive and democratic development policy in order to meet the basic require-
ments of the peoples of Africa;

Deems it unacceptable that, each year, debt repayment and servicing absorbs almost 40 % of the
11.
GDP of the least developed countries, while the health and education budgets remain at a pitiful level;
demands, therefore, that a global solution be found to the debt problems faced by those countries;

Takes the view that the issue of the resolution of the problem of external debt and the revision of
12.
the criteria applied by the international financial institutions constitute priorities which will enable the ACP
States to pursue development policies which is the only way that a lasting peace can be secured;

Calls on the European Commission and on the Member States to create a budget for peace and
13.
conflict prevention in Africa which must not be charged to the European Development Fund; takes the
view that this budget could be managed in conjunction with the African Union and regional organisations
in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, and that its scope should include peacekeeping operations;

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14.
Calls on the ACP States to ensure greater transparency when presenting their defence and security
budgets and to ensure that their military expenditure is proportionate to their real security needs and their
available budget for the fight against poverty;

Calls on the Council and Commission to give preference to the introduction of ‘smart’ sanctions
15.
(such as refusals to issue visas, freezing of assets, restrictions on military cooperation,
including arms
exports, or on trade relations) so that they may be more effective and adversely affect the political elite
rather than the average person;

16.
Takes the view that a certification system, such as the Kimberley Process used for the international
trade in diamonds, contributes to conflict prevention and calls for the establishment of a similar system for
other raw materials;

17.
Recommends to the Member States that they actively support the efforts being made by intergo-
vernmental and non-governmental organisations at international, regional and national level with a view to
putting a stop to illegal logging;

Conflict resolution

Takes the view that national and international undertakings also have responsibility for the resolu-
18.
tion of local and regional conflicts; calls, therefore, for the drafting of an international Code of Conduct for
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) along the lines of the Code of Conduct adopted by the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD);

19.
Calls on all countries to regulate all aspects of the arms trade and for the international community
to invoke appropriate sanctions to ensure that the business of arms supply to crisis zones, which is largely
responsible for fuelling existing conflicts and increasing the risk of new ones breaking out, does not go
unpunished;

20. Welcomes as an encouraging step forward the resolution adopted by the chiefs of staff of the
Member States of the African Union proposing the establishment of an African peacekeeping force within
the next two years;

21. Welcomes the decision taken by the Council of the European Union approving the deployment in
Bunia of a European peacekeeping force operating under a UN mandate, and the manner in which that
force was relieved by MONUC on 1 September 2003;

22.
Calls for the mandate of the forces deployed in this way in the future to be spelt out in terms which
allocate to them the resources that they require to carry out their tasks and the right and duty to imple-
ment them whenever the performance of their tasks so requires;

23.
Strongly condemns the use of child soldiers and calls on all the ACP States and on current and
future EU Member States to ratify the Protocol prohibiting the use of child soldiers and to ensure that it is
implemented;

Repeats its request to the European Commission and the Council of the European Union to appoint
24.
a High Representative with responsibility for children's rights in order to ensure general coordination,
follow-up and higher visibility for children's rights, as well as greater prominence for matters relating to
children in all European Union policies;

25.
Proposes to the governments of the ACP countries that they also create this type of position in
order to ensure general coordination and give greater prominence to matters relating to children in all rele-
vant policies;

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Establishment of a lasting peace

Takes the view that operations to ensure the end of a crisis, a return to normal life and reconstruc-

26.
tion in the countries concerned are of crucial importance for the establishment of a lasting peace;

Emphasises that, to that end, a transitional government and administration, enjoying support from
27.
the international community, should prepare the ground for a return to constitutional order at the earliest
possible opportunity;

Hopes that a genuine culture of peace and democracy may be developed through the institutions

28.
supported by the EU and the ACP States;

29.
Calls on the EU and countries close to a conflict to reward the achievement of peace and efforts to
establish democracy through the normalisation of relations with the country in question and, in the case of
the EU Member States, by offering debt relief and significant reconstruction aid;

30.
Deems it essential that the traumatised victims of violent conflicts should receive suitable psycholo-
gical and medical treatment, such treatment being of very special importance for the victims of rape and
those seriously injured by landmines;

Regards NEPAD as an initiative which, through its objectives and mechanisms, may contribute to

31.
conflict avoidance and conflict resolution and bring about political stability;

Calls on the Commission, when implementing cooperation and development programmes to assist

32.
countries emerging from conflict, to ensure that priority is given to:

— humanitarian aid,

— the economic and social reintegration of former combatants, by offering them vocational training and

by offering child soldiers access to education,

— the development of civil society,

— aid for reconstruction, in particular of institutions and public authorities,

— support for programmes seeking the more equitable distribution of wealth,

— increased representation of women in reconciliation and decision-making processes;

33.
Urges a more prominent role for the European Parliament in decision-making processes relating to
the suspension of aid (in close cooperation with the relevant EC delegations), sanctions and other measures,
and would like the European Parliament and the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly to receive more
frequent reports on the situation concerning EU cooperation with ACP States involved in armed conflicts;

Takes the view that Truth Commissions can play a pivotal role between, on the one hand, a past in
34.
respect of which clarification must be achieved and, on the other, a future with a different political regime;
strongly recommends, in this connection, that the EU, its Member States and the ACP States give their full
support to this means of reconciliation;

35.
Believes that, once armed conflicts have ceased, support measures may be needed for returning
troops in order to prevent and/or restrict any adverse impact on the local people, environment and infra-
structure;

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36.
Takes the view that the demobilisation of former combatants requires long-term funding and that
the demobilisation programmes must form part of programmes for the economic and social development
of the country concerned and of a programme for the reform of public security institutions, including the
police, the armed forces and the judiciary;

37.
Calls on the Council and Commission to support social players in the ACP States as laid down in
the new ACP-EU Partnership Agreement in order to provide an opportunity for the dialogue and structures
referred to in that Agreement and to help the parliaments concerned secure the expertise they require in
order to strengthen their position within the state apparatus;

