kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
thousands of indonesians took to the streets in protest forcing decision makers to postpone the vote on the new bill.
i also think that this is the right time for the european parliament to weigh in in the debate and stand up for the principles of basic human rights and democratic principles.
and we are thankful for this decision as it allows time for vital consultation.
this resolution focuses on the most contentious elements.
after recent elections in the country a new political cycle has just begun with a parliament and a president who is eager to finish reforms that were started decades ago. however this proposed new criminal code had been a very controversial element of the process.
other provisions would criminalise contraception extramarital sex or even criticising the president.
yet this process has raised concerns on a number of human rightsrelated issues drawing criticism domestically and the attention of the international community.
some of the most controversial amendments relate inter alia to the provisions of blasphemy decriminalisation of extramarital sex and married cohabitation and provisions with the potential to limit freedom of expression and the rights of women lgbti and religious minorities.
a noticeable development has been the removal of the draft provision outlawing same sex relations.
for example in two thousand and eighteen the eu delegation and eu member states met with the minister for justice and human rights and in the summer of this year they met with the relevant parliament's commission.
we call upon indonesia currently a non permanent member of the united nations security council to uphold its national and international obligations and to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and act accordingly.
let's not forget that before el sisi became president he presided over the single largest massacre of unarmed protesters in modern history in.
the uk is egypt's largest investor and france is egypt's largest supplier of weapons.
no. this european union has sanctions which are a form of terrorism against venezuela syria iran.
you do business with murderers.
over one hundred of these are children some as young as eleven several detained on their way home from school.
once again we remind the egyptian government that under international law people have a right to protest peacefully and a right to express their opinions including on social media.
mr president in september thousands of protesters took to the streets in egypt from cairo to alexandria to suez in response to corruption allegations against president abdel fattah el sisi.
detainees are added to a single charge sheet accused of aiding a terrorist group spreading false information misuse of social media and participation in unauthorised protests.
it seems that the german position is shifting and i welcome this although i'm ashamed to add that the uk will play no part in this vital policy change.
having public information about how companies are shifting their profits is the only way we can ensure that they pay a fair share of tax.
if european cooperation means anything it must mean cooperating in the interests of citizens who need properly funded public services and small businesses who cannot compete with corporations who cheat on their taxes.
member states must break the deadlock in council to ensure transparent reporting by corporations.
the council's working group on company law will meet tomorrow to discuss public countrybycountry reporting for all companies.
this makes the eba of fundamental importance in supervising the financial sector.
yesterday we launched a petition with fifty eight ngos against this case of revolving doors.
in effect it renders article sixteen meaningless.
especially afme with its technical expertise and focus on implementing measures drafted by the eba has permanent interaction with the european banking authority.
because that's what's severely undermined by farkas' move.
in other words this opens the door for very perverse incentives. the eu rules need to prevent this and want to prevent this. article sixteen of the eu staff regulations states that eu officials are prohibited from lobbying staff of their former institutions for a period of one year. as ceo of afme maintaining contact with the eba is the headline of one's job description.
the staff regulations also allow the blocking of professional moves if that leads to a conflict with the legitimate interests of the institution.
it's flabbergasting that the supervisor of that sector becomes the main lobbyist for that same sector.
will you exert pressure on the eba to change its position and block mr farkas' professional move?
on behalf of the citizens of europe i therefore ask you do you deem farkas' move to be in line with the europeans institutions high ethical standards?
and what will you do to put our ethical standards into practice and prevent further cases of revolving doors from undermining citizens' trust in our institutions?
do you agree with mr farkas remaining in his position until the end of january?
as such banks will be able to excessively influence key pieces of legislation. what is worse this move may give eu staff the wrong idea that if you are friendly towards the sector that you are meant to regulate then you will be awarded a wellpaying job.
is it realistic to expect farkas to sit in afme's tower avoiding contact with his organisation's main interlocutor?
you can just imagine my surprise when i learned that the eba's executive director will become afme's ceo.
is good supervision of the banking sector no longer a legitimate interest of the european banking authority?
the eba is responsible for supervising the eu's banking sector and for setting technical standards implementing key financial regulations.
many people are disappointed frustrated or even outright angry.
furthermore if this case of revolving doors doesn't lead to a conflict of interest sufficiently severe to block it if farkas is allowed to join afme any eu official will be allowed to join any organisation.
