kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
in the past year and a half he worked tirelessly to project in the entire world the eu engagement in favour of human rights. he put human rights on the table where it matters most he discussed our human rights concerns with the authorities of a large number of countries;
malala also reminded us that there are nearly eight hundred million people who still lack basic literacy skills and almost two thirds are women.
country. the forum gave the eu an opportunity to highlight the importance it places on engagement with civil society as a key component of the transition and to discuss the key challenges facing the country including human rights reconciliation minorities and the quest for sustainable
february. the two thousand and thirteen human rights council in geneva saw the eu successful in all its objectives including by expanding the mandates of the special rapporteurs for myanmar the dprk freedom of religion or belief belarus
this is why we are particularly proud of the successful outcome of the fifty seventh session of the un commission on the status of women where the eu took a particularly active stance as concerns the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.
society. let me assure you that we take very seriously mr kukans invitation to work closely with civil
particularly to mention that we continue to support ngos financially notably through the eidhr instruments. and by way of concluding let me simply say that with your support we will continue to reinforce our actions
and a set of concrete actions will be taken to face this huge problem.
it is this house out of the eu institutions that keeps the suffering of the kashmiri people on the agenda.
i am afraid that our flag ought to represent something for which we can be proud and in many instances it does but when it comes to the issue of kashmir it represents nothing other than double standards.
the plight of so many people like them is now becoming so desperate but yet we as a union are simply not doing what is necessary to help alleviate the problems they are suffering.
if it were not for the amendments in addition to paragraph seventy two i am afraid that kashmir and the plight of kashmiris would have been completely omitted from this report.
turning to the plight of christian minorities both he and i heard directly from coptic christian minorities in egypt about the suffering that they are having to face today.
it is not the council it is not the commission.
that is something that i am afraid the people of kashmir will remind us about one day.
i really do appreciate that.
as reiterated in the report there was a significant breakthrough in the integration of human rights in the eu's external relations last year. the adoption of the strategic framework has made it possible for our human rights policies to turn into tangible results that increase the protection of fundamental rights and values.
without any doubt the eu has become the biggest global power for protecting and promoting human rights in the world.
for that reason we bear an immense moral duty to continue along this path and not close our eyes to serious human rights breaches around the world.
from the cultural genocide in tibet to the tragic death of sergei magnitsky from the large scale spying scandal to bloodshed in the central african republic human rights are breached in the worst possible ways in different places around the world and still there are many who do not care about these issues.
last and not least at every session here in strasbourg we talk about three urgent breaches of human rights around the world.
unfortunately the timing of the debate does not allow many colleagues to be present and for that reason our position is often not heard enough.
i believe this needs to change.
but sometimes when we discuss urgency motions here on thursday afternoons i am often surprised at the fact that we continue to give support of one kind or another to countries where human rights are grossly disrespected.
i think we should be tougher with these countries to make it clear that our aid is conditional on respect for human rights.
this annual report provides a solid and comprehensive overview and many valuable recommendations on the eu's human rights policy.
the adoption of a strategic framework and action plan on human rights and democracy has clearly given all of us an important tool to implement and monitor the eu's human rights policy and i urge the eeas and member states to stick to their commitments and to effectively implement this action plan.
i welcome the strong reference in the report to the business and human rights nexus and to the issues of coherence between internal and external eu policies.
the eu's human rights policy statements and commitments cannot and should not be disconnected from its other policies such as trade and migration which directly impact on the enjoyment of human rights outside our borders.
i call on the eeas and member states to do much more to mainstream human rights in these external polices.
in this regard i regret that the entire reference to migration policy including frontex and readmission agreements as well as to other internal eu human rights challenges such as the situation of the roma detention conditions and the accountability of secret services were rejected by the committee on foreign affairs.
mr president on behalf of the ecr group let me congratulate my friend pn kukan on his comprehensive report on human rights in the world.
i join colleagues in endorsing the bulk of this year's report which outlines the potentially beneficial role played by the external action service amongst other things in addition to the perennial human rights probes we face in north korea iran china zimbabwe belarus and russia particularly russia with the ongoing shameful magnitsky
the ecr is committed to improving democracy and human rights both within the eu and outside of it.