38.
Recommends that countries in regions of conflict work together on regional disarmament
programmes, including measures to ensure that the flow of arms supplies, especially light weapons, from
all government and non-government sources is stopped;

Women and conflict

Condemns the rape and sexual violence that have been highly prevalent in refugee camps and the

39.
use of rape as a weapon of war, which has been documented throughout history;

Calls on the EU Member State and ACP governments to take gender-proactive peace- and security-

40.
related initiatives and, to that end, to:

— provide training - at headquarters and in field offices - on the gender aspects of conflict resolution and

peace-building for staff engaged in policies concerning conflict,

— provide gender-based training at an early stage in the training of military personnel so that respect for

women becomes a matter of course and a female-friendly atmosphere prevails in the army,

— ensure that, in their peacekeeping operations, the African regional organisations can benefit from the

Peace Facility established by the European Community;

Calls on the relevant authorities to protect refugees and internally displaced women and children
41.
from sexual abuse through the gender-sensitive placing of latrines and lighting, the establishment of safe
routes for the collection of supplies, water and firewood and the appropriate location of accommodation
for single women;

Calls on the EU Member State and ACP governments and negotiating organisations to include
42.
women in diplomatic conflict resolution and reconstruction initiatives at all levels and, in particular, to
require international diplomatic peace teams to hold systematic consultations with women's community-
based peace groups and organisations, ensuring that the problems and priorities of those groups and orga-
nisations are reflected in the official peace process;

Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the ACP-EU Council and the European

43.
Commission.

on poverty-related diseases and reproductive health in ACP States, in the context of the 9th EDF

RESOLUTION (1)

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly,

— meeting in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 16 to 19 February 2004,

— having regard to Article 17(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to Articles 152(3) and 177 to 181 of the EC Treaty,

(1) Adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 19 February 2004 in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)

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— having regard to Articles 25(1)(c) and (d) and 31(b)(iii) of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, signed in

Cotonou in June 2000 (1),

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 1 March 2001 on the European Community's

Development Policy (2),

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 20 September 2001 on female genital mutila-

tion (3),

— having regard to its resolution of 1 November 2001 on HIV/AIDS (4),

— having regard to its resolution of 21 March 2002 on the impact of communicable diseases on health,

young people, the elderly and people living with disabilities (5),

— having regard to its resolution of 21 March 2002 on health issues, young people, the elderly and

people living with disabilities (6),

— having regard to its resolution of 3 April 2003 on WTO negotiations on health issues (7),

— having regard to the European Parliament resolution of 4 September 2003 on the Commission

communication on Health and Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries (8),

— having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1567/2003 on aid for policies and actions on reproductive health

and rights in developing countries (9),

— having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1568/2003 on aid for poverty diseases (HIV/AIDS, malaria and

tuberculosis) in developing countries (10),

— having regard to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

(CEDAW) adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly,

— having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted and opened for
signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989,

— having regard to the Programme of Action adopted by 179 countries at the International Conference

on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, 5-13 September 1994,

— having regard to the strategic health objectives approved at the 1995 UN Beijing Conference on

Women and for Beijing +5,

— having regard to the Key Actions for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action of the
ICPD, adopted by the twenty-first special session of the UN General Assembly in New York, 30 June-2
July 1999 (ICPD +5),

— having regard to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted at the Millennium Summit of the

United Nations, 6-8 September 2000,

— having regard to the report of the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health of 20 December

2001,

— having regard to the Monterrey Consensus of the UN Financing for Development Conference, 22

March 2002,

(1) OJ L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 16.
(2) OJ C 277, 1.10.2001, p. 130.
(3) OJ C 78, 2.4.2002, p. 66.
(4) OJ C 77E, 28.3.2003, p. 22.
(5) OJ C 231, 27.9.2002, p. 57.
(6) OJ C 231, 27.9.2002, p. 55.
(7) OJ C 231, 26.9.2003, p. 31.
(8) Not yet published in OJ (COM(2002) 129).
(9) OJ L 224, 6.9.2003, p. 1.
(10) OJ L 224, 6.9.2003, p. 7.

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— having regard to the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development adopted by the United

Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, 4 September 2002,

— having regard to the worldwide initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year of 2020, known
as Vision 2020, and the World Health Organisation's Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable
Blindness,

— having regard to the Doha 2001 Declaration on relations between the TRIPs Agreement and Public

Health,

— having regard to the 2002 report of the UNPFA on the state of world population,

— having regard to the debate on the current status of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other related
in Africa at the Assembly of Heads of State and Government held in

infectious diseases (ORID)
Maputo, Mozambique, 10-12 July 2003,

— having regard to the report by the Council of Europe on the impact of the Mexico City Policy (1),

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment (ACP-EU

3640/03),

A.

B.

C.

whereas health is a basic human right recognised in Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights,

whereas poverty diseases and reproductive health must continue to be tackled through joint efforts
from the international community,

whereas millions of people continue to die of infectious diseases in the developing countries every
year although medical science is able to prevent and cure most of these diseases,

Poverty and Health

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

whereas besides HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, there are many other poverty related diseases
that merit attention, such as vesico-vaginal fistula, diarrhoea, debilitating and water-borne diseases,
skin diseases, mental and physical disorders, and other environment-related diseases,

whereas the report of the UNFPA on the state of the world population 2002 highlights that to
reduce poverty in developing countries, urgent action is needed to combat poor reproductive health,
help women avoid unwanted pregnancies, and eliminate illiteracy and general discrimination,

whereas the 2001 report of the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health notes that the
population health of developing countries in recent decades contains some good news, but mostly
bad and disastrous news,

whereas poor health diminishes personal capacity, lowers productivity and reduces earnings, hence
contributing to increase poverty,

whereas the assessment of poverty should take account not only of per capita income, life expec-
tancy, literacy and school attendance, but also of other indicators such as access to social services,

whereas investment in basic health services in developing countries is only a fraction of what is
needed,

