kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
high representative ashton has followed very closely the issue of the sinai refugees through the delegation in cairo and she has expressed our concerns on numerous occasions to the egyptian ministry of foreign affairs and to the ministry of the interior.
we have also pressed the egyptian authorities to ensure that the principle of non refoulement is observed for all migrants in need of help.
the unhcr should be given full possibility to implement its mandate on the entire territory of egypt including the sinai region and we hope that with the end of the post mubarak transitional phase and the appointment of a democratically elected government the security and human rights issues in the sinai region will receive greater attention from the new egyptian leadership.
partners have been rather slow to engage on these sensitive matters for the time being.
as you have understood progress so far has been very limited.
madam president the cnn reportage death in the desert' broadcast last november gave me the shivers. it exhibited the horrific and inhumane trade going on in the sinai peninsula with tremendous specificity at best or deep complicity most likely of the egyptian authorities with the organised criminal networks that kidnap refugees in order to extract and sell their organs butchering their bodies cruelly and disrespectfully.
this resolution of the european parliament is long overdue since the monstrosity of the criminal activity conducted by some sinai bedouin tribes at the service of some well known health professional vultures with connections well beyond egypt is undeniably documented and it is the poorest of the poor
whom we speak about in this resolution who instead of protection and support are experiencing detention rape forced labour ransom torture and death in the most obscene and primitive ways. this is a matter that must be taken up as a priority by the european union high representative with the egyptian and israeli authorities at the highest level and that should be referred by the european union to the un security council if no resolute action is taken soon to stop the criminal networks operating in the sinai to make stringent efforts to punish those responsible and to afford protection to the victims and any passing refugees.
now she has been sentenced to eleven years in prison and banned from practising law for twenty years.
as a lawyer nasrin sotoudeh has helped many opposition supporters who were detained and harassed following the rigged presidential election eighteen months ago. she has also represented minors on death row truly a heroic job in a country that executes children with alacrity.
mr president we should never forget in this house that the freedom to debate and dissent that we so much enjoy in europe is scarce and non existent in many parts of the world.
she was arrested in september last year on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security.
two others have been sentenced to amputation and these verdicts will be carried out soon.
nasrin sotoudeh is a case in point a courageous human rights lawyer who has defended many of the innocent people unjustly sentenced and executed by this fascist regime.
evil must never be allowed to prevail and the sooner we can see freedom democracy humanity and women's rights restored to iran the better it will be for the whole world.
they believe that their critics in the west are part of an international conspiracy to topple their regime.
her outrageous sentence of eleven years' imprisonment for doing her job is an insult to humanity.
he says he wants to wipe israel off the map and he is now building nuclear weapons that will enable him to do so.
ten were hanged yesterday first they were heavily fined and had their homes confiscated and then each was mercilessly flogged before being dragged to the gallows. eighty seven people have been hanged in the past four weeks.
the real criminals are the tyrants in tehran and they will be held to account.
anyone who tries to expose this evil is immediately targeted.
well i for one would sign up to that project today.
two prisoners in mashhad had their hands amputated this week;
mr president it was my intention today to compare the islamic republic of iran to nazi germany but i have to say that i think in many ways it can be even worse.
economic sanctions have the same aim. i doubt they will render the desired result before disproportionately hurting the people of iran who as a result become more and more dependent on the hard line government.
she defended among others zahra bahrami an iranian dutch citizen who was sentenced to death before dutch diplomats had talked to her and in a climate of serious doubts about due process.
defending human rights is now considered an act against national security.
as strong a woman as nasrin sotoudeh is and was by standing for justice we see a weak regime that represses its citizens instead of providing for their wellbeing. high representative ashton will be in istanbul later this month in an attempt to bring the iranian regime to cooperate with the international community on the nuclear issue.
nasrin sotoudeh lawyer and mother of two is charged with acting against national security.
however while i am sceptical about the impact of economic sanctions i am confident that sanctions against individuals responsible for violating human rights through for example censorship rape torture and executions will be an effective and necessary step to end impunity and to honour the justice that nasrin sotoudeh stood for. human rights are clearly the achilles heel of the iranian regime.
the rule of law is no longer practised or existent in iran and the judiciary is highly politicised.
