unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Salima Yenbou
Political group: Renew
Country: Spain
Language: FR

L’Afghanistan est le seul pays au monde interdisant aux filles et aux femmes d’aller à l’école au-delà de la primaire, ce qui les rend invisibles dans l’espace public. Matiullah Wesa leur apportait l’école, le savoir, l’ouverture au monde et l’esprit critique.  Nous connaissons les méthodes des talibans. En jetant en prison Matiullah Wesa, les défenseurs des droits de l’homme et les journalistes, c’est l’avenir de toutes les filles afghanes et de tous les garçons afghans qui est jeté aux oubliettes, avec les voix dissonantes.  Il est de notre devoir d’assurer la libération des filles et des femmes afghanes et ce faisant de délivrer leur droit inaliénable à l’éducation et à la liberté. En écho à leurs sœurs iraniennes, les Afghanes scandent elles aussi «Femme! Vie! Liberté!» en dari: «
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Tineke Strik
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Poland
Language: EN

While this should ring all our alarm bells, the EU’s support and commitment is still falling short. Afghan human rights defenders cannot leave the country because Member States refuse to issue visas. Asylum claims are rejected, leaving people in Europe in limbo while they can’t go back, of course. In this and so many other areas, we could and should do so much more.  Last week, the UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan reminded us of the banner we have attached on our building, saying that the support of Ukrainians will take as long as needed – and rightfully so. But why not make the same commitment to Afghans? The Afghans need our concrete support. Let us not forget them.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Patricia Chagnon
Political group: ID
Country: Italy
Language: FR

Si notre Parlement veut sincèrement débattre des droits dans ce pays, il doit en préambule constater que le régime politique et religieux afghan ne peut ni ne veut garantir l’accès des femmes à l’éducation et au savoir dans le pays. Seules 30 % des adultes afghanes savaient lire, en 2022, soit deux fois moins que les hommes. Pis: les tribunaux islamiques prononcent des châtiments corporels et peuvent aller jusqu’à la lapidation des femmes accusées d’adultère. Les filles prépubères y sont mariées de force. Pourquoi le Parlement se focalise-t-il sur la situation des défenseurs des droits de l’homme dans ce pays, qui n’est que la pointe émergée d’un gigantesque iceberg, celui d’une idéologie barbare, à l’opposé de tout humanisme?  Je refuse pour ma part de déplorer les inégalités d’accès à l’éducation ou autre dans ce pays sans y avoir auparavant dénoncé l’idéologie islamiste.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Michaela Šojdrová
Political group: PPE
Country: Greece
Language: EN

Mr President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner, it has been only five months since our last debate on Afghanistan. Sadly, we must address this issue again since women’s persecution continues. It is a shame that women in Afghanistan cannot basically travel without a male companion, but they are also denied the fundamental right to education beyond the primary level. I invite you to look into the painful testimonies of young Afghan girls who, by their own words, feel ‘broken’ and ‘in pain’ as a result of these unjust restrictions. The recent arrest of Matiullah Wesa is just the tip of the iceberg. We call on Afghanistan’s authorities to immediately and unconditionally release her and others imprisoned for exercising their fundamental rights. We urge the same authorities to fulfil their pledge and to restore girls’ access to education. Moreover, we must maintain a strict conditional engagement with the Taliban and comply with the benchmark set by our Council, because women’s rights are human rights.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Łukasz Kohut
Political group: S-D
Country: Poland
Language: PL