Poverty-related diseases and their combat

J.

whereas poverty-related diseases (PRDs) are the major cause as well as the consequence of consider-
able poverty in developing countries such as ACP States, in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa,

(1) CoE document 9901, 11.9.2003

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K.

whereas the burden of PRDs, especially HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, vesico-vaginal fistula, and
infectious, diarrhoea and skin diseases, and more specifically diseases that can be prevented by vacci-
nation, is mostly borne by the Least Developed Countries (LDCs),

L.

whereas life expectancy has fallen significantly in some African countries as a result of HIV/AIDS,

M. whereas the fight against these diseases is one of the key strategies to eradicate poverty and promote
economic growth in developing countries, particularly through the achievement of the millennium
development objectives,

N.

whereas information, prevention and treatment in relation to malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS call
for different approaches for which appropriate strategies should be developed,

O. whereas HIV/AIDS is also contributing to the slowing of economic growth and activity and the
decline in agricultural production in the worst affected countries, as productive human resources are
falling prey to the infection,

P.

whereas the strategies needed to combat the epidemic effectively involve a combination of treatment,
education and prevention, and must be implemented in such a way as to reach local communities
through committed political and religious leadership,

Q. whereas infant mortality resulting from infectious diseases which are entirely preventable by vaccina-
tion places an unnecessary psychological, economic and physical burden on a population which
already has many problems to face,

R.

S.

T.

whereas the African Union Heads of State and Government meeting in July 2003 in Maputo,
Mozambique, recognised all the above by noting that these diseases are the major causes of morbidity
and mortality and constrain the socio-economic development of the Africa region, accentuating
poverty, disrupting family and social fabric and driving millions of African people to despair,

whereas young girls in particular break off their schooling to take care of their sick parents; and
whereas there are now millions of orphans worldwide living without the support of parents,

whereas initiatives to combat PRDs in ACP States need therefore to be well integrated into the coun-
tries' National Indicative Programmes (NIPs) and Regional Indicative Programmes (RIPs) and into the
social sector of intra-ACP Cooperation under the 9th EDF,

U.

whereas these initiatives should be designed in such a way that they target disadvantaged and vulner-
able groups such as women, young people and children,

V.

whereas recent developments at UN and international levels have revealed new ways of accessing
treatment and care for people living with, and affected by HIV/AIDS, mainly through access to antire-
troviral medicines,

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W. whereas, in this context, the development of the new EDCTP programme represents an important

step forward,

X.

Y.

whereas at the Doha WTO Ministerial Conference increased affordability of pharmaceutical products
and the interpretation of intellectual property rights were discussed, and a declaration on relations
between TRIPs Agreement and Public Health was adopted,

whereas an agreement was adopted by the members of the WTO on 30 August 2003 providing a
solution to the problem faced by those countries which do not have sufficient manufacturing capa-
city in the pharmaceutical sector,

Z.

whereas pharmaceuticals sold at tiered prices in developing countries should not be diverted to the
EU market,

AA. whereas 90 % of the world's health R&D is devoted to conditions that affect 10 % of the world's
population and whereas insufficient research is currently being carried out into the most neglected
diseases only affecting developing countries (e.g. sleeping sickness, Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis)
and, in the case of other diseases, into products specifically adapted to conditions of use in devel-
oping countries,

AB. whereas prevention and treatment of communicable diseases must be regarded as indispensable for

the international community, and thus considered a 'global public good',

International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)

AC. whereas the ICPD (September 1994), for the first time, focused on individuals' reproductive needs

and rights, rather than on achieving demographic targets,

AD. whereas at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, 179 States

adopted the Programme of Action (PoA),

AE. whereas the consensus reached at the Cairo Conference was reaffirmed at the five-year review of the
ICPD in 1999 and also recently at the regional meetings on ICPD +10 of the Asian, Pacific and the
Caribbean states,

AF. whereas 2004, marks the 10th anniversary of the ICPD and will see the mid-term review of its PoA,

AG. whereas reproductive health includes family planning services and information, safe motherhood
services, safe abortion, the prevention, detection and treatment of reproductive tract infections and
sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS,

AH. whereas all couples and individuals should have the basic right to decide freely and responsibly the
number and spacing of their children and to have the information, education and means to do so,

AI. whereas according to the ICPD, ‘reproductive health services should be safe and accessible, through
the primary health care system, to all individuals of appropriate ages, as soon as possible and no
later than the year 2015’,

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Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

AJ. whereas there are established links between poverty eradication and sexual and reproductive health,

AK. whereas the implementation of the ICPD PoA is essential to achieving the MDGs,

AL. whereas the three MDGs directly related to reproductive health (i.e. reducing child mortality,
improving maternal health, and combating and preventing HIV/AIDS) are the ones least likely to be
achieved by the target year 2015,

Main challenges (including vulnerable groups and HIV/AIDS)

AM. whereas complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death and disability

among women in developing countries, claiming the lives of 500,000 women each year,

AN. whereas a particular problem concerns women, very often of a young age and without easy access to
reproductive health services, who develop fistula because of unrelieved obstructed labour, the conse-
quences of which - if not treated - lead to miserable health conditions and social stigmatisation,

AO. whereas about one third of all pregnancies are unwanted or unplanned, which may lead women to

seek abortions in unsafe conditions,

AP. whereas one billion adolescents are about to enter their reproductive years,

AQ. whereas diseases of the reproductive organs, and in particular vesico-vaginal fistula, are a public

health problem in a great many ACP States,

AR. whereas half of all new HIV infections are among young people, with girls being at particular risk,

AS. whereas the WHO suggests that improved management of STIs could reduce the incidence of HIV in

the general population by about 40 %,

AT. whereas prevention of, and services for STIs and HIV/AIDS are an integral component of reproduc-

tive and sexual health programmes,

AU. whereas 80 % of the world's current refugee population are women and children; whereas, in refugee
settings, maternal mortality rates are often higher due to poor nutrition and frequent closely-spaced
pregnancies, and there is often increased unsafe sexual activity and sexual violence, including rape,
which results in an increase in HIV/AIDS and STIs,

