A3-0222/93

Resolution on human rights, democracy and development

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the Commission communication of 25 March 1991 to the Council and Parliament on human rights, democracy and development cooperation policy (SEC(91)0061),

-having regard to its resolution of 22 November 1991 on the aforementioned Commission proposal calling for the inclusion of democracy and human rights in Community development policy,

-having regard to the Council resolution of 28 November 1991 on human rights, democracy and development,

-having regard to the Commission communication of 21 October 1992 to the Council and Parliament on the implementation of the resolution of the Council and the Member States on human rights, democracy and development (SEC(92)1915),

-having regard to the ACP-EEC Joint Assembly resolution of 31 March 1993 on human rights, democracy and development,

-having regard to Rule 121 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Development and Cooperation (A3-0222/93),

A.having regard to its consistent support for the various aspects of human rights, for democracy and for a European development policy based on solidarity and mutual benefit,

B.stressing that these various steps are profoundly coherent, and pointing out again that this coherence is fully expressed in the concept of human development, as proposed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),

C.having regard to the widely varying relationship between human rights, democracy and development in developing countries as in other parts of the world,

D.having regard to the need to renew European development policy, taking into account the variety of situations and excluding references to any models which have already proved inadequate,

E.whereas, according to the preparatory documents for the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna on 14-15 June 1993,

-at least half the world's population are deprived of all or some of their basic economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights,

-in some 50 countries, 150-200 million children are forced to work, contrary to international labour law,

-1.5 billion human beings live in absolute poverty and a further 1 billion are on the absolute poverty line,

-the number of refugees rose to 17 million in 1992 and the number of displaced persons to 25 million,

-780 million persons are under-nourished,

-1 billion are completely illiterate and are deprived of all cultural rights,

-the human rights situation in the world is one of 'stark contrasts',

F.having regard to the alarming World Bank report according to which women do about 70% of work yet receive only 1% of world income and own less than 1% of world property,

G.whereas it would be pointless to promote respect for democracy and human rights in developing countries without at the same time working towards greater justice in international economic and monetary relations and greater democracy in management of the world economy,

H.alarmed at the increase in sexual violence (rape and sexual mutilation) against women in wars and armed conflict, both in Europe and in developing countries,

I.whereas respect for democracy and human rights concerns all countries; whereas the situation of refugees and immigrants, as well as the poorest members of society, is becoming more and more critical in the Community,

J.whereas the Community's top priority should be to act coherently, which means that

-its attitude should not vary according to the economic or political power of those concerned,

-the principles established in respect of democracy, human rights and development should apply to all the Community's external relations, including trade relations,

1.Welcomes the progress of democracy in various regions, particularly since the collapse of the Communist system in Europe, but regrets the fact that this progress is not reflected in greater opportunities for participation by local people in most of the countries concerned;

2.Reaffirms that 'advances towards economic development and fulfilling people's needs in the developing nations must be linked to progress in the area of human rights and democracy in all its aspects';

3.Calls for the UN Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict (1974) to be strengthened and for rape and systematic mutilation to be defined as war crimes;

4.Points out that there is no one model for either development or democracy but that democracy is a universal value to which all peoples have a right and towards which all governments should be moving, and stresses that, in achieving democracy, the cultural autonomy and traditions of each people must be respected;

5.Points out that there are many countries which call themselves democracies but still violate human rights through national security or emergency measures adopted by parliamentary majorities;

6.Acknowledges that northern countries must not use democracy and human rights as 'fashionable concepts' with the aim of evading their obligations with regard to the development of southern countries; notes that poverty and destitution may undermine democracy by giving rise to calls for a strong leader or to a fundamentalist doctrine;

7.Points out that democracy is a fundamental principle of the countries involved in European integration and that it is therefore natural that it should be a central theme of the Community's external policy and its development policy;

8.Affirms, while aware of the wide variety of links between human rights, democracy and development in the world and the fact that there is no direct correlation between the level of economic development and the degree of progress towards democracy, that progress towards democracy is conducive to economic development and that progress in economic development is conducive to democracy;

9.Considers, therefore, that progress towards democracy cannot be sustained unless the conditions for economic development can be guaranteed;

10.Points out that both development and democracy are first and foremost a matter for the peoples concerned and cannot be imposed in any lasting manner from outside;

11.Welcomes the fact that the larger nations, including those of the European Community, which provided support for certain countries during the Cold War, are now adopting a different approach which takes greater account of democracy and human rights;