i recently authored a human rights report on the sahel in western sahara where i made clear the importance of civic political cultural and minority rights in addition to the importance of linking human rights with developmental policies.
as ever the debate will continue about what constitutes a human right and as such i have misgivings about the term universality.
all human rights originate in a specific time and cultural context. for instance i distinguish between fundamental civil and political rights versus the social economic rights favoured by the left of this house.
sometimes we must accept that simply because we do approve of a certain cultural practice such as levirate or sororate marriages in parts of africa and the middle east it does not necessarily constitute a breach of human rights.
human rights policy must be aimed at helping those most vulnerable with the least heard voices live the lives that they have freely chosen without harming others.
we must continue to work with the eu instruments and with all our international partners in the democratic world to ensure that this may some day become a reality for all on this planet.
in particular the court welcomes the fact that the discharge resolution identifies the opportunity for the commission to foster a performance culture in european union financial management. second the court also welcomes parliament's call for the commission to implement effective net financial corrections on member states' controls
in two thousand and twelve and two thousand and thirteen the commission was unable to meet all payment requests.
during the current financial framework period.
recommending some better and more sturdy structures of procurement for the institutions for the future.
therefore parliament is recommending that the commission make smaller procurement contracts for ict and carefully consider what kind of infrastructures democratic institutions need in order to transparently and securely communicate with their citizens.
we have also encouraged the administration of the european parliament which has been at the forefront of some very successful projects like the at four am to collaborate further with the secretary general of the commission in order to identify further improvements to be made in an open source and secure root to the base level ict infrastructures of the institutions.
we should instead be cutting the eu budget by a minimum of the same level of the error.
two billion in the accounts. it is now clear to me that the discharge procedure is a pantomime.
those who approve the budget are the same voices asking for budget increases year after year for the same member states they blame for the irregularities.
this is a pity because it is the president who is politically responsible for both the budget and its implementation.
as is the case every year we grant discharge in paragraph one of our decision to our president and in the same way as every year the president has not been present in any part of the decision making process on the discharge of our own house.
this is the same man who is now asking the european people to trust him with the running of the commission the executive institution that sets policy for five hundred million citizens but who is not able to accept a very short text which makes some very relevant remarks with respect to his conduct as the president of parliament.
maybe that is because the president is from the social democrat colleague's group?
i would like to thank all the shadows the agencies the network and of course the court of auditors for their continued support and cooperation. i think we can be relatively satisfied with the way we have identified and addressed the problems that affected the agencies' performance.
an impossible task.
however let me also use this opportunity to say that i welcome commissioner emeta's words on concentrating on the most obvious national risks but i sincerely hope the commission makes good on its promise to use all
the end result achieves the goals we set out for ourselves as the discharge authority.
financial oversight has to be performed to the fullest extent. i believe the result of the vote tomorrow will demonstrate our commitment to that goal.
in addition the discharge resolution gives the commission guidance for further action to be taken.
i believe that now is also the time to look forward.
i think it is a very good instrument but it lacks transparency as well.
good cooperation between the institutions and between the commission and the member states is essential to achieve the envisaged improvements.
of course more work has to be done to further improve the management of new funds both at eu and at national level.
european businesses which invest in bangladesh play a vital role in helping to stimulate economic growth and create jobs.
it has happened in several cases such as myanmar and belarus where the general gsp arrangement was withdrawn and in sri lanka where the gsp was withdrawn.
we are committed to improving environmental and social standards globally.
that is why the eu has been at the forefront of efforts to secure improvements in safety standards in bangladesh.
we need to work as intensively as possible in multilateral organisations such as the wto and ilo to improve core international obligations in this area and we need to ensure that businesses from the eu are able when they invest overseas to be a force for good in pushing for the highest standards in the workplace.
i know that corporate social responsibility is of particular concern to this parliament and we look forward to reading your report on this issue in response to the commission's latest communication.
all gsp arrangements can be temporarily withdrawn from those countries where there is evidence of serious and systematic violation of the principles contained in those conventions.
more generally the eu has a range of instruments available to help us address this issue not just in bangladesh but wherever safety standards at work are a cause for concern.
we need to develop further our work through concrete projects to improve working conditions.
the generalised system of preferences is one of the most important instruments available to us to connect social and human rights issues to trade policy.