Panie Przewodniczący! Często jest tak, że ci, którzy Boga mają na ustach, tak naprawdę diabła mają w sercu. Tacy właśnie mężczyźni urządzili piekło na ziemi dla swoich kobiet – urządzili Afganistan. Bo to właśnie na przykładzie tego kraju najlepiej widać, jak kończy się sojusz tronu z ołtarzem: pozbawienie dostępu do oświaty, szerzenie ciemnoty i prześladowanie aktywistów działających na rzecz edukacji. To także na przykładzie tego kraju widać, jak wygląda ostatnie stadium arbitralnego decydowania o losie kobiet: ograniczenie dostępu do środków antykoncepcyjnych, zabieranie możliwości zatrudnienia, przymusowe małżeństwa. Na tej ziemi przegrywasz na starcie, rodząc się kobietą.  Z tego miejsca chciałbym wyrazić głęboki szacunek i solidarność dla prześladowanych Afganek. Wierzę, że nadejdzie moment, w którym wyzwolą się z tego koszmaru. Państwo musi być świeckie. Świeckie państwo nie jest wrogiem religii, ale sojusz władzy z ołtarzem jest zawsze wrogiem wolności.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Samira Rafaela
Political group: Renew
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Mr President, here we are again to discuss the horrible situation of women and girls in Afghanistan – and it’s endless.  What the Taliban has done is introduce gender apartheid. That’s what it is. Under this regime, women and girls will never be safe and secure. We can absolutely not allow, the international community cannot allow, to recognise the Taliban and its regime, because we cannot bow down for this kind of regime.  Women and girls in Afghanistan are not safe to follow education. What can we do about that? I’ve seen Denmark and Sweden already introducing good examples to introduce special humanitarian visas for women and girls, and this is exactly what the European Union and all the Member States need to do directly to make sure that these women and girls can work and build on their future, that they can educate themselves, that they can educate the next generation, and that we can protect fundamental rights.  We should not abandon them, and I’m asking the European Commission urgently to see what you can do about introducing special humanitarian visas for women and girls as quickly as possible.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Isabella Tovaglieri
Political group: ID
Country: Spain
Language: IT

Signor Presidente, con i talebani al potere le condizioni femminili in Afghanistan sono tornate indietro di vent'anni.  Nel nome di un'interpretazione arcaica ed estremista della sharia alle donne è stato imposto il velo integrale ed è stato vietato non solo di lavorare, ma anche di studiare. Quasi tutte le scuole femminili infatti sono state chiuse e chi studia o insegna di nascosto lo fa a rischio della propria vita. Il recente arresto di Matiullah Wesa, colpevole di aver promosso la scolarizzazione delle bambine e delle adolescenti, infrange le ultime speranze di un'intera generazione di donne a cui vengono rubati non solo i diritti, ma anche il futuro. Se vogliamo essere davvero coerenti nel condannare il regime talebano, ribadiamo la necessità che i diritti negati in Afghanistan siano sempre garantiti nella nostra civile Europa, dove purtroppo molte giovani immigrate o figlie di immigrati spesso vengono avviate a matrimoni precoci invece che agli studi superiori con la complicità miope delle sinistre, che promuovono il velo islamico anziché i nostri valori occidentali di uguaglianza e di libertà.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Ivan David
Political group: ID
Country: Hungary
Language: CS

Pane předsedající, ženy v Afghánistánu nemají možnost se zúčastnit společenského života a dosáhnout vyššího vzdělání. Zítra budeme hlasovat o protestním usnesení. Zástupce velvyslance Spojených států amerických v OSN Robert Wood nedávno řekl: „Tálibán nemůže očekávat, že se stane legitimním členem mezinárodní komunity, aniž by respektoval práva všech lidí v Afghánistánu, obzvláště lidská práva a základní svobody žen a dívek.“ Byly to ale Spojené státy americké, které přivedly muslimské fanatiky k moci, když dodávaly Tálibánu zbraně, aby Afghánistán ovládl. S pomocí Spojených států amerických tak Tálibán zavedl veřejné popravy, bičování, kamenování. Armáda Spojených států amerických byla nedávno z Afghánistánu vyhnána.  Ani vlády v Evropě nedokáží zajistit lidská práva ženám v no-go muslimských komunitách, kde se praktikuje právo šaría. Můžeme si tedy odhlasovat cokoli, ale nenapravíme tyto důsledky špatné politiky Spojených států amerických a Evropské unie.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Alessandra Moretti
Political group: S-D
Country: Spain
Language: IT

