Debate: Human rights and democracy in the world and the European Union’s policy on the matter – annual report
Date: TUESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2024
Speaker: Janez Lenarčič
Language: EN

As it states in this report, the human rights situation is worsening across the world. We all have received the news of the death of Alexei Navalny in Russia with consternation. And today, the EU continues working to address many other human rights abuses and humanitarian law violations in countries worldwide. Your report includes a long list of countries and cases from China to Belarus, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua, and so on. We just spoke, under the previous item, on the Israel-Gaza war. What is clear is that all cases deserve our full attention and there should be no hierarchy of victims. At the same time, democratic backsliding continues from the military coup in the Sahel region to the unsuccessful attempts to thwart the democratic transition of power in Guatemala. Alternative narratives try to change universally agreed human rights law and challenge the international order. The UN and its Secretary-General have the full support of the European Union. We are leading the necessary reforms, building alliances with partners across continents, and in particular, we are ensuring a better involvement of the Global South. Honourable Members, the European Union cannot impose radical changes on third countries. What we can do is keep all possible channels of communication open with the different parties and continue to develop our toolbox and instruments in support of human rights and democracy. The EU action plan on human rights and democracy has been reinforced financially through the Global Europe Human Rights and Democracy programme, with EUR 1.5 billion for 2021 to 2027. Last December, the 25th EU-NGO forum gathered 250 human rights defenders worldwide on youth as actors of change for human rights. It also commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to uphold and advance human rights. At the very first Council of Foreign Affairs, in the mandate of the High Representative, he proposed the creation of an EU human rights sanctions regime to hold those responsible for gross violations of human rights accountable. With the political support from this Parliament, it was swiftly approved. Since 2020, the EU has used this sanctions regime to impose restrictive measures against perpetrators around the world, including in China, in Russia, in Libya, South Sudan and Eritrea and also against the Wagner Group. And last week, the EU adopted a 13th package of sanctions against Russia, against its political leadership and authorities and we decided to rename the global human rights sanctions regime after Alexei Navalny. Fighting impunity remains one of our priorities. Last December, we signed a four-year EUR 20 million project: the global initiative to fight against impunity for international crimes. This will complement our ongoing support to the International Criminal Court. Honourable Members, we could not succeed in any of this without human rights defenders. Since 2015, the EU human rights defenders protection mechanism has supported 66 000 human rights defenders and their families. And you can rest assured that we will continue doing so wherever defenders are in urgent need. Electoral observers also deserve a particular mention as human rights defenders, and also in the name of the High Representative, I wish to thank each and every Member of this Parliament who participated in the EU election observation missions and carried the EU flag across the world in defence of democracy. In 2023, the EU continued its efforts to help improve electoral processes throughout the world through our electoral observation missions. Although these have to operate in increasingly challenging contexts, they continue to be a bulwark against democratic backsliding, as demonstrated, for instance, by our mission to Guatemala. This mission played an important role to preserve the results of the elections and allow for an orderly transfer of power to the newly elected president. For their efforts and professionalism, the EU mission to Guatemala received the Wilson Centre Award. The EU and this Parliament should be proud of this. Dear Members, the case of Guatemala indeed is worth a particular mention. Last week we had the honour and pleasure to receive the newly elected President of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo. He acknowledged the decisive role played by the EU in upholding a democratic electoral process and in ensuring respect for the electoral results. At the same time, the European Union has imposed sanctions on those individuals who attempted to undermine the peaceful transition of power in Guatemala, holding them accountable. This is one more clear example of what we can achieve as the European Union when we act together with one voice and combine our different EU foreign policy tools in a principled and coherent manner. There is much more work to do. Your report includes a long list of countries and challenges to address. Time does not allow me to go through them all, but you can rest assured that we will take very good note of your report as well as of your suggestions.