Human rights and democratic principles, implementation of measures. 1995 report

OBJECTIVE: This report sets out the main lines of action pursued in using the resources available in the 1995 financial year under the "European initiative for democracy and the protection of human rights" and puts forward a set of initiatives to build on the existing support. SUBSTANCE: It reviews all the measures taken by the Community under Chapter B7-52 which, at Parliament's instigation, groups together all the budget lines allocated to the promotion of human rights and democratic principles, and underlines the extent to which the increase in funding has made it possible to broaden the scope of intervention. Whether viewed from a thematic point of view (eg. promoting the rule of law, supporting the democratic transition process, promoting pluralist civil society) or a geographical point of view (eg. supporting democratisation in Turkey, Latin America etc.), the efforts have been considerable not only in terms of procedure but also in terms of the impact of the measures: - strengthening cooperation with regional and international organizations active in this field (UN, OSCE, Council of Europe) thereby avoiding duplication; - providing incentives such as those included in the revised Lomé IV Convention for making available resources for institutional and administrative reforms; - making instruments more complementary and ensuring continuity (notably "technical assistance" or "development cooperation" headings). However, the Commission concludes that these efforts have not yet produced notable results owing to the absence of an overall strategy for the use of financial resources. It therefore proposes the following guidelines to ensure effectiveness and visibility: - taking greater account of the "human rights" variable at the level of recipients (above all the fact that their work is non-profit making) and at the level of the actions themselves, by distinguishing between short-term actions and medium or long-term actions requiring greater continuity; - dovetailing the use of different types of instrument in order to avoid overlaps and provide the necessary continuity: projects should be assessed in terms of the likelihood of attracting other funding; - developing incentives to enhance the impact of initiatives by extending the Lomé idea of incentive amounts to other countries; - improving the linkage between the thematic and geographical approaches in order to improve intervention capacity in emergencies; - increasing "human rights" expertise with greater knowledge of the requirements of the countries or areas in question; - ensuring that information is accessible and that institutional guidelines are taken into account in establishing operational priorities (in particular by promoting a constructive dialogue with Parliament); - enhancing the continuity between action at Member State and Community levels by promoting the regular exchange of information with the Member States; - increasing synergies with international and regional organizations with medium-and long-term programming of the activities to be implemented jointly and by developing the capacity to handle one-off operations. �