madam president i have voted for the strongest possible condemnation of turkish president erdoan's invasion of northern syria and seeing erdoan and putin stitching up this shameful deal on northern syria with the meek compliance of donald trump represents a tragic day for the people of syria and especially for those in the kurdistan region.
i'm delighted the european union is taking a strong stand on this.
in a dangerous world when human rights and the rights of minorities seem constantly at risk and when our allies like the usa are currently proving so unreliable it has never been more clear that all the twenty eight countries of the european union including the united kingdom should speak together with one strong voice on foreign policy whenever we can.
mr president i am of course against the death penalty full stop but the fact that that was being considered for the crime of love is utterly outrageous.
let's be clear the criminalisation of homosexuality in any form legitimises homophobic hate and actually constitutes a death sentence for many people.
i of course offer full solidarity to the victims in uganda and the lgbti activists in that region.
but i do find it a little bit sickening that some in this house sought to add to this resolution a bit of self congratulations to the eu as if we are some sort of a beacon of human rights excellence.
we shouldn't forget that we don't have to go to uganda to find appalling discrimination against lgbti people.
for many people in europe the inaction and complacency of the eu at the persistent and rising prejudice and hatred in our own member states should also be listened to.
solidarity doesn't stop outside our borders and should begin at home.
this is a heartbreaking and awful statistic.
it's really awful to know that today this is still the case.
it has also been my experience that to really achieve meaningful and lasting change in attitudes and beliefs you not only have to condemn and be bold or sound sad but also promote education programmes and community dialogue for concrete and sustainable results.
we need to help increase trust between local people and the ngos who carry out the brave and important work of protecting the lgbti community in these countries.
europe needs to work together with communities police forces and the political system of these countries to bring an end to this deplorable situation.
we must use every opportunity we have in our dialogue with these countries to promote tolerance education and understanding because everyone has a right to be free and everyone has a right to live and love without fear.
mr president i am very pleased that we have such strong cross party support for this debate on this resolution in this parliament today.
i think this is testament to how far attitudes have moved in my own lifetime indeed.
we stand here today in solidarity with those brave members of sexual minorities in uganda and elsewhere who face not just public prejudice but also the full force of the state aimed at repressing their very nature.
they stand up in the most hostile of circumstances to say we are who we are.
we are equal in dignity and rights and we should be free'.
the situation in uganda is indeed very worrying.
the deliberate stoking of anti gay hatred by government ministers must be absolutely and strongly condemned.
with this resolution we are calling on the ugandan government to fully respect the rights of lgbtqia people not just to stop the whole hate filled rhetoric but to ensure that ugandan law does not discriminate against anyone on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
and as a member of the asean delegation and of the international trade committee i would hope that over the next five years we could move perhaps towards having a free trade agreement with indonesia.
this is a good time to debate this issue because often we say to ourselves what effect do our urgencies have?
well this is very timely because the criminal code which we have difficulty with is now going through the process of ratification in indonesia.
but as it has been pointed out as a result of protests which are allowed in a functioning democracy which indonesia is we must recognise that the president decided to postpone ratification.
so this is very timely for us to outline issues which we are not happy with.
and indeed which do not comply with international norms in relation to women's rights religious minorities lgtbti rights political ideologies reproductive health and the death penalty.
what gives you the right any right the right to live to love to work to freedom to health?
and what gives anyone any government any religion the right to take that away from you to take away your human rights?
by signing this resolution by my vote today and my continuing work as an activist as an mep in my own country and area i say no.
you can't take away human rights of lgbti people in uganda or anywhere.
i urge this parliament and people everywhere to join me in this fight in uganda in europe and in our home countries.
mr president there are more than eighteen problematic articles within the proposed penal code in indonesia that could seriously limit a wide range of civil liberties.
there are proposed articles that are harmful to women to lgbti persons and religious minorities and articles against free speech.
these articles do not comply with international human rights norms and they do not stand up to international scrutiny.
no parliament should regulate an individual's private life such as who they choose to fall in love with or police people's decisions about their own bodies such as restricting women's reproductive rights. as a campaigner for sexual health and reproductive rights i know that access to safe abortion and quality contraception
empowers women and girls and can save lives.
i implore the indonesian authorities to change course and remove all the problematical articles that belong in the last century.