AV. whereas the ACP-EU JPA is pleased that a number of countries have introduced a ban on harmful

traditions and practices, including female genital mutilation (FGM),

Funding shortfall and EDF support

AW. whereas in 2000 donor countries contributed only 45 % and the developing countries 76 % of the

shares stipulated in the ICPD,

AX. whereas in 2000 total spending for reproductive health, including loans and funding under the UN

system, only represented 45,6 % of the ICPD target for that year,

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AY. whereas donors and NGOs have recognised that there is an international crisis in the availability of
reproductive health supplies, and therefore unless action is taken individuals will not be able to exer-
cise their right to access basic reproductive health services and supplies,

AZ. whereas there is an uneven political commitment among donor countries and a general decline in

development aid,

BA. whereas on his first day in office, US President Bush reinstated the so-called Mexico City Policy or
‘Global Gag Rule’ which withholds US assistance from any foreign organisation, which, even with its
own funding, performs, refers, counsels on, or lobbies for abortion, regardless of whether abortion is
legal in that country,

BB. whereas the Mexico City Policy has now been extended to organisations running HIV/AIDS

programmes and even programmes for refugees and internally displaced persons,

BC. whereas there is a massive shortfall in funding for sexual and reproductive health, although the EU

has played a key role in this area through legislation and by providing ad hoc funding,

BD. whereas there is, however, a clear case for investing in sexual and reproductive health in terms of

cost-efficiency in combating poverty,

BE. whereas at the 2002 International Parliamentarians' Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD
Programme of Action, held in Ottawa, parliamentarians committed themselves to try to attain 5 to
10 % of national development budgets for population and reproductive health programmes,

BF. whereas in general terms, reproductive health has not been identified as a priority area in the
Country Strategy Papers (CSPs) of ACP States, and also there is still a significant shortfall in the finan-
cial support that would allow all children to be given access to life-saving vaccinations,

BG. whereas out of a total of 77 CSPs, only 13 have selected health as a priority area and whereas only

about 4 % of the EDF is spent on health,

Role of civil society

BH. whereas the ACP-EU JPA recognises the important and complementary role that civil society can

play at national, regional and international levels with regard to achieving the ICPD PoA,

Poverty and Health

Emphasises that besides HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis there are many other poverty related

1.
diseases, such as vesico-vaginal fistula, that must be addressed by the international community;

2.
Takes the view that the lack of access to health results both from a problem of access to care (arising
from a lack of health structures and personnel, and the absence of public healthcare systems) and from a
problem of access to treatment;

3.
Requests that when addressing poverty-related diseases in developing countries one should also
recognise their link to food safety and security, education, environment and social and economic questions;

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Stresses that poor health diminishes personal capacity and lowers productivity and income levels,

4.
hence contributing to an increase in poverty;

5.
Stresses that access to safe drinking water and a balanced diet are a sine qua non for good public
health; stresses therefore that the horizontal dimension of health and improvements in living conditions
help to raise life expectancy and to combat poverty;

6.
Recognises that special attention must be given to women, children and elderly people when addres-
sing poverty related diseases, and calls attention to the fact that each day more productive human resources
become affected by the diseases, thus increasing national economic problems;

7.
Calls on the developing countries to restore public services and basic health-care systems, and takes
the view that European aid must first and foremost serve to support internal efforts by the developing
countries to strengthen their human, institutional and infrastructure capacities;

Recalls also that repaying and servicing debt every year absorbs almost 40 % of the GDP of the least
8.
developed countries, while their education and health budgets remain derisory; takes the view also that
serious debt payment problems call for a comprehensive solution based on international and national
action;

Poverty-related diseases and their combat

9.
Recognises that the Least Developed Countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, are the most
affected by poverty-related diseases, especially HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, diseases of the reproductive
organs and infectious and skin diseases;

10.
Calls on the European Commission to include the most neglected diseases, such as sleeping sickness,
Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis, among its priorities and to ensure that effective, appropriate, easy-to-use
medicines are developed and placed on the market in the developing countries at an affordable price;

11.
Emphasises its concern at the threat of avian influenza and SARS, which are global threats and
potentially devastating for low-income countries; hopes therefore that the EU and the ACP States can work
closely and speedily with the WHO to enable ACP States to prevent and, if necessary, manage cases of
these and similar diseases;

Stresses that in order to eradicate poverty and promote economic growth in developing countries it

12.
is imperative to combat poverty-related diseases;

13.
Stresses that the strategies needed to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic effectively should involve a
combination of treatment, education and prevention, and must be implemented so as to reach local
communities through a committed political and religious leadership;

Notes that at the Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly held in July 2003 in Maputo, the Heads
14.
of State and Government of the African Union recognised that these diseases are the major causes of
morbidity and mortality and constrain the socio-economic development of the Africa region, accentuating
poverty, disrupting family and social fabric and driving millions of African people into despair;

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15.
Emphasises the essential role of the public services in meeting major health challenges and calls on
the European Commission and the Member States to promote a strengthening and widening of their cover
by: pursuing cooperation policies with this aim and organising experience exchanges between public-
service undertakings in the North and the South; exerting pressure to ensure that the IFIs' structural adjust-
ment policies are reviewed; and refraining from calling for liberalisation of the health, education and water
distribution sectors in the developing countries in the framework of bilateral and regional trade relations
and of the GCAs at the WTO;

Emphasises that initiatives to combat PRDs in ACP States need to be well

16.
integrated into the
National Indicative Programmes (NIPs), Regional Indicative Programmes (RIPs) and the social sector of
intra-ACP Cooperation under the 9th EDF;

Stresses that those initiatives should be designed in such a way that they target disadvantaged and

17.
vulnerable groups through:

— information, education and communication programmes taking into account

the social, health,

economic and cultural characteristics of the population;

