Debate: Human rights and democracy in the world and the European Union’s policy on the matter - annual report
Date: TUESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2023
Speaker: Didier Reynders
Language: EN

The human rights situation is worsening across the world. Your report, looking back at the last 12 months, takes note of this clearly. We have seen the worst violation of human rights in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Tigray and Iran, to name just the most recent and dramatic examples. The universality of human rights are increasingly questioned. Some countries are pushing new alternative narratives to change agreed international human rights law and to erode the fundamental rights that belong to every human being. This is something which we cannot accept.  Human rights are not a matter of choice, but are the basis of human dignity. They are also in the DNA of the European Union and lie at the foundation of all relations with the rest of the world and they are a core priority for EU foreign policy. We will condemn, systematically, human rights violations and apply sanctions against the worst offenders. The new EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime that we created in 2021, as requested by this House, allows us to go after violations wherever they occur.  In December 2022 the 24th EU-NGO Forum gathered more than 230 human rights defenders from over 70 countries to discuss how to stop impunity and build a road to accountability and justice. This will remain one of our key priorities in 2023. We are setting up a new global Observatory on the Fight Against Impunity with a budget of around EUR 20 million for up to five years to gather information and build a knowledge-base on genocide, crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations.  In 2023, we will support the International Criminal Court via our co-funding of EUR 7 million for 21 to 27 and the EU exceptional assistance measure to the Office of the Prosecutor, Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the ICC, EUR 7.25 million for 18 months, adopted in June 2022 on vicious war crimes in Ukraine.  Finally, at the multilateral level, we will build on what we achieved in 2022. Like in the cases of Belarus, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Myanmar, the rights of the child and freedom of religion and belief, and will continue to defend international human rights and humanitarian law, supporting strong resolutions addressing grave human rights situations.  We will continue using all our bilateral channels to protect and support those that defend human rights and democracy on the ground. Since 2015 the EU Human Rights Defenders Mechanism has supported more than 58 000 human rights defenders and their families in more than 120 countries, through EUR 35 million of EU funding. As an example, a special support has been mobilised for 300 Afghan defenders. Since January 2022, we helped at least 3630 individuals at risk.  This is never enough, we know. To further step up our support we have recently renewed our commitment to fund our Human Rights Defenders Mechanism with EUR 30 million for 2022-2027.  We also need to make the private sector more involved on businesses, trade and human rights. In 2022, the Commission proposed draft legislation on corporate sustainability due diligence and on banning forced labour products from EU markets. We hope to adopt these legislations this year.  Countering racial and other forms of discrimination, defending gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights is and will stay at the core of our action.  Other concrete areas for work in 2023 include digital transformation and surveillance technologies, the human rights consequence of climate change and environmental degradation and the right to development. Honourable Members, in 2023 the international community, and we as the European Union, celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We are already at work with the United Nations, partners across the world, as well as civil society and others. May this anniversary be used to join our forces and reverse the current global trend. We have to make sure that 2023 is a year of action and results for human rights. Thank you for your long-standing and principled support.