on the status of women.
the european union will continue reminding the iranian authorities that first and foremost they must comply with those international obligations stemming from the multilateral agreements and conventions they have signed and ratified.
mrs sotoudeh and ms ahari are two women who have been deprived of the very rights they were fighting to protect.
the impact of her arrest is clear those in iran who are brave enough to stand up for those whom the state itself is supposed to protect risk being intimidated imprisoned or worse.
more than ten statements were released in two thousand and ten by high representative and vice president ashton on both the general situation and on individual cases.
we will continue seeking ways to make our action in defence of human rights more effective using all the means at our disposal.
on fourteen january two thousand and eleven which mentioned both ms sotoudeh and ms shiva nazar ahari a lawyer and a journalist sentenced respectively to eleven and four years in prison. the islamic republic of iran was recently elected to the membership of the un commission
her husband was arrested during the week for and i quote spreading lies and disrupting public opinion'.
we really have to because the situation in iran is gravely problematic and dramatic. that is why it is important that this parliament reiterates once again its call for the release of all prisoners of conscience including all those who have been detained over the last year in connection with their peaceful and i repeat peaceful political and human rights activities.
while not specifically referring to the use of mobile phones legal provisions in domestic legislation state that drivers must be fully concentrated on driving.
however we have no statistics on the number of accidents caused by this practice.
in two thousand and nine the commission issued a report on the use of mobile phones when driving. this report is published on the europa road safety website.
all member states have legislation which at least implicitly prohibits texting e mailing and web browsing while driving.
the european benchmark adopted by the council in may two thousand and nine aims at an adequate level of basic skills in reading mathematics and science by calling for the share of low achievers aged fifteen to be reduced to below fifteen by the year.
it comprises national policy makers and experts on the basis of mutual learning and the exchange of good practices.
two thousand and six there was more progress in science than in maths and the share of low achievers is today lower in science than in maths.
the consistency and effectiveness of the provision of basic skills within their lifelong learning strategies and the group will conclude its work and publish its report in mid. two thousand and twelve moreover the thematic working group on maths science and technology has already been established.
the share of low achieving pupils in reading which had increased from twenty one in two thousand to twenty four in two thousand and six improved to twenty in.
gender differences in performance and attitudes the link between pupils' background and their mastery of basic skills and finally issues around teachers and teacher trainers as well as around schools' ethos and characteristics.
on average over the three disciplines in the twenty five eu countries for which data is available.
two thousand and twenty now i would like to read something from the pisa report which is very relevant.
in. two thousand and eleven in november two thousand and ten the council invited the commission and member states to focus their joint work on the following areas curriculum design motivation for reading literacy maths science and technology the impact of new technologies on basic skills and their use in helping learners to acquire autonomy and maintain motivation
the thematic working group will identify and disseminate policy measures to improve the situation of low achievers in basic skills at national
in its conclusion the council also invited the commission to establish a high level group on literacy and a thematic working group on maths science and technology. i intend to launch the high level group on literacy on one february. it will suggest policy measures based on best practices and research which will help member states to improve
published in december two thousand and ten shows a mixed picture for eu member states. there are signs of considerable improvement in some systems but overall there is much progress still to be made. these results will provide an important input to future exchanges between the commission and the member states.
twenty two five were low achievers in two thousand and six and by two thousand and nine their share had declined
nevertheless the commission works with member states to foster mutual learning and exchanges of good practice.
of course we are trying to do our utmost.
it is about providing training and retraining and improving skills to prepare people and help them find a job.
any support for productive investment has to be seen in that context. promoting job creation and economic growth can be achieved in many ways from setting up small enterprises to supporting larger companies.
therefore what matters is the skill capital that workers manage to build to sustain their inclusion in the labour market not the name or type of enterprises providing the training.
reimbursements of expenditure already made and certified in the member states.
the commission considers that from a policy perspective firms should not receive european funding for investments which would lead to the loss of employment by the same company in another region of the european union because the net effect of the esf investment might be zero or even negative.
the esf supports people.
education as you are aware is crucial to the development of digital competences in our society and we agree that without appropriate investment some regions may lag behind.
that would also have negative consequences on educational systems and integration of information and communication technology in education.
