European Parliament resolution on the situation in Iraq
Date: 2004-09-16
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Iraq, democratisation, economic reconstruction, establishment of peace, fight against crime, international relations, national election, terrorism, the EU's international role

9.6.2005

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 140 E/157

Thursday 16 September 2004

20.
Calls on the Government of the Sudan to agree to the establishment of an international human
rights commission which can independently assess the crimes committed in the Darfur region since April
2003;

21.
Calls for consideration to be given to the establishment of an international police force to increase
protection and security for civilians at risk and with a view to advising and supporting the Sudanese police
and to restoring civilians' confidence and sense of security;

Asks the Government of the Sudan to further speed up its issuing of visas for humanitarian aid

22.
workers travelling to Khartoum and beyond;

23.
Condemns the kidnapping and holding by the SLA of six aid workers from 28 August until 6 Sept-
ember and calls upon all armed groups in the region to stop targeting those involved in humanitarian work
and to allow them to do their duty without fear of intimidation;

24. Welcomes the agreement between the UNHCR and the Chadian Government to deploy policemen
around the refugee camps in Chad in order to ensure their security;

25.
Calls on the EU Member States to coordinate their offers of support to the African Union rather than
acting bilaterally in order to lessen the bureaucratic burden on the African Union at a time of such heavy
pressure;

26.
Calls on all parties involved in the conflict to refrain from the recruitment and use of child soldiers
under the age of 18, and calls on the Sudanese authorities to protect displaced children, especially unac-
companied minors, as laid down in the relevant Conventions;

Urges the Government of Eritrea to refrain from providing any direct or indirect support to those

27.
involved in the conflict in Darfur;

Calls on the Governments of Chad, Libya and the Central African Republic to control the trade in

28.
small arms in the region more closely;

29.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government of
the Sudan, the African Union, the Governments of the EU Member States, the United States of America,
Norway, Chad, Libya, Eritrea, Egypt and China, the UN Secretary-General, the Co-Presidents of the ACP-EU
Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the ACP Council.

P6_TA(2004)0013

Situation in Iraq

The European Parliament,

European Parliament resolution on the situation in Iraq

— having regard to its previous resolutions of 16 May 2002 on the situation in Iraq eleven years after the
Gulf War (1) and 30 January 2003 on the situation in Iraq (2), its recommendation of 24 September
2003 on the situation in Iraq (3) and Decision 2004/155/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 18 December 2003 on the mobilisation of the flexibility instrument in favour of the reha-
bilitation and reconstruction of Iraq according to point 24 of the interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May
1999 (4),

(1) OJ C 180 E, 31.7.2003, p. 499.
(2) OJ C 39 E, 13.2.2004, p. 67.
(3) OJ C 77 E, 26.3.2004, p. 226.
(4) OJ L 54, 23.2.2004, p. 1.

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9.6.2005

Thursday 16 September 2004

— having regard to UN Security Council resolutions 1483 (1), 1500 (2), 1502 (3), 1511 (4) and 1546 (5),

— having regard to Rule 103(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. noting the unanimous adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1546 confirming the sovereign
status of the Iraqi Interim Government from 30 June 2004, and supporting its implementation,

B. whereas, at its meeting of 17-18 June 2004, the European Council reaffirmed its commitment to estab-
lishing a secure, stable, unified, prosperous and democratic Iraq, and noting the conclusion of the
General Affairs Council of 13 September 2004,

C. welcoming the Commission communication (COM(2004) 0417) on the European Union and Iraq and

the framework for engagement proposed therein,

D. whereas the political and security situation in Iraq remains unstable, causing numerous deaths and

injuries among Europeans, the Iraqi people and international military personnel,

Strongly condemns all indiscriminate violence and in particular all the terrorist attacks against civi-
1.
lians, religious minorities, police forces and soldiers of the multinational force, the taking of hostages,
including journalists and NGO personnel, and the atrocious murders which have been committed and
remain unpunished; affirms that every effort must be made to stop such attempts to weaken, through the
use of violence, the determination of the Iraqi Government and the international community to proceed
with the democratic process;