— development of services that will improve access to primary care;

— policy formulation and identification of priorities giving political patronage in combating PRDs;

— enhancing collaboration with development partners and international organisations dedicated to fight
PRDs, in order to facilitate access to affordable necessary drugs and health products as well as to good
drinking water; and

— support to research and development addressing the relevant issues of PRDs in ACP States;

18.
Emphasises the recent developments at UN and international levels, in promoting new ways to
access treatment and care for people living with, and affected by HIV/AIDS, mainly through the access to
antiretroviral medicines and vaccines,
launched on 1
December 2003;

in particular supports the WHO initiative ‘3x5’

Stresses that the WTO Doha Declaration on relations between TRIPS and Public Health should form

19.
the basis of all bilateral or regional trade agreements concerning intellectual property and public health;

20.
Calls upon ACP States to implement the Doha Declaration and make use of the TRIPS flexibilities in
order to facilitate the access to the most affordable medical products needed for the prevention and treat-
ment of their population affected by poverty diseases;

21.
Calls upon the European Commission and Member States to respect, promote and support the
implementation of the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health; this declaration should form the
basis of all bilateral or regional trade agreements concerning intellectual property and public health;

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22.
Calls upon countries in the Americas to exclude Intellectual Property provisions affecting access to
medical tools necessary for the prevention and treatment of poverty-related diseases from the FTAA agree-
ment, in order to protect public health;

Stresses that appropriate mechanisms should be put in place so that pharmaceuticals sold at tiered

23.
prices in developing countries should be used in those countries and not be diverted to the EU market;

24.
Calls on the countries with manufacturing capacities to implementation the agreement quickly
without any further restrictions and fully respecting the Doha declaration on access to medicines, and calls
for close monitoring of the results to enable an informed discussion during the foreseen review of the
TRIPS Agreement;

25.
Emphasises that research and development addressing the relevant issues of poverty-related diseases
in ACP States is still insufficient and that there is a need to focus on therapeutic and preventive technology,
such as microbicides and vaccines, that meets the health needs of developing countries;

26.
Emphasises the need for co-operation with the WHO in the fight against poverty-related diseases.
Specifically requests Member States encourage a broader discussion on the effects of the TRIPS agreement
on the availability of affordable generic medicines and actively support the work ongoing presently at the
WHO on analysing Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health;

27.
Calls on the countries with R&D capacities to include the most neglected diseases, such as sleeping
sickness, leishmaniasis and buruli ulcer among its priorities and to ensure that effective, appropriate, easy-
to-use medicines are developed and marketed in the developing countries at an affordable price;

Calls for the recognition by the international community of the prevention and treatment of

28.
communicable diseases as a 'global public good';

29.
Calls for the definition of a needs-driven international R&D priority agenda which will gear invest-
ments towards obtaining medical products that will correspond to the needs of the developing countries,
will be efficient, adapted and affordable;

30.
Supports the concept of an international convention or treaty on R&D which would commit all
countries to contribute to R&D for health. This convention would outline an agreement and clear rationale
for sharing the burden of the cost of this R&D and define appropriate funding and incentive mechanisms
for governments to fulfil their commitments to public sector involvement in R&D;

International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)

Emphasises that high-quality reproductive health services must be safe, easily accessible and afford-

31.
able to all women and men worldwide throughout their reproductive health life cycle;

32.
In the context of ICPD +10, calls on the EU and the ACP States to honour the undertaking they
entered into with regard to funding the ICPD PoA with regard to equal access to basic education, training
and basic health services;

Calls on the European Commission and the ACP States to promote the ICPD PoA in their dealings

33.
with third countries and in all international fora;

34.

Calls on the EU and ACP States to fully implement the ICPD PoA;

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Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Calls on the EU and the ACP States to fully integrate sexual and reproductive health and the preven-

35.
tion of infectious diseases in children into their development policies;

Recognises that lack of data precludes early assessments of the progress towards the attainment of
36.
MDG 6 (to halve the number of new infections by 2015) and emphasises the need for investments in
monitoring and evaluation, including monitoring of national budget allocations and health outcomes as
part of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper process;

Main challenges (including vulnerable groups and HIV/AIDS)

Calls on the EU and the ACP States to recognise maternal and child mortality and morbidity as a

37.
public health priority and a reproductive right concern in their development cooperation programmes;

38.
Calls on ACP States as well as the EU to pay special attention to the plight of the very large number
of predominantly young women in rural areas in developing countries (an estimated 0.3 % of all pregnan-
cies) who suffer from fistula, and to make serious efforts with regard to the prevention as well as the treat-
ment of this grave illness;

39.
Emphasises the importance for adolescents and young men and women to have access to the educa-
tion, services and supplies necessary to develop the life skills required to lead a satisfying and healthy
sexual life;

Calls on the EU and the ACP States to finance and implement prevention campaigns to fight the
40.
HIV/AIDS pandemic, which should use integrated and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health
programs;

41.
Calls on those countries which have not yet introduced a ban on harmful practices and traditions,
such as FGM, to take action and to support information campaigns to this end, combined with measures
to improve family planning and reproductive health;

Funding shortfall and EDF support

42.
Calls on the EU and its Members States to attain a GDP percentage contributions level of 0.7 % of
development assistance, as agreed in the 1995 World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen and
reaffirmed at the Barcelona Council of 14 March 2002 as the EU's contribution to the International Confer-
ence on Financing for Development (Monterrey, March 2002);

43.
Calls on the EU and the ACP States to cooperate effectively in sharing expertise and increasing
funding for sexual and reproductive health programmes and for the prevention of vitamin deficiencies and
infectious diseases in children in order to meet the international commitments they made at the ICPD,
especially since other political forces, such as the US, are backtracking in their ICPD commitment;

44.
Given the shortfall in the security of reproductive health supplies and in combating infectious
disease, calls on the EU and the ACP States to increase their funding for reproductive health and to
improve donor co-ordination;

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45.