12.Points out, however, that the attitude of the major industrialized countries varies according to the influence and importance of the developing countries;

13.Stresses the need for the Community to adopt a consistent approach to shortcomings in democracy and respect for human rights, irrespective of the relative political and economic influence of the countries concerned;

14.Points out that the Community must display a consistent attitude to all countries and not only those which are ranked as developing countries;

15.Considers that the Community's attitude to third countries, including developing countries, must be based on a high degree of political responsibility, which will help to enhance the Community's influence and identity, and that in this context such an attitude must make the adoption of any aid, except in cases of humanitarian emergencies, dependent on a careful consideration of the political reality in the recipient country;

16.Notes that hitherto attitudes with respect to democracy, human rights and development have varied considerably according to regions and situations and that the Community's approach should now be applied to countries such as Saudi Arabia, China and Iran;

17.Recalls, with reference to the Commission document on the future of Community development policy, that the economic, trade and financial relations with the Community are far more important to developing countries than the aid which they may receive;

18.Considers, therefore, that the democracy, human rights and development dimension should be applied to all aspects of the Community's relations with developing countries;

19.Considers that, rather than a scale of sanctions, a number of priority areas should be defined, in particular:

-developments in the human rights situation,

-developments concerning the democratic nature of institutional systems,

-developments concerning the democratic structures of societies,

-social policies designed to favour underprivileged sections of society;

-participation of the people in the decision-making process,

-freedom of expression,

-freedom for the news media (press),

-respect for basic individual liberties, in particular the right to life, judicial safeguards and a ban on torture,

-the right to move freely within and outside one's own country, the right to meet and associate peacefully, the right to obtain information and disseminate ideas and the right to monitor respect for human rights,

-respect for international borders,

-the establishment of a democratic system or, at least, substantial progress towards it;

20.Calls on the Commission to shape its development policy on the basis of these priority areas;

21.Calls therefore on the Commission, in countries committed to introducing democracy, to concentrate on supporting newly created institutions (national parliaments, courts of justice, courts of auditors, etc.) and backing initiatives aimed at strengthening civic values and the freedom of expression of the media;

22.Calls on the Commission to carry out an investigation into Community imports of products manufactured in 'rehabilitation camps' in China and products resulting from children's work, and to do the same with regard to imports of flowers and fruit produced in inhuman conditions which lead to disease among the workers, e.g. in Central America, Colombia, Peru, Kenya and anywhere else where the problem exists;

23.Calls on the Commission, on this basis, to propose that the Council put a stop to such imports;

24.Considers that ideologies based on exclusion (racism, xenophobia, religious fundamentalism, etc.) tend to hamper development and are associated with human rights violations and that the Community should not contribute to the promotion of such ideologies;

25.Considers that greater involvement of women in the decision-making process in the social, economic and political fields is essential if development and democracy are to make any progress;

26.Reaffirms its commitment to the concept of democratic adjustment in the context of structural adjustment;

27.Considers that no direct link can be established between progress towards democracy and integration into a competitive world economic system from which many developing countries are excluded under present circumstances;

28.Calls on the Commission to continue its action to promote democracy, human rights and development through a programme aimed at the democratization of international institutions;

29.Considers that the Community's action would be considerably undermined if it were unable to apply in international organizations working in the sphere of development the same approach it applies at bilateral level;

30.Notes with interest that the work carried out by delegations it has sent as observers for a number of election campaigns has been highly appreciated in the countries concerned and therefore considers that any requests that may be made to it in this respect should be given due consideration;

31.Considers that exchanges of members of parliament, experts, and officials may prove extremely useful in consolidating democracy in many countries and that the Community should take practical measures to assist democratization, for example by drawing up education and training programmes on human rights to be followed by civil servants, judiciary officials and the security forces, and by consolidating legal democratic institutions;

32.Calls, therefore, on the Commission to draw up a list of priorities to make optimal use of the budget heading providing support for the democratization process, which, it must be said, has insufficient financial resources and should be increased;

33.Welcomes the important debate which the ACP-EEC Joint Assembly held on democracy, human rights and development and the extremely comprehensive resolution which it adopted and hopes that such a debate in the ACP-EEC Joint Assembly will be extended to the group of Asian/Latin American countries with which the Community also has relations and cooperation agreements;

34.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States and the governments of the developing countries associated with the Community.