Signor Presidente, è un tracollo tragico quello a cui assistiamo in Afghanistan riguardo ai diritti delle donne. In poco più di un anno le donne afghane sono state licenziate dai loro impieghi e radiate dai ruoli amministrativi, è stato vietato loro di fare sport e comprare contraccettivi, sono state allontanate dalle scuole superiori e dalle università, impedendo loro di costruirsi un futuro dignitoso. Vietare alle ragazze l'accesso all'istruzione è una violazione dei diritti umani. Significa negare ogni speranza a milioni di giovani. Ma non solo, queste norme criminali mettono in pericolo la stessa vita delle donne. Basti pensare alla loro salute: le afghane non possono essere visitate dai medici uomini ma, se alle donne non è consentito studiare medicina, a chi possono rivolgersi? Chiedo alla Commissione europea di sostenere le organizzazioni che, con grandissimi sforzi, cercano di offrire servizi alternativi per l'istruzione delle giovani afghane. Invito inoltre tutte le istituzioni europee e gli Stati membri ad esercitare pressioni sui talebani affinché rispettino i diritti umani. La cultura, la conoscenza e le competenze sono gli unici strumenti che possono permettere al popolo afghano di risollevarsi dalla crisi economica e ambientale e dall'emergenza alimentare che tengono in ostaggio il paese, e il contributo delle donne, anche in questo caso, è fondamentale.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Karsten Lucke
Political group: S-D
Country: Spain
Language: DE

Frau Präsidentin! Was kann der Beweggrund eines Regimes sein, Mädchen und Frauen des eigenen Landes Zugang zu Bildung zu verwehren? Was ist es, das die Machthaber in Afghanistan antreibt, sich derart menschenunwürdig zu verhalten? Völlig aus der Zeit gefallenes Geschlechterverständnis, die Angst, die eigene Machtposition zu verlieren, mangelndes Selbstbewusstsein – irgendwas muss kompensiert werden, ich weiß es nicht, ich kann es ahnen. Letztendlich sind die Beweggründe unerheblich. Dass Mädchen und Frauen letztlich das Recht haben müssen, sich frei zu entfalten, das ist wichtig. Durch Bildung wachsen wir. Und wir gedeihen, wir entwickeln uns, und wir machen Dinge möglich, die in uns schlummern und die durch Bildung gefördert und zur Entfaltung gebracht werden. Keine Bildung ist kein physischer Schmerz, aber keine Bildung ist auch ein Vergehen an der gesamtheitlichen Entwicklung eines jeden Menschen. Dass Mädchen und Frauen das verwehrt wird, das macht wütend und traurig gleichermaßen. Ich hoffe auch kurzfristig, dass wir wirklich Wege finden und verstärkt Alternativen, die wir jetzt auch anwenden können, um informelle Bildung zu unterstützen, und dass der Druck auf die afghanische Regierung hochgehalten wird. Denn die Hoffnungsträger sind die mutigen Frauen und Männer und die Vertreter wie Matiullah Wesa, die jetzt aus dem Gefängnis entlassen werden müssen.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Mick Wallace
Political group: The Left
Country: Germany
Language: EN

Madam President, the US and NATO destroyed Afghanistan for 20 years, the end result being the return of the brutal Taliban and, according to the UN, almost 23 million facing life—threatening food insecurity and 9 million close to famine. While the US was ending its destructive war in Afghanistan, politicians and the media were overflowing with concern for the Afghan people. Now that the US sanctions are adding to the mass suffering and debt in the country, they have lost interest. It was only a few months ago that the press and wider political establishment took part in one of the most brazen pro-war campaigns in recent memory to undermine and reverse a US withdrawal from the horrific war there. That push, we were told at the time, was because of political and media figures’ intense, overwhelming love and concern for the Afghan people, particularly the women and girls relentlessly cited by people whose hearts suspiciously only started bleeding once there was a prospect of Western bombs and bullets no longer killing them. The hypocrisy in this place is too bad.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Clare Daly
Political group: The Left
Country: France
Language: EN