i know that parliament is also concerned about the increasing risks of environmental and social dumping and the consequent distortions of competition on the eu market.
that has led to our insistence on the inclusion in bilateral trade agreements of provisions on sustainable development.
the clothing sector is the mainstay of the bangladeshi economy.
this problem has served to highlight the problem of working conditions in many factories in bangladesh and in particular the routine breach in many cases of basic safety rules.
they have a basic right to decent safe and secure working conditions.
we cannot let this incident pass without renewing our efforts to support the bangladeshi authorities in raising standards of occupational safety and health in the industry and indeed throughout the country.
i know that we all share a sense of shock at what happened and extend our profound sympathy to all those who lost family members and loved ones.
bangladesh's exports performance over recent years has been very strong thanks in part to the duty free and quota free market access which the eu offers to imports from bangladesh in the context of the everything but arms' arrangement which is an integral part of the eu's generalised system of tariff preferences.
we share these concerns and will continue to make full use of all the options available in our own legislation and through the sustainable development clauses in bilateral free trade agreements in order to counter these risks. a further important aspect is that of investment.
it does not mean that we are not active more widely. we continue to do what we can to take forward this agenda within the international organisations such as the wto and the international labour organisation.
we have been supporting a number of projects to help employers' associations and others to ensure compliance with health and safety rules and we raise these issues regularly in our discussions with both government and business representatives. this is important work but the tragic fire in ashulia shows that more needs to be done.
we cannot allow the lives of workers there or indeed anywhere to be put at risk.
i would like to focus this afternoon on how we can make effective use of these trade policy instruments and in particular their link to the promotion of international labour organisation guidelines and recommendations.
but it has to be of concern to us when goods are produced in factories with unacceptably low safety standards and where employees routinely put themselves at risk simply in carrying out their daily work.
we must make full use of the eu's own instruments such as the gsp to exert pressure on those countries which routinely allow basic safety standards to be flouted.
in addition to the general gsp system special arrangements for sustainable development and good governance known as gsp provide for additional trade preferences for countries which ratify and effectively implement twenty seven specific international conventions including those on core international human rights and labour rights.
they can also of course help in improving employment practices and working conditions not least given that many of them have brought corporate social responsibility policies and initiatives into the workplace in third countries.
for the time being the main mechanisms for pursuing these political objectives are bilateral given the limited prospects for the establishment of multilateral rules and relations between trade labour and the environment within the wto framework.
thirdly our ambassador william hanna met with officials of the bangladesh garment manufacturers and exporters association last month to discuss cooperation on factory safety in the garment sector in bangladesh. fourthly the eu heads of mission in dhaka have agreed that their missions should have a discussion in early two thousand and thirteen with representatives of major eu garment
we will be happy to inform you of the outcome of these discussions. we in the eu have made a commitment to strongly support the promotion and implementation of internationally recognised standards of corporate social responsibility and the minister has already spoken in great detail on that.
consequently what happens in the social sphere in bangladesh is of direct concern to our businesses to our consumers and to our society.
we fully recognise our role and responsibility as bangladesh's largest trade partner.
for example in two thousand and eleven we had a seminar in dhaka on the decent labour agenda which brought together representatives from all sectors.
we are also working closely with the bangladesh fire service and civil defence directorate.
those include support to the government and employers' associations to provide compliance audits in factories and training for labour inspectors and factory compliance officers.
this is exactly what we are determined to do and this is exactly what we do.
the eu ambassadors issued a joint statement of condolence which highlighted the importance we attach to social issues and safety in particular to our relations with third countries we trade with.
stimulating trickle down of the wealth generated by the garment and other industries to the poorest segments of society is and will be key for the future stability of the country and is integrated in our development dialogue with bangladesh. let me just sum up by saying that this was a
for example we have provided equipment and training to help improve the directorate's fire fighting capabilities in factories.
companies concerning factory safety.
secondly we have consistently made occupational health and safety a core element in the work we do on the ilo decent work agenda and with other partners we are supporting concrete projects in many countries including bangladesh.
mr president firstly i would like to express my sincere condolences to the families of the one hundred and twelve workers who needlessly lost their lives at the tazreen fashions ltd factory in november of last year and to the families of all of the estimated seven hundred other garment workers who have lost their lives in industrial fires in bangladesh since.
