European Parliament resolution on Nepal
Date: 2005-02-24
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: EU relations, Nepal, aid policy, aid to refugees, censorship, common foreign and security policy, political prisoner, political situation, political violence, restriction of liberty, state of emergency

1.12.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 304 E/407

Thursday 24 February 2005

10.
Recalls that the self-appointed Togolese authorities must take full responsibility for any attacks made
against the physical safety of civilians, in particular representatives of opposition political parties, human
rights activists and journalists;

Calls on the Commission not to restart negotiations with a view to a gradual resumption of coop-

11.
eration until after free and transparent presidential and parliamentary elections have been held;

12.

Calls on the Commission to propose targeted sanctions against those responsible for the ‘coup d'état’;

13.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Secretaries-
General of the UN, the AU and Ecowas, the Co-Presidents of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly,
and the President, Government and National Assembly of Togo.

P6_TA(2005)0058

Nepal

European Parliament resolution on Nepal

The European Parliament,

— having regard to its previous resolutions on Nepal,

— having regard to the European Union Declaration of 3 February 2005 on the royal take-over in Nepal,

— having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas on 1 February 2005 King Gyanendra, in an unconstitutional act, dismissed the government,

assumed direct power and declared a state of emergency,

B. whereas by the suspension of key parts of the constitution which protect fundamental rights and free-
doms, the placing of party leaders under house arrest, the incarceration of thousands of political and
human rights activists, journalists and trade unionists, the enforcement of complete media censorship
and the cutting of all communication lines, the country was effectively brought under military rule in a
‘coup d'état’,

C.

concerned that Nepal is among the poorest countries in Asia, with almost 40 % of its twenty-three
million people living below the poverty line, and that the conflict has had a devastating impact on
the already desperately poor rural population,

D. whereas in January 2005 the Nepalese Government ordered the closure of the Tibetan Refugee Welfare
Office (TRWO) in Kathmandu, which provided relief services to Tibetan refugees as an implementing
partner of the UNHCR,

1.
Strongly condemns the seizure of power by King Gyanendra on 1 February 2005 and the subsequent
campaign of arbitrary arrests, censorship and general repression, as well as the suspension of fundamental
constitutional rights, including freedom of assembly and expression, the right to information and privacy,
and the prohibition of arbitrary detention;

2.
Underlines that any search for a solution by military means will merely add to and prolong the
suffering of the Nepalese people and firmly believes that a negotiated and democratically based solution is
the only sustainable way to end the current conflict, recommends that a neutral third party, such as the UN
or the EU High Representative for the CFSP, Mr Javier Solana, be involved in arbitrating such negotiations;

3.
Calls on King Gyanendra to lift the state of emergency and to restore all fundamental freedom and
calls for all parties, once that is done, to work together with a view to re-establishing parliamentary democ-
racy and to start a process to resolve the armed conflict;

C 304 E/408

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

1.12.2005

Thursday 24 February 2005

4. Welcomes the release of some political prisoners, but remains deeply concerned that other political
leaders, students and human rights activists remain in detention or are under house arrest after the royal
take-over;

5.
Stresses that press censorship and the severing of communications with the outside world prevent
public scrutiny of the army's actions and have put the Nepalis at greater risk of abuse, and asks for freedom
of the media and communications to be fully restored;

Expresses its deep concern at the great number of alleged unlawful killings, widespread torture, impun-
6.
ity and other human rights violations by both the security forces and the Maoists, and appeals to both sides
of the conflict to sign human rights accords as a first measure to curb the abuses which are giving rise to
anxiety and fear among the population;

7.

Calls for the suspension of all military assistance;

Calls on the Council to impose smart sanctions against the ruling elites in government and the mili-

8.
tary until democracy is restored in Nepal;

9.
Calls on the EU to review its assistance to Nepal, to scrutinise closely the final destination of all
assistance to Nepal in order to ensure that it serves its primary purpose of poverty alleviation, to address
the underlying causes of conflict in the country and to fund conflict resolution programmes;

10.
Urges the Council and the Commission to support a resolution on Nepal at the 61st session of the
UN Human Rights Commission, and urges the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to appoint a
Special Rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in Nepal at its Geneva meeting in March 2005;

11.
Calls on both sides of the conflict to accept the deployment of human rights observers under the
auspices of the National Human Rights Commission and calls on the EU and the UN to offer technical and
financial assistance for this purpose;

12.
Calls on the Nepalese Government to allow the TRWO and the representative office of the Dalai
Lama in Kathmandu to resume operations, and expresses its concern that the closure might be interpreted
as a trade-off with China on the state of emergency;

13.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, King Gyanendra,
the Governments of India and the other SAARC member states, the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

P6_TA(2005)0059

The Special Court for Sierra Leone: the case of Charles Taylor

European Parliament resolution on the Special Court for Sierra Leone: the case of Charles Taylor

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, established through an agreement between the
United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution
1315 of 14 August 2000, with the aim of putting on trial those accused of war crimes, crimes against
humanity and violations of international law committed in Sierra Leone,

— having regard to international

thereto on war crimes,

law, particularly the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II