Calls on the European Union and the ACP States, in combating vesico-vaginal fistula, to:

— support national and local public awareness, information and education initiatives, and initiatives to

establish reception facilities for women suffering from this handicap;

— support already-existing reception facilities by providing them with the appropriate human, material

and financial resources;

— supplement programmes for the reintegration of and care for women with fistula, who are sometimes

handicapped for life;

46.

Calls on ACP States to devote more funding to healthcare;

Intends to follow the example of the parliamentarians present at the International Parliamentarians'

47.
Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action in Ottawa;

Role of Civil Society

48.
Calls on the European Commission and the governments of the ACP States to cooperate more
closely with civil society when establishing and implementing its development policy, specifically regarding
the Country Strategy Papers;

49.
Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the ACP-EU Council, the European Commis-
sion, the Council of Ministers of the European Union, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the
African Union.

RESOLUTION (1)

on cotton and other commodities: problems encountered by ACP States

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly,

— meeting in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 16 to 19 February 2004,

— having regard to its ‘Cape Town Declaration’ (South Africa) on future ACP-EU negotiations on new

trading arrangements which was adopted on 21 March 2002 (2),

— having regard to the objectives of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement signed in Cotonou on 23 June
2000 in the area of trade and poverty alleviation, and having regard to the forthcoming mid-term
review of the financing of the Cotonou Agreement in 2004,

— having regard to the Doha Ministerial Declaration and the agreement to place the needs and interests

of developing countries at the heart of the Work Programme,

— having regard to the ongoing EPA negotiations and the forthcoming UN Conference on Trade and

Development (UNCTAD) to be held in Brazil in June 2004,

— having regard to the European Commission's Action Plan on Commodities and its announcement on

the Plan of 12 February 2004 (3),

A. whereas the collapse of commodity prices is one of the important causes of world poverty today, and

whereas trade in commodities in Africa accounts for 75 % of all export income,

(1) Adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 19 February 2004 in Addis Ababa ( Ethiopia).
(2) OJ C231 of 27.9.2002, p. 63.
(3) Not yet published in OJ (COM (2004) 87).

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B. affirming the significance of commodities, in particular cotton, sugar, rice, bananas, coffee, cocoa and
tea for the economies of ACP States; recognising the need to address urgently the serious problem of
commodity dependence and sharp downward fluctuations in the prices of commodities of export
interest to ACP States,

C. whereas the EU and the ACP Group, which make up a substantial proportion of the members of the
World Trade Organisation (WTO), may have an important role to play in changing the rules of the
WTO to make them fairer and ensure that they respect more fully the ACP States' right to develop-
ment,

D. whereas the negotiations on EPAs should be an opportunity to establish a general framework for trans-
forming the economic structures of the ACP States, and whereas the new trade agreements' impact on
the development of the ACP States should be central to these negotiations,

E. having regard to the differences of opinion between the industrialised countries and the majority of the
ACP States at the Cancún trade negotiations, and in particular the lack of a solution in respect of the
West African cotton-producing countries' calls for fair prices,

F. whereas Article 36(4) of the Cotonou Agreement provides for the review of the Commodity Protocols

with a view to safeguarding the benefits which the ACP States derive therefrom,

G. whereas the Doha Development round must be pushed forward after the collapse of the WTO minis-

terial meeting in Cancún,

H. whereas developing countries should be helped to break away from over-reliance on the export of raw
agricultural commodities, with current low world prices, which holds back development in many devel-
oping countries, particularly affecting the incomes of the rural poor,

I. whereas the cotton industry occupies a very important strategic position in the efforts to combat

poverty,

J. whereas cotton makes a significant contribution to the pursuit of food security since the financing
generated by cotton has turned cotton-producing areas into the leading production areas for dry
cereals,

K. whereas the cotton sector is strategically important for combating poverty in Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin
and Chad, and whereas the subsidy amounts paid to cotton producers for the 2001/2002 harvest year
totalled:

— USD 800 million for Europe

— USD 4.1 billion for the United States, the world's leading cotton producer and exporter

— USD 1.2 billion for China,

L. whereas the exorbitant subsidies, including export subsidies, which the US, China and the EU grant to
their cotton farmers have encouraged overproduction and led to depreciation of world market prices
for cotton, with disastrous consequences including substantial loss of income for the cotton-producers
in the least developed countries,

M. whereas the collapse in coffee prices resulted in a widespread crisis for 25 million coffee farmers in
over 50 developing countries where coffee is a crucial source of rural employment and foreign
exchange earnings,

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N. whereas the collapse in commodity prices has caused a general worsening in working and living condi-
tions, especially for women who make up the majority of coffee and tea pickers, and who are involved
in the production of all commodities; and whereas there are reports of the use of child labour and
exploitative labour conditions in coffee plantations,

O. whereas the reduction of the intervention price for rice by 50 % and the increasing of direct aid to
European rice farmers could drastically affect ACP rice exports, resulting in economic, political and
social instability in the rice-supplying ACP States,

P. whereas EU banana imports from the ACP are governed by import licensing arrangements which
disproportionately penalise ACP suppliers, and whereas ACP interests have not been satisfactorily
accommodated in the reform of the EU banana regime,

Q. whereas the EU is bound by the Cotonou Agreement, especially Protocol V Article 1 thereto, to take
measures to ensure the viability of the ACP banana exporting enterprises as well as the maintenance of
outlets for ACP bananas on the Community market,

R. whereas the Common Organisation for Sugar (CMO Sugar), which incorporates specific provisions
granting some ACP States preferential access to the European market and improving the LDCs' export
potential to the EU, thereby facilitating development of important LDC industries, is due for review;
and whereas, in respect of the CMO Sugar, the Commission has proposed three options while leaving
aside the fourth option on the 'Fixed Quota System' preferred by the ACP, the LDCs and a number of
European stakeholders,

S. considering that the ACP sugar-supplying States, which are either least-developed, developing, net-food
importing, vulnerable, landlocked or small island states and single-commodity producers/exporters with
specific economic and social difficulties, depend on predictable and stable earnings from sugar exports
and preferential access to the EU,