the bangladeshi government regularly breaks up their protests sometimes in an armed fashion and there is a hand in glove relationship between the bangladeshi political elite and the textile owners.
i support the demands of the families for compensation.
but does this case not also raise the issue of the failure of european big business and their moral but toothless codes of conduct and cso statements?
away from the fires briefly other practices carried out in the clothing industry in bangladesh carry further substantial risks to workers' health.
an independent public investigation should be launched and the owners of these death trap factories must be held responsible for their actions.
two thousand and six i have seen the statement of commitment from the bangladeshi tripartite on fire safety but it is not enough.
what are they to do if we will not come to their assistance?
this is something that we should be very concerned about and should build into our development cooperation instrument in order to empower ourselves to somehow audit the sort of standards that a lot of companies located in europe are perhaps blindly allowing to continue.
but in our member states when we seek to raise taxes to pay for our commitments in the public sector including our.
for those of us who give the lion's share of our time here to development issues and to african caribbean and pacific assembly issues it really comes as a shock to see that despite the efforts we are making people are working and losing their lives in these conditions.
accept shared responsibility and in doing so we can end the death toll.
so in this debate we should condemn companies including walmart gap and sweden's hm who have so far refused to sign bangladesh's fire and building safety agreement to upgrade factories.
in my report i will acknowledge the progress made with the brands by multi stakeholder initiatives like the clean clothes campaign and the ethical trading initiative.
do not let anyone say that corporate responsibility is optional. listen to what bangladesh says to us.
mr president we must bear in mind above all that bangladesh is a relatively stable secular democracy which expends genuine effort to fulfil its human rights obligations and it depends very much on eu textile trade to create jobs in this country. what happened in the textile factory fire was a grave and genuine human tragedy but i have received assurances of a thorough investigation by the bangladeshi authorities and support for their families.
the government would dearly wish to do more to fund factory inspection and social welfare generally but their resources are extremely constrained.
it scarcely needs to be pointed out that bangladesh is blighted by grinding poverty and frequently struck by natural disasters.
we here in the european union must offer every assistance possible to the bangladeshi authorities in their inspection programmes through increased concessions through gsp and aid and i would certainly welcome csr voluntary contributions from western companies to compensate the bereaved families.
but i certainly reject the calls to make these compulsory.
above all i send my deepest condolences to the families of the bereaved.
perhaps he could explain the need to drag in domestic political issues here and explain how paying water charges or property tax is in any way necessary for us to meet our commitments in terms of development aid. if we did not pay a fraction of the bondholders that we are paying and the government you support continues to pay mr mitchell we could double treble or quadruple our development aid which as you know i would certainly be in favour of.
put up a sign here in parliament. people come in here constantly demanding things and when some of us try to take the responsibility to raise the taxes and raise the charges to meet those commitments the same irresponsible people stand up and they want to blame somebody else for what happened.
i do not think i have ever seen you at the development committee.
i certainly do not think i have ever seen you at the acp eu assembly.
you are not one of them.
take some serious interest in the plight of people and put their careers and their interests before your own selfish re election interests for once.
we are well aware that squeezed profit margins do not only lead to pressure on wages but can also lead to shortcuts in safety and we are concerned that many of the major companies who had contracts with the tazreen factory did not want to acknowledge that at the time of the tragedy
even though the building had recently passed an evaluation by one of those major contractors.
we also welcome the response from the governments in pakistan and bangladesh in terms of compensation and commitment to the victims and their families and we welcome the contribution that has been made by some overseas companies as well;
we only wish there were more of them.
my colleague has just referred to the outcome of the tripartite meeting yesterday the ilo the government the employers and workers should be seen as positive in terms of commitment to act to abide by the existing laws regulations and procedures and to see that those are properly implemented and that there are consequences if that does not happen. that is a clear responsibility
it is also important in our view that there are active trade unions and labour rights' activists such as aminul islam who was recently murdered.
it is essential to this process as our history has shown to have active trade unions on the ground working with health and safety committees and able to blow the whistle on employers who do not live up to their obligations.
but those who have contracts there also have a crucial role in improving standards and we regret that certain companies walmart is one that has been mentioned in the press have been less than forthcoming and active in that role.