2.
Particularly condemns in the strongest terms the abduction of French journalists Christian Chesnot
and Georges Malbrunot, as well as Italian aid workers Simona Torretta and Simona Pari and of a British
citizen, and demands their immediate unconditional release, as well as that of all other hostages, whatever
their national origin; welcomes the many expressions of solidarity by Iraqi citizens and in the Islamic world
with the hostages; calls on the Iraqi authorities and all the official bodies concerned to make every effort to
secure the release of the hostages and not to create any obstacles to this endeavour; demands that every-
thing be done to repatriate the mortal remains of the Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni;

Urges the Presidency of the Council, the High Representative for CFSP and the Commission to support

3.
initiatives to this end by the Member States concerned;

4.
Calls on the new Iraqi government authorities and the religious communities in the country, in par-
ticular all the religious authorities, to condemn strongly, clearly and unequivocally every form of terrorism;

Reaffirms the determination of the European Union to assist the transformation of Iraq and its reinte-
independent and democratic partner country;

5.
gration into the international community as a sovereign,
strongly supports the medium-term strategy issued by the Commission in line with these principles;

6.
Demands that the elections to the transitional National Assembly, which are scheduled to be held by
January 2005 and are considered a major step towards the establishment of a democratic Iraq, be free and
fair and with the full participation of women;

7.
Supports the Commission proposal to allocate a further EUR 200 million EU contribution towards
Iraq's reconstruction in 2005, and urges the Council to use the flexibility instrument to implement that
commitment without reducing expenditure in other areas of EU external action; insists that the reconstruc-
tion process should be transparent in all its aspects, in particular political, economic and financial;

(1) UNSCR 1483 of 22 May 2003 on the ‘Authority’

in Iraq after the war and the competence of the UN Special

Representative.

(2) UNSCR 1500 of 14 August 2003 on the establishment of the representative Governing Council of Iraq and the

establishment of the United Nations Assistance Mission.

(3) UNSCR 1502 of 26 August 2003 calling for protection of UN and humanitarian personnel.
(4) UNSCR 1511 of 16 October 2003.
(5) UNSCR 1546 of 8 June 2004.

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Thursday 16 September 2004

8.
Recommends that its Foreign Affairs Committee prepare a comprehensive report on the situation in
Iraq, taking into account the consequences of the war and all problems related to the rehabilitation, recon-
struction and stabilisation of that country;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the High Representative for CFSP, the
9.
Commission, the Parliaments of the Member States, the Iraqi Interim Government, the Iraqi Interim Parlia-
ment, the UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council.

P6_TA(2004)0014

CITES Convention

European Parliament resolution on the EU strategic objectives for the 13th Meeting of the Confer-
ence of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the 13th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the Convention on Inter-
national Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to be held from 2 to 14 October
2004 in Bangkok, Thailand,

— having regard to Rule 108(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas CITES is the largest global wildlife conservation agreement in existence, preventing the over-
exploitation due to international trade of wild fauna and flora species, with 166 parties, including the
25 Member States,

B. whereas human consumption of natural resources, habitat destruction, climate change, over-exploitation
of wild species and illegal trade in wild fauna and flora are the main causes of the impoverishment of
the Earth's biodiversity,

C. whereas public awareness in consumer countries has been and remains essential to the control of

poaching and illegal international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora,

D. whereas CITES has a complementary role to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other
fisheries bodies in the conservation of marine fish species which may be threatened by international
trade,

E. whereas the International Whaling Commission (IWC), recognised by CITES as the body having auth-
ority to regulate the conservation and management of whales, has decreed a worldwide moratorium on
commercial whaling,

F. whereas the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals has listed the Great
White Shark in CMS Appendices I and II, Australia listed the species in CITES Appendix III in 2001,
with reservations from Norway and Japan, and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) has listed the
species as ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species since 1996,

G. whereas at the 12th Meeting of the CoP the parties, contrary to the recommendation contained in the
European Parliament's resolution of 24 October 2002 on the 12th Conference of the Parties to the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) (1), approved
a proposal to allow trading in ivory by Botswana, Namibia and South Africa; whereas, however, the
conditions laid down in that decision were not fulfilled by the time limit set by the 12th Meeting of the
CoP,

(1) OJ C 300 E, 11.12.2003, p. 621.