or more of european households have subscribed to internet connection above one hundred megabytes per second.
in its programme package the commission announced that it will reinforce and rationalise the funding of high speed broadband through eu instruments by two thousand and fourteen and explore how to attract capital for broadband investment through credit enhancement backed by the european investment bank and the eu funds.
the commission has already acted to increase investment in remote areas and regions within the framework of the eu cohesion policy with the programming of about eur.
here we propose for instance to consider digital literacy and competences as a priority for the european social fund regulation in the next programming period and to identify digital competences as a supplement to europass to ensure their transparency.
two thousand and seven two thousand and thirteen the commission's communication on a european economic recovery plan also enabled the programming of eur three hundred and sixty million in broadband measures for rural areas through the european agricultural fund for rural development.
today young people need a wider range of skills than ever before in order to flourish in a globalised economy.
we will take stock of progress in making higher education more relevant to the needs of the knowledge based society including the question of employability.
finally eu programmes to support education training and youth including mobility programmes such as erasmus can help young people to improve their chances in the labour market by gaining valuable international experience and by developing their intellectual understanding.
young people are confronted with an increased number of educational choices.
however existing international rankings can give an incomplete picture of the performance of universities.
in a more global and mobile world transparency regarding the performance of higher education institutions can stimulate both competition and cooperation and be an incentive for further improvements and modernisation.
our new eu skills panorama which will be operational in two thousand and twelve will help to forecast not only the skills that employers need today but also those required in the future.
europe needs to be better at anticipating the skill needs of tomorrow.
the agenda for new skills and jobs looks at how to help our young people to become more employable.
we are now starting to implement the various parts of this strategy.
however youth unemployment and under employment are unacceptably high today.
this requires better information about education and training paths including a clear picture of job opportunities. we need to develop quality career guidance services and vocational orientation with the strong involvement of labour market institutions.
the commission works with member states to identify the skills or key competences that young people need to learn at school.
turning to higher education the commission recently launched as you know youth on the move a europe two thousand and twenty flagship initiative which sets out to make education and training more relevant to young people's needs.
too many graduates struggle to make the transition to the labour market and secure quality employment that corresponds to their educational background.
they need to be able to take informed decisions.
this is why the commission has launched the agenda for new skills and jobs which goes hand in hand with our youth on the move initiative.
above all we need to give people the right mix of skills so that they can adapt to our fast changing society.
this year the commission will present the results of a feasibility study to develop an alternative multi dimensional ranking system which reflects the diversity of higher education institutions.
technology will continue to change the world in ways we cannot imagine so the ability to continue to learn and to innovate will become crucial factors for employability.
we will identify the key challenges for the future and set out our response. as part of these efforts the commission will reinforce the european platform for dialogue between universities and business with a view to increasing the employability of students and to developing the role of education in the knowledge triangle.
in the spring of this year the commission intends to propose new european benchmarks on learning mobility and on the role of education in preparing people to be employable in the knowledge based labour market.
later this year the commission plans to present a new communication on the modernisation of higher education.
in that respect the revised telecom rules and in particular i refer to article twenty seven a of the universal service directive require member states to make every effort to ensure that citizens have access to the service operating a hotline to report cases of missing children.
to renew the commission's call on the member states to implement the missing children hotline as a matter of priority and to ensure that the same high quality of service is offered throughout the union to provide practical support to the member states.
the commission proposes using this best practice to work out a set of common minimum standards that would guarantee a high quality service throughout the eu so that parents and children can count on the same assistance no matter where they are.
in that respect the commission is carefully monitoring and assisting member states in the transposition of that new provision into national law which has to be completed by twenty five may. two thousand and eleven on seventeen november last year the commission adopted the communication entitled dial one hundred and sixteen zero the european hotline for missing children'. the objectives of the communication are
the communication highlights existing best practice developed by the member states to address the main problems linked to the operating cost and telecom cost of the one hundred and sixteen zero hotline.
mr president the answer is yes.
i am glad to see that today on the basis of the report prepared by mrlouis michel and the commission's annual reports we are able to hold a fully informed discussion.
we have over the last years made substantial use of the expertise of this agency.
