Europe, Headlines, Human Rights

POLITCS-EU: Packed Human Rights Agenda for Dutch

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Jun 29 2004 (IPS) - The forthcoming Dutch presidency of the European Union must take more decisive and positive steps to address human rights issues around the world, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The human rights group Amnesty International is asking The Netherlands, which will assume the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) Thursday (Jul. 1), to "speak out and act more decisively" in a world where human rights are increasingly under attack.

In its report ‘Closing the gap between rhetoric and practice: Amnesty International’s recommendations to the Dutch EU Presidency’ the group calls for the proposed EU Human Rights Agency to concentrate on human rights compliance within the EU, and for the appointment of an EU special representative for human rights to improve delivery on human rights goals around the world.

"We are witnessing a growing gap between the drive to fight ‘terrorism’ and ‘illegal immigration’ and the commitment to protect individual rights. Now is the time for the EU to redress this imbalance, at home as well as abroad," Dick Oosting, director of Amnesty International’s EU office said in a statement Tuesday (Jun. 29).

The Netherlands will assume presidency of the EU at an important time on the international stage.

Amnesty says the second half of 2004 will be particularly important for the EU’s role on the world stage on human rights issues and adds that it can play an important part in influencing the global agenda.

"Of the major actors, the EU is probably the best placed to take the lead in confronting the global human rights crisis. But that requires more than simply reaffirming values and making passing references to human rights," Oosting said.

During its presidency the Netherlands will face a number of sensitive issues, including a decision in December whether the EU is ready to start accession talks with Turkey.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will release a report on Turkey’s democratisation progress in October, which will be the basis for the EU leaders to decide whether to invite Turkey to the negotiating table.

Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot said when he presented the priorities of the EU presidency last week that he wants to make sure the decision-making on Turkey is "fair, transparent and sustainable."

Amnesty adds that during its six months at the helm the Netherlands should aim to rally EU support for early deployment of international human rights monitors to Iraq and demand that the U.S. and Britain "conduct thorough, independent and public investigations of torture and ill-treatment by coalition forces in Iraqi prisons."

The incoming Dutch presidency has already made moves to foster relations between Iraq and the presidency by inviting the new Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to attend the EU foreign affairs ministers’ meeting July 12-13 in Brussels.

Bot says he wants to discuss with Allawi how the 25-nation bloc can help the war-torn country.

The Netherlands is also hoping to resolve a simmering row over Myanmar in time to allow an EU-Asia summit to go ahead in October.

Plans for the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi have been thrown into doubt by the cancellation of two ASEM ministerial meets that were due to take place in Europe in the coming months.

Bot is confident that the meeting will go ahead under his presidency.

"It’s a pity to be kept hostage by one country. I think the combined pressure from Europe and from the Asian countries will do the trick, and I’m very confident that we will have this meeting in October," he said.

Elsewhere, Amnesty says November’s EU-Russia summit in The Hague should include "rigorous scrutiny of Russia’s conduct in Chechnya" and in Sudan pressure should be exerted on the government to allow the deployment of human rights monitors in the war-torn region of Darfur.

"The Dutch presidency should clearly outline which concrete improvements are required in the human rights conduct of the Chinese government for the EU to consider lifting the arms embargo against China," the report says.

Within the bloc, Amnesty says legislation should be introduced to protect vulnerable victims of crime, particularly victims of gender-based crime, while discrimination against the Roma community must be addressed "as a matter of priority."

On a practical level, the human rights group says that the presidency must ensure that the proposed Council framework decision on suspects’ and defendants’ rights in criminal proceedings does not weaken current standards.

It says that this is key not only to protecting individual rights in practice but also to "preventing traffickers in human beings and perpetrators of terrorist acts from escaping with impunity."

Faced with such a tight agenda over the coming months, Amnesty says The Netherlands must use all the influence it has to make a real difference to the human rights record both inside the bloc and externally.

"The Dutch EU presidency must inject new vitality into the EU human rights agenda by putting real pressure at the highest level on governments which allow human rights violations to occur. This means actually putting into practice the full arsenal of EU human rights policies adopted over recent years," Oosting said.