Madam President, in many countries, women and girls are denied an education, but only in Afghanistan is this gender apartheid a deliberate policy implemented by the state in violation of international law, Islam and all morality. It is, of course, an abomination that educators are arrested and those seeking an education hunted down, and we condemn it utterly, but can we get real here? These issues did not drop from the sky. In the 1960s and 1970s, before the Soviet invasion and the subsequent Western creation and support for the Mujahideen, women and girls were equal and educated. We cannot ignore the decades of external interference which have got Afghanistan to this place. It’s almost two years since the US withdrawal and the Taliban’s takeover of the entire country. The strategy of ignoring them isn’t working. There’s a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions; the economy is barely functioning; people are surviving on remittances; millions are stranded in Iran and Pakistan, and our borders are closed to them. This in a country where USD 300 million a day was spent for 20 years on war. That’s the origin of the present nightmare, and we have a responsibility to fix it.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Stella Kyriakides
Language: EN

Afghanistan is the only country in the world that prohibits education beyond primary level for girls. The Taliban’s decisions on denying girls access to secondary and higher education are blatant violations of the fundamental right to education based on equal opportunity and enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and several other international human rights treaties to which Afghanistan is a state party.  No religious or social reason could ever justify such unequal treatment. At a time when Afghanistan is facing one of the worst economic and humanitarian crises in the world, the Afghan people’s predicament is steadily made worse by the Taliban, who deprive women and girls of their right to education, work and other opportunities to contribute to socio—economic life.  The UN estimates that since March 2022, 1.1 million girls have been deprived of secondary education as their schooling was banned. Almost 4 million children are out of school in Afghanistan, 60% of them girls. In certain provinces it is reported that the official curriculum is being replaced by religious education in madrassas and that forced marriages of girls have increased significantly. Activists who are advocating for girls and boys education are being threatened, arrested, tortured, and many are being pushed to exile.  The European Union’s position is very clear. We remain committed to providing support for the Afghan people as long as this can be continued in line with the EU’s principled approach, particularly the rights of women and girls. The EU will continue to call for, and exert pressure, to ensure that all Afghan children – girls and boys alike – have the chance to learn.  We will also continue to support Afghan human rights activists and civil society as we do worldwide, reflecting a fundamental principle of the EU. This support increases raising individual cases of human rights defenders in our engagement with the  Matiullah Wesa is the head of PenPath, a civil society organisation in Afghanistan campaigning for the reopening of girls schools. He was detained on 27 March, when leaving a mosque in Kabul, by a group of armed men who claim to represent the General Directorate of Intelligence of the Taliban. His arrest was confirmed by Taliban representatives on 29 March. The EU delegation in Kabul has been in close contact with Matiullah over the past months. He had visited Brussels in December last year.  Education activist Matiullah Wesa remains in custody, among other Afghan human rights defenders. You can rest assured that we are following, and we will be continuing to follow, his case very closely.
Debate: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Dominique Bilde
Political group: ID
Country: Germany
Language: FR

Comment réagir, en effet, lorsque les talibans empêchent désormais l’exercice des femmes au sein des organisations non gouvernementales, ou bien, plus récemment, de l’Organisation des nations unies ? De telles restrictions impliquent, du reste, que les Afghanes pourront également être privées de ce précieux soutien humanitaire - de même, d’ailleurs, que leurs enfants.  Par ailleurs, en limitant l’éducation des femmes, notamment, en ce qui concerne l’enseignement universitaire, c’est l’avenir de générations entières qui se trouve hypothéqué. Et l’arrestation scandaleuse de l’activiste Matiullah Wesa démontre que les autorités talibanes n’entendent aucunement reculer sur cette question. Bref, il est urgent que l’Union européenne se détermine enfin sur ses relations avec l’Afghanistan, à mesure que la condition féminine ne cesse de se détériorer.
Debate: Repression in Russia, in particular the cases of Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Dita Charanzová
Country: France
Language: EN