parts of it are a copy and paste of the resolution that was passed almost a year ago and yet the situation on the ground in egypt is actually deteriorating.
i find a lot of double speak in here because to go forward we need to look backwards and while the resolution expresses european parliament's support for the aspirations of the egyptian people to establish a free and stable prosperous inclusive democratic society we have to remind ourselves that the eu congratulated el sisi on coming to power.
we should remind ourselves that the first democratically elected civilian president morsi was ousted in a coup kept in solitary confinement and is now dead.
so triggering resolutions once a year is not good enough.
we have to look at our actions and working with the likes of egypt and saudi arabia calling for a stronger partnership on migration and border controls makes us complicit.
mr president it is unacceptable that sexual orientation continues to be used as a justification for serious human rights violations around the world.
discrimination against lgbti persons undermines the most basic human rights principles enshrined by the universal declaration of human rights.
this parliament has an obligation to react to human rights violations and we also have an obligation to ensure other institutions also act.
it is important it is highly important that we ask our new commission and our council in accordance with the lgbti guidelines to include our community members in uganda and indonesia in their dialogues with the governments of these countries.
as an lgbtiq community member myself if the killing of three gay men and one transgender woman happened in ireland?
therefore a cooling off period of just a few weeks is clearly insufficient.
i believe that there is a very legitimate interest to have a sufficient coolingoff period to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
but this issue actually is also really straightforward in my mind as well because what it boils down to is about whether we support the idea of rescuing kids drowning in the sea families parents children making the most perilous of journeys in real desperation fleeing persecution
so i want my constituents to know and be under no doubt whatsoever that i voted today in favour of proper search and rescue in the mediterranean in favour of bringing traffickers to justice and making sure those who seek to help are not criminalised and that i voted today for measures that ultimately come down to a basic sense of humanity and decency.
it is extremely important also for my country poland.
i sincerely ask my colleagues parliamentarians to adopt the amendment i tabled concerning a pole a vagabond a traveller who was by mistake accused of high treason
and sentenced to five years in prison just because of his love for papuan culture.
the latest personal comments expressed by a ugandan state minister regarding the possibility of presenting a new anti homosexuality law to the ugandan parliament with the possibility of imposing the death penalty against homosexuals is a sad example of this harsh reality.
the prompt official reactions from the ugandan government and the office of the president also transmitted through diplomatic channels to the eu delegation and member states' ambassadors have since then confirmed without hesitation that such a law is not in preparation.
therefore we should consider this comment as highly concerning but not reflective of the official policy of the government of uganda. at the same time it is clear that such a public statement from a cabinet minister of the ugandan government could spark
regrettable reactions and further discrimination hostility or violence against lgbti people in uganda.
the european union encourages states to take all necessary steps in particular legislative or administrative measures to ensure that sexual orientation gender identity or sexual characteristics may not under any circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties in particular executions
which the eu strongly opposes in any circumstances.
discrimination against lgbti persons undermines the most basic human rights enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights.
mr president commissioner colleagues recent events in egypt have shown how little space for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly is left in the country.
we witness the disproportionate use of force against protesters unlawful behaviour against human rights defenders and restrictions on the activities of civil society organisations.
what worries me most is that egypt's leadership is increasingly using the fight against terrorism as an internal policy instrument to stop public criticism and to silence its political opponents.
dialogue between the country's leadership and society is possible only if the former meets citizens' expectations and embarks on reforms in the different sectors so needed in egypt.
from the eu side we must increase our attention along with financial support for egypt's human rights defenders and civil society organisations.
i've read them and to be frank they are simply inadequate.
i already mentioned the impossibility of banning mr farkas from having professional contacts with the eba.
indeed the eba also states that mr farkas can't contribute to activities on topics directly linked to the work that he carried out in the last three years.
frankly i find this laughable.
who makes sure that the restrictions are monitored? it's even worse that mr farkas is allowed to stay at the eba right up to his departure.
his interests diverge from the eba his loyalty is fundamentally compromised and still the eba makes the european taxpayer feed the bill for farkas' luxurious transition period.
it's unacceptable.
when will you finally enforce your own rules and live up to your and our standards? when will you finally put an end to the achilles heel of your institution's integrity?
the world has come a long way in recognising the rights that women have over their bodies.