one of my first commitments when i took up my responsibilities was to present an annual report on the application of the eu charter and to have an annual debate every year on the way in which this charter is applied.
i hope that words will turn into action and that the us will deliver on political commitments and make the necessary changes in the practice and in the law.
one flagship initiative as you know concerns the gender balance among non executive directors of companies listed on the stock exchange.
we have witnessed and we had to deal with very many rule of law crises in member states in the past years.
i was encouraged with the movement shown last november by the attorney general at the eu us ministerial meeting in washington.
yesterday the college held an orientation debate on the matter to look at the different angles of this issue.
this is evident from the commission's annual reports and in particular from the numbers of letters questions and petitions we receive.
it has also proposed and negotiated a council recommendation that will make a difference when the measures it contains are implemented on the ground.
i expect discussions in the council to advance similarly.
this is a very new development and it is fundamental because national judges are now increasingly aware of the impact of the charter and they seek guidance from the court on its application and interpretation through questions referred to the court.
it requires member states to define as criminal offences public incitement to violence or hatred on grounds of race colour religion descent or national or ethnic origin.
as regards trafficking in human beings i would like to point to the eu strategy in this field which complements directive two thousand and eleven thirty six eu on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings.
the commission has assessed progress made in the member states on the five preconditions for a successful implementation of national roma integration strategies.
just let me recall some of the last reports access to justice anti semitism and data protection.
the commission strengthened its dialogue with civil society and with the roma communities themselves. furthermore as recent research from the fundamental rights agency has shown the protection of people belonging to minorities protection against hatred and discrimination
the commission has focused its work on the correct application of the equal pay directive and has recently adopted a report on its application.
as you have rightly pointed out in your report there is room for still further improvement and the commission is in the process of addressing a number of issues.
work needs to be done to fight racism xenophobia anti semitism homophobia and gender discrimination.
these measures should help employers social partners national authorities and national courts to more effectively apply national law on equal pay.
however as you know in areas outside the charter's applicability it is up to member states to address the problems.
here the aim is to ensure that europeans get a high level of protection and enforceable rights when their personal data is shared between law enforcement authorities in the eu and in the us.
the aim here is to put individuals back in control of their data by updating their rights in order to fully respect article eight of the charter.
where the charter is applicable the commission will do everything in its power to check compatibility with and respect of fundamental rights.
furthermore also on data protection the commission is negotiating an umbrella agreement with the us.
we need to be sure that we have the tools to show our citizens that we can respond when these values are endangered.
explicit consent the right to be forgotten the right to data portability and the right to be informed of personal data breaches are important elements and they will help to close the growing rift between citizens and the companies with which they share their data.
the debate about free movement within the eu has put on the agenda the urgent necessity of roma integration across the eu.
needs to be addressed further across the union.
the report provides examples of national best practices on matters such as gender neutral job evaluation classification a summary of equal pay case law of the court of justice examples of national case law on equal pay as well as a description of the factors that cause the gender pay gap.
for instance last year's revelations on mass surveillance by intelligence services have shown the pressing need for a strong data protection ruling. in this vein i warmly thank parliament for its commitment to advancing our data protection reform.
last month on holocaust remembrance day twenty seven january the commission adopted a report on the implementation of framework decision two thousand and eight nine hundred and thirteen jha which aims to combat in particular racist and xenophobic crimes.
the commission is also planning further initiatives focusing on increased wage transparency aiming to facilitate the effective application of the principle of equal pay in practice.
there is also a promising development regarding references to the charter by national courts and by the court of justice.
we are also concerned by the gender pay gap.
i see national courts as partners in giving concrete effect to the rights and freedoms enshrined in the charter as they directly ensure that individuals obtain full redress in cases of non respect of fundamental rights within the scope of eu law.
the commission will engage in bilateral dialogues with member states during two thousand and fourteen to ensure correct transposition of the framework decision into national law. the commission takes into account women's needs and gender discrimination.
last but certainly not least i would like to refer here to the need to uphold the rule of law.
as a result the commission intends to bring its ideas together in a communication to be presented shortly.
the events demonstrated that respect for fundamental values and in particular the value of rule of law cannot always be taken for granted.
i expect to see progress in the negotiations.
the commission is working on ideas for a rule of law initiative.