Annual report on human rights in the world

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on human rights in the world in 1993/94 and the Union's human rights policy: . general principles: Parliament reaffirmed its wish to exercise its powers to promote and control the inclusion of human rights and the principles underlying the rule of law when the CFSP was defined. It called on the other institutions and the Member States to follow up its resolutions when implementing the Union's foreign policy and reiterated the "conditionality" principle of respect for human rights in international preferential trade, which took precedence over economic interests. It called for the Council and the Commission to make the Community's foreign policy a credible instrument to promote the humanist values of the Union. In this sense, Parliament called for the revised Treaties to put human rights and humanitarian aid at the top of the list of Union policies; . main challenges: Parliament summarized the main challenges facing the Union, including the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing, which it roundly condemned, refugees and attacks on the rights of civilian populations, the rise in fanaticism in all its forms, the rights of minorities, which it called on the Union to defend more vigorously within the framework of the stability pact and the revised Treaties, and the right of interference and humanitarian intervention, which it supported without reserve; . international action plans: Parliament summarized the Community's reactions to international events and the main issues on which it wished to be more actively involved at Community level: - the fight against anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance, - equal opportunities and fundamental rights, - children's rights, - national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, - people victim to exclusion or discrimination, - the right not to be tortured, sold or trafficked as a human being (women, children), - recourse to the death penalty (to be abolished once and for all), - education, - methods of implementing and monitoring major international conferences. At the same time, Parliament called for a clear reference to the link between respect for human rights and democracy as the basis for the Union's foreign policy and called for the financial institutions to lobby for social and human rights clauses to be included in adjustment programmes. It specifically called for a human rights item to be included as a matter of course on the agenda for political dialogue with third countries. Finally, Parliament set out 11 specific proposals in the run up to the 1996 intergovernmental conference with a view to strengthening the "human rights and democratization" dimension of the Union's foreign policy, viz.: - to explicitly incorporate the 1997 joint declaration on fundamental rights by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission in the Treaty itself (preamble to the foreign policy), - to merge foreign policies into a common European policy, - to make clear reference to human rights and democracy in bilateral agreements between the EC and third countries, - to insert a so-called "essential elements" clause in all agreements concluded with third countries (conditionality measures), - to order the Commission and the Council to publish a memorandum on their policy in this area, - to order the Commission to supply the European Parliament with any information on the suspension of relations with a third country so that it too can take a position on the matter, - to order the Commission to draw up sanctions for violations of human rights so that action to be taken vis-à-vis a third country can be coordinated, - to order the Council to apply European Parliament resolutions in this area adopted by a 2/3 majority, - to insert the objective of the prevention of attacks on human dignity as a foreign policy objective, - to order action carried out by the Community to be coordinated with international organizations, including NGOs, - to appoint a member of the Commission responsible for a human rights portfolio. Parliament also devoted part of its resolution to its powers and reaffirmed its wish to adopt texts of major importance in this area. It also hoped that the Council and the Commission would follow up its recommendations and take proper account of human rights when defining and implementing the CFSP and commercial, development and cooperation policy within the framework of an interinstitutional information mechanism. Finally, it wished to rationalize the process of adopting the appropriations linked to these policies.