The next item on the agenda is the debate on six motions for resolutions on repression in Russia, in particular the cases of Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny ( _______________ *See minutes.
Debate: Repression in Russia, in particular the cases of Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Andrius Kubilius
Country: France
Language: EN

I know Kara—Murza personally. I admired his fight for Global Magnitsky sanctions legislation, for democracy in Russia, for a different, for a normal Russia. With Vladimir we were dreaming about such a different Russia during our webinars of the Forum of the Friends of European Russia. He decided not to leave Russia. In the same way like Navalny, Yashin and others. He was twice poisoned. Now we know that it is normal Kremlin practice to poison its opponents. Navalny suffered the same. Both Navalny and Kara-Murza are facing a rapid deterioration of their health condition. The regime would be very happy if they would simply die while in prison. Boris Nemtsov, whom I knew also personally, earlier was simply killed. The Kremlin has waged two wars at the same time: a war of aggression against Ukraine and a war of oppression against the Russian people, against the opposition. We Europeans, we are living in the XXI century with humans rights, the rule of law, democracy. Putin is bringing Russia back to the years of Stalin, where instead of the rule of law, human rights or democracy there is only brutal persecution. Here the question comes to us: can we stay only as silent watchers, who are able to make only traditional bureaucratic statements of concern and deep concern? Kara-Murza, Navalny, Yashin, sacrifice and suffering, should be the strongest argument for a new type of our strategic fight for the freedom of oppressed people – at least on the European continent in Russia, in Belarus. All the prosecutors, judges and others, responsible for inhuman detentions and tortures should be personally named by the European Parliament and immediately included on the sanctions list. Second – it’s clear that only sanctions are not stopping the regime and its henchmen. What they are perpetrating may amount to crimes against humanity, and such crimes should be investigated by the ICC or a special tribunal. Nothing will be forgotten, nothing will be forgiven.
Debate: Repression in Russia, in particular the cases of Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny
Date: WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2023
Speaker: Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Country: Ireland
Language: PL

Cytuję część jego artykułu w Gazecie Wyborczej, szczególnie zasłużonej dla tworzenia takiej Polski: Trwa wojna reżimu Putina z niezależną Ukrainą. W tym samym czasie trwa wojna putinowskiego reżimu z resztkami rosyjskiej demokracji. Ta wojna dyktatury z wolnością rosyjską ma przebieg traumatyczny, ale ta wolna Rosja istnieje. Rosja Sacharowa i Kowalowa, Rosja Chodorkowskiego, Nawalnego, Jaszyna czy Kara-Murzy. Wszyscy oni płacili wysoką cenę za niezgodę na imperialną dyktaturę i sprzeciw wobec konformizmu.  Sacharow potępił rosyjską agresję na Afganistan, Kowalow piętnował krwawą wojnę w Czeczenii, Niemcow potępiał putinowską agresję na Krym i Donbas, Nawalny, Jaszyn i Kara-Murza potępiają bandycki napad putinowskiego reżimu na Ukrainę.  Kara-Murza oskarżony o działalność antyrosyjską powtarza, że prawdziwą antyrosyjską działalność prowadzi Putin, gdyż pcha Rosję do katastrofy. Natomiast on jest patriotą rosyjskim, gdyż chce wolności dla swojego narodu. Spór Kara-Murzy z Putinem i jego lokajami, którzy tworzą w Rosji nowy totalitarny system, to konflikt o przyszłość Rosji.  I to oni, ci najlepsi z Rosjan, którzy upominają się o prawo Ukrainy do życia w suwerennym państwie, dziś więzieni i bezsilni, gdy Ukraina spływa krwią, są przecież nadzieją dla przyszłej Ukrainy, dla przyszłej Rosji, dla nas wszystkich.  Pozostanie po Putinie i jego lokajach tyle, co po Hitlerze i całej hitlerowskiej szajce. Pozostanie więc Putin symbolem bandytyzmu, mordów i grabieży. Nawalny i Kara-Murza pozostaną na zawsze chlubą naszego czasu.