T. whereas the kava-producing ACP States are faced with specific economic and social difficulties and
needs, and rely, inter alia, on kava export earnings for their sustainable socio-economic development,

On trade in commodities

1.
Emphasises that the ACP Group constitutes one of the major poles of developing countries and
consequently merits the support of the EU, which occupies a strategic position in the negotiating process
in that it can encourage the developed countries to accede to the legitimate demands of the developing
countries;

2. Welcomes the Commission's announcement of 12 February 2004 that it has taken a number of
initiatives to help developing countries enhance their export performance and reduce their vulnerability to
price fluctuation of major international commodities, particularly cotton and coffee;

3. Welcomes the Commission's proposal to expand and simplify the use of the FLEX instrument to
compensate for export earning losses, and notes that had the proposed criteria for the instrument been
applied to 51 cases from 2000-2002, ACP States would have received EUR 255 million through the FLEX
system, a six-fold increase in the use of the system;

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4.
Regrets that most developing countries have not benefited from added value either through proces-
sing basic commodities or from diversification to high-value cash crops; calls on the Commission to
promote the development of agro-industry in these countries and to encourage economic diversification
and product processing of cotton, sugar and other commodities;

5.
Urges that the WTO agriculture negotiations be resumed urgently and that they address export subsi-
dies and domestic support issues in accordance with the Doha WTO Ministerial Declaration, while preser-
ving existing preferential arrangements;

Calls for the WTO's rules to be reviewed to consider the concerns of the ACP States and their desire

6.
to avoid a collapse of the commodities sector;

7.
Calls on the Commission to stand by the principles enunciated in its initial draft recommendation to
the Council and to recommend granting duty-free access to its markets for all agricultural products from
ACP States in the EPA negotiations;

8.
Calls on the European Commission and the ACP States to propose, in the context of the ACP-EU
trade negotiations, an appropriate regulation for trade to further the objectives of sustainable development,
eradicate poverty and enable ACP States to forego external aid;

Calls on the EPA negotiations to back regional initiatives in support of commodity development such
investment promotion and

9.
as regional networks of farmers' organisations, quality enhancing services,
commodity branch organisations;

On cotton

10.
Calls for a lasting solution to the problems experienced by West, East and Central African countries
and other cotton-producing members of the ACP Group, and seeks to obtain the elimination of all forms
of export subsidies in this sector, as well as the elimination of other trade-distorting domestic subsidies,
concomitantly with fair and equitable compensation for the LDC cotton producers commensurate with
their loss of resources, on the basis of a precise timetable;

Reaffirms the strategic nature of cotton for development and for combating poverty in many coun-

11.
tries and above all in the LDCs;

12.
Highlights that ACP States can be extremely effective when working together on commodities
issues, exemplified by the launching by four West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad)
of the ‘cotton initiative’ ahead of the WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancún (10-14 September 2003), in
which they call for the phasing-out of domestic support for cotton production and for 'transitional
measures in the form of financial compensation for cotton-producing LDCs to offset their loss of revenue',
and the so-called 'Non-Paper' initiative by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania presented to the WTO 5th Minis-
terial Conference;

On coffee

13.
Calls for development partners and ACP governments to invest in value-addition processing of
commodities such as coffee to help the recovery from the sector's declining profitability, and welcomes the
strategy of the Kenyan government launched on 4 February 2004 aimed at doing this;

On rice

14.
Calls on the EC to implement fully all the necessary adjustments to the currently applied manage-
ment of the quota system and to consider remedial and compensatory measures to the ACP rice sector and
the removal of quotas and tariffs to alleviate the negative impacts on ACP rice exporters;

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On bananas

15.
Calls on the European Commission to consult in advance with the ACP States on proposals for
changes to the autonomous quota consequent on EU enlargement, and to ensure that any measures taken
do not undermine the stability of the EU market or further threaten the viability of ACP banana exports;

16.
Calls on the EU to introduce immediate measures to halt and reverse the continued deterioration of
prices and to preserve access to the European market for ACP bananas at a remunerative price, while
ensuring that any increase in the quota for bananas resulting from EU enlargement does not cause distur-
bance on the EU market for bananas that would further threaten the viability of ACP banana producers;

Stresses that the tariff for bananas as from 2006 must be at a level which will ensure the continued

17.
viability of the ACP banana industry;

On sugar

18.
Acknowledges that countries benefiting from the Sugar Protocol under the Cotonou Agreement, the
special preferential sugar arrangement and the ‘Everything But Arms’ initiative could suffer from important
income losses caused by price reductions, and calls on the Commission to help attain adequate prices for
imports from developing countries, in particular from the LDCs;

Calls on the European Commission to guarantee adequate earnings for ACP sugar exporters when

19.
formulating the policy options of the EU sugar regime;

20.
Calls on the European Commission, in conjunction with the ACP Group of States, to take all the
necessary measures to defend ACP sugar imports into the EU and the terms and conditions of ACP prefer-
ential access against challenges brought by Australia, Brazil and Thailand;

Calls on the concerned EU Member States urgently to review, on the basis of scientific evidence, the

21.
ban and restriction on, and market recalls of, kava and kava-based products in the EU Member States;

On social responsibility

22.
Calls on the Commission and ACP States to provide programmes for the workers that have suffered
as a result of the global collapse in commodity prices, through retraining and financial support, taking into
account the particular needs of women who make up such a high proportion of the workforce in many
commodities production processes;

23. Welcomes the pledge in the Commission's Action Plan to engage international commodities compa-
nies in the promotion of corporate social responsibility and sustainable codes of conduct, and calls on the
EU and its Member States to make the promotion of fair trade products a priority;

Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution for implementation and appropriate follow-up

24.
to the ACP-EU Council, the European Commission, the African Union and the WTO.

