‘Sloppy’ report under fire from Amnesty

Date: 28/03/02

By Martin Banks and David Cronin

THE European Parliament's draft annual report on human rights has been branded a 'serious disappointment'.

Amnesty International and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said the report highlights the assembly's failure to hold the Council and Commission accountable on human rights issues.

In particular, Amnesty spokesman Dick Oosting believes the Parliament should evaluate 'the effectiveness of the EU human rights policy'.

But the latest annual report, drafted by Belgian Conservative Johan van Hecke, 'repeats many earlier demands but does not analyse the reasons why they have not been met,' said Oosting.

'The report is sloppy and very disappointing,' he continued. 'It does not take into account the criticism of the Parliament's performance on human rights that has been voiced by our organisation for over a year.'

Amnesty and FIDH have been urging the Parliament to address the issue more seriously and to set up a dedicated human rights committee.

Oosting added: 'That no such action has been taken or is being planned should be the cause for serious concern to all those in the Parliament who are committed to advancing the cause of human rights.

'We had hoped the report would be a comprehensive attempt to look at what has been happening in the area of human rights in the past year,' he said.

'Unfortunately, it is nothing of the sort.'

He is urging that one single parliamentary body should be formed to deal exclusively with human rights.

Although that recommendation has won some support from certain MEPs, van Hecke rejects it. He argues that such a committee would create 'a dangerous ghetto' and result in human rights no longer being a central concern for MEPs.

Ministers from the country holding the EU presidency regularly attend the foreign affairs committee, he said, where they have to answer questions about human rights. 'You can't make the presidency come to two separate committees.'

However, the campaign groups have broadly welcomed the section in his report on terrorism. It calls on the US to ensure al-Qaeda suspects taken captive during its war against Afghanistan are granted fair trials, presumed innocent until proven otherwise and given adequate access to lawyers.

• The report was discussed by the foreign affairs committee on Monday (25 March).

The European Parliament's draft annual report on human rights has been criticised by Amnesty International and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

http://europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/committees/afet/20020325/AFET20020325.htm http://europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/committees/afet/20020325/AFET20020325.htm

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