human rights watch has said that the indonesian draft criminal code is not just bad for women minorities and gender minorities but for all indonesians.
we must not shy away from our responsibilities to provide protection to those who need it. frontex therefore needs to be part of a fair and balanced approach to migration and asylum.
sea rescue operations have therefore to be included in its remit.
mr president no one underestimates the enormous difficulties of creating the balance mentioned by the chair of our committee and of the migration pressures which face the european union and the pressures that we face in the mediterranean.
as we build a more coordinated eu system for managing our external borders the importance of frontex increases.
the devil is in the detail.
we must ensure that frontex does not simply become a mechanism for keeping people out of europe.
the situation for italy and libya is of course something which my colleagues from italy will speak more about but this principle must not be violated by anyone or any country.
we must ensure that the asylum package is implemented and we must ensure that legal migration and the protection of refugees are held in balance.
are going to follow your sort of interpretation?
we need clarity and transparency in this house in the european parliament about frontex's deeds.
we also need transparency about the deals that are being made with third countries and what happens exactly to the eu money that is being put into libya for example.
minister billstrm you have said that we need some checks and balances on our external borders but i ask you why cannot we have some checks and balances on those people who are working and defending our external borders? why cannot we have some transparency and clarity about frontex and what they are doing?
we need clarity about what is the stage of the procedure of the new rules of frontex that you mentioned commissioner and we need some clarification about how refugees can obtain international protection when they are intercepted at sea.
i doubt whether what you called libya's assistance to refugees is actually helpful to refugees but here again we are just lacking transparency and if as you said not even member states interpret the rights of migrants the same way as you do then how are you going to make sure that third countries such as libya
i would like to remind you that parliament has always supported the idea of making the sharing of responsibility to deal with asylum applications obligatory and i think your report of the pilot project where only france took a very very small almost ridiculous number of one hundred refugees from malta shows that we are not getting far with the voluntary solidarity. we need some obligation here.
net immigration to britain is now running at about two hundred and thirty zero people per annum adding over a million new people to the population every five years.
we should end the promotion of multiculturalism which is divisive and a recipe for conflict and assimilate and integrate existing migrants into a common culture with respect for a common set of political and legal institutions.
sixty one four million an all time high to about seventy million plus in two thousand and thirty one and then spiral ever upwards.
what we need to do is end mass immigration now and introduce a strictly limited and controlled immigration policy.
the uk independence party is not opposed to some immigration but this should be strictly controlled and for the benefit of britain and not the european union or anybody else.
this is about a common immigration and asylum policy and however much the british government may lie to the british people we know that they intend that britain should eventually be bound by it.
there should be no place in britain and i suggest anywhere in europe for sharia law.
no element of eu policy has ever involved quotas or compulsion on national acceptance of migrants.
however what we do try and get is voluntary solidarity and i do hope that a future fundamental rights commissioner will make a contribution to stopping migrants meeting their death in the mediterranean.
ten years ago next month the eu set the goal of a common asylum system and coordinated migration policies.
despite some considerable efforts especially by the european commission with the support of meps we are clearly a long way from that.
the top priority is to get some proper management of the flows which are usually what are called mixed flows' of refugees and job seeking migrants so as to distinguish between the two.
this is to give confidence to the european public of proper management as well as to stop loss of life and to ensure protection for those qualifying for it.
if people in frail boats are pushed back out to sea and never assessed for protection none of those goals is achieved.
frontex must be properly resourced and respect human rights of individuals.
human rights abuses.
a rational european immigration policy would involve some common framework of criteria for economic migration within which member states accepting such migrants can operate under their own decisions on the numbers they take.
however as a british conservative i do remain worried about its implementation.
we do not want to see the continuation of problems like those we have had at sangatte in france. i think that cooperation and solidarity across the european union is of course important when discussing the burdens that nations face but we must better distinguish economic migrants from asylum seekers.
they obviously have every right to seek sanctuary but we must also have legislation that does not tie individual nations' hands regarding who is accepted and who gets asylum.
a collective approach such as the one the commission is proposing might undermine each eu nation's ability to decide this.
meanwhile though i think a major priority should be securing the southern borders.
frontex must play a more prominent part in this regard in order to act as a strong deterrent to economic migrants wishing to make the hazardous trip across the mediterranean.
we must act more strongly against the various third countries that irresponsibly encourage those activities.