RESOLUTION (1)

on the damage caused by cyclones in the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean and the need
for a rapid response to natural disasters

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly,

— meeting in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 16 to 19 February 2004,

— having regard to its previous resolutions on the Pacific, Indian Ocean and Caribbean regions,

(1) Adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 19 February 2004 in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).

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C 120/45

— having regard to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed at the United

Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992,

A. whereas tropical cyclone Heta recently ravaged the South Pacific islands of the Cook Islands, Niue,
Samoa and Tonga, and cyclone Elita ravaged the west coast of Madagascar resulting in fatalities, leaving
several people injured and hundreds homeless, and causing extensive damage to housing, infrastructure
and agricultural crops, on which the local population heavily depends for its subsistence,

B. recalling the 1994 Declaration of Barbados and the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDSs), and mindful of the convening in Mauritius in
September 2004 of the UN Barbados +10 Conference on SIDSs,

C.

taking into account the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and the Plan of Imple-
mentation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which took place in Johannes-
burg, South Africa, in August 2002, and in particular the international strategy defined to address the
particular vulnerability of Small Island Developing States,

D. having regard to the growing number of natural hazards and disasters and the increase in the devas-
tating violence thereof, the origin of which may be found in climate change, demographic pressure and
the impact human beings have on nature throughout the world,

E. whereas the impact of global warming caused by excessive fossil fuel burning, atmospheric pollution

and deforestation is the main cause of global climate change,

F. whereas despite a firm commitment to reverse the consequences of climate change, undertaken at the
Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, no substantial progress has been made so far, particularly in reducing
atmospheric pollution by carbon dioxide,

G. whereas disasters not only result in a significant number of victims and high socio-economic costs but

also hinder development processes,

H. whereas the principles and objectives of Article 72 of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement provide that
humanitarian and emergency assistance shall be accorded to the population in the ACP States faced
with serious economic and social difficulties of an exceptional nature resulting from natural disasters
and man-made crisis,

I.

firmly believing that devoting greater attention to the prevention of natural risks in the drawing-up and
implementation of development strategies would make a major contribution to achieving the priority
objective of sustainable development,

J. noting also that such assistance shall aim to safeguard human lives in crisis and immediate post-crisis
situations brought about by natural disasters, conflict or war and that it shall be maintained as long as
necessary to deal with the emergency needs resulting from these situations,

K. regretting that the Kyoto Protocol has not yet been ratified by enough states to come into force,

Expresses its sympathy and understanding of the grave predicament facing the governments and
1.
peoples of the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tonga, in the aftermath of cyclone Heta, and the govern-
ment and people of Madagascar, in the aftermath of cyclone Elita;

Calls on the EU to urgently address the humanitarian and reconstruction needs of the South Pacific
2.
islands of the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tonga, and of Madagascar, which were ravaged by cyclones
Heta and Elita, in order to alleviate the suffering of the affected populations and to prevent any shortfall in
medical and food supplies, as well as to help restoring essential infrastructure such as water and energy;

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30.4.2004

3.
Draws the attention of the Commission, the Council and the Member States to the topic of disaster
prevention and preparedness, with a view to securing greater protection of human lives, preventing
suffering and limiting the economic consequences of disasters;

Urges the Commission to pay special attention to the critical role of measures such as soil conserva-

4.
tion, reforestation and sound water management schemes in the context of disaster prevention;

5.
Encourages the governments of the ACP and EU States to adopt a fast-track approach and to render
the required assistance to facilitate the quickest possible recovery for these Pacific islands and Madagascar,
while firmly supporting the work done by the EU in South-East Asia, Bangladesh, Central America and the
Caribbean by means of a global approach involving ECHO and the EDF;

6.
Calls on all countries to honour their commitment by ratifying and bringing into force the Kyoto
Protocol on Climate Change and considers that an effective global response to the problem of climate
change is required, stressing that industrialised countries should take the lead in combating the effects of
greenhouse gases;

7.
Calls on the EU to make resources readily available from the EDF, where necessary in addition to
National Indicative Programme and Regional Indicative Programme allocations, in order to provide urgent
humanitarian assistance, and to support the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the physical and social
infrastructure of the affected countries;

8.
Urges the governments of the ACP and EU States to consider establishing a general fund to enable
the implementation of an all-ACP disaster-preparedness programme, as well as the post-crisis management
of natural disasters;

9.
States once again its firm belief that disaster prevention should be systematically taken into account
in EU development cooperation policy, particularly in the implementation of the Cotonou Partnership
Agreement between the ACP States and the European Union;

10.
Insists that the various aspects of disaster prevention and preparedness (prevention itself, preparing
for disasters and mitigating the consequences of disasters) should be regarded as a fully-fledged component
of development and development cooperation policies as regards both general programmes and specific
projects within those programmes, and calls in particular for any humanitarian operation financed by the
EU to include a prevention aspect;

Calls for greater account to be taken of the high socio-economic costs of disasters and the benefits
strategies,

11.
of disaster prevention in the environmental assessments of
programmes and projects conducted by the European Union;

the development policies,

Acknowledges that sea level rise is a potential threat to the survival of small

12.
island countries
because it leads to more severe tropical storms, disruption of limited fresh water supplies and decreasing
biodiversity in marine resources;

13.
Calls on the ACP and EU States to fix a specific target for the use of renewable energy and considers
that renewable energy should be put at the heart of ACP-EU development cooperation programmes under
the Cotonou Partnership Agreement;

14.
Looks forward to the International SIDSs meeting, scheduled to take place in Mauritius during
August and September 2004 to review the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for the
Sustainable Development of SIDSs and requests that the JPA be represented at that conference in order to
give its position on the consequences of natural disasters on ACP States and the measures to be adopted in
favour of SIDSs;

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C 120/47

Commends the efforts of the Pacific Islands Forum in assisting the affected countries, in particular

15.
through its Regional Disaster Relief Fund;

Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the ACP-EU Council, the Commission, and
16.
the Secretaries-General of the United Nations, the Commonwealth, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Cari-
forum.