PARLEMENT EUROPÉEN 2004 2009 Commission des affaires étrangères SOUS-COMMISSION "DROITS DE L'HOMME" Réunion Jeudi, 17 mars 2005, de 15:00 à 18:30, Bruxelles HEURE DES QUESTIONS À LA COMMISSION 1. Angola - Question to the Commission (José Ribeiro e Castro) Does the Commission have any specific, tangible news on the status of the process of extending the broadcasting of Angolan Radio Ecclesia to a national level? Is the Commission aware of the importance Radio Ecclesia has in assuring freedom of press in that African country? What practical consequences does the Commission feel the statements of President José Eduardo dos Santos - during his official visit to Washington - have had on the Angolan administration in order to allow and accelerate this process? Is the Commission assisting or by any means following this matter? What measures have been taken or intended to be taken in order to ensure that Radio Ecclesia is allowed to broadcast freely to all the Angolan territory? 2. Violence contre les Femmes en l'Amérique Latine - question à la Commission (María Elena Valenciano Martínez-Orozco et Raül Romeva i Rueda) La violence contre les femmes, allant jusqu'au l'assassinat misogyne de femmes au mains des hommes c'est un sujet très préoccupant en l'Amérique Latine. Ces dernières années en Guatemala on a vu une augmentation alarmante des assassinats de femmes, qualifiée de génocide de femmes ("femmecide") pour les organisations de femmes et de défenseurs des droits de l'homme. Selon les dates du Procureur des Droits de l'Homme en Guatemala, entre 2002 et 2003 les assassinats de femmes ont augmentées en 135% et pendant l'année 2004, plus de 450 femmes ont été assassinées. Le plus préoccupant n'est seulement pas l'augmentation des victimes sinon la manière dans laquelle les assassinats se sont produits, sujet de tortures, violations et mutilations, envoyant un message de terreur et d'intimidation à la population femelle. En plus des associations qui ont dénoncés ces faits ont reçu des agressions et des menaces. La Commission est au courant de l'augmentation du nombre de mortes de femmes en Guatemala et dans d'autres pays d'Amérique Latine? A la Commission réalisée des investigations ou a-t-elle prise des mesures pour lutter contre ces faits? Est-ce que la Commission va prendre des actions pour protéger et donner support aux organisations de femmes qui dénoncent ces faits, dans le cadre des lignes directrices pour les défenseurs des droits de l'homme? 3. Colombia - Question to the Commission (Johan Van Hecke) According to the 83 Colombian human rights NGOs and victims organizations that recently signed a joint statement for the 61st UNCHR, during 2004 the human rights situation in Colombia worsened. The UN and many national and international organizations are talking about a lack of guarantees for the life and work of human rights defenders. Given the EU’s commitment to a negotiated solution of the Colombian conflict and its commitment to protection shown by the approval of EU guidelines on Human Rights Defenders and the latest EU declarations and conclusions, in which way is the European Commission planning to monitor the advancement of compliance of UN recommendations by the Colombian government so that - as insisted in the Cartagena Declaration - results can be seen as soon as possible and human rights work in Colombia can be carried out without risks? 4. Discrimination of European Citizens in Turkey - Question to the Commission (Dimitrios Papadimoulis) Polyxeni Foka Pistika, Greek citizen, passed away in Istanbul in April 2000. The only beneficiaries of the heritage were her brothers Ioannis and Evangelos Fokas, Greek citizens. According to the "the secret decrees of 1964", the Turkish state did not allow Greek citizens to inherit properties located in Istanbul. On the 6th March 2002 the Fokas brothers seized the European Court of Human Rights against Turkey. The appeal was accepted (number 31206/02) and the case is pending. With view to the fact that the Focas brothers and their deceased sister are Greek citizens, would the European Commission consider the above mentioned case as a discrimination based on citizenship and thus violating art.9 of the Association Agreement between EU and Turkey, which focuses on the equal treatment of citizens independently of their nationality? If this is the case, would the Commission raise the issue of the incompatibility of the treatment of non Turkish citizens with the obligations of Turkey, in the pre- accession negotiations? 5. Mexico - Question to the Commission (Raül Romeva i Rueda) What is the Commission's position regarding the facts occurred during the Summit of Heads of State and Government of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union, on the 28th of May 2004 in Guadalajara (Mexico), specifically the arbitrary arrests of people participating in the alter-globalization events. Is the Commission aware that some of these people are still emprisoned, and that the charges presented against them are extremely unclear and show serious inconsistencies? 6. Iran - Question à la Commission (María Elena Valenciano Martínez-Orozco) Iran a ratifiée la Convention sur les Droits de l'Enfant,se compromettant à abolir la peine de morts aux personnes qui avaient moins de 18 ans au moment où le délit a été commis. Cependant on a des nouvelles sur l'exécution d'au moins 3 mineurs pendant l'année 2004 et en janvier 2005 les autorités iraniens on exécuté Iman Farokhi, pour un crime qu'il avait apparemment commis lorsqu'il avait 17 ans. En plus, au moins 30 mineurs attendent leur exécution et les tribunaux iraniens continuent à prononcer la peine capitale contre des mineurs. L'application de la peine de mort et la discrimination des femmes aussi dans les procès judiciaires, a comme conséquence qu'un grande nombre de filles aient été condamnées à la peine capitale et exécutée pour ladite discrimination, pour le seul fait d'être des femmes, comme dans les cas de Ateqeh Rajabi, Zhila Izadi et tant d'autres. La Commission dans le cadre du dialogue des droits humains va faire pression aux autorités iraniennes pour qu'ils prennent immédiatement des mesures pour la suspension et l'abolition de la peine de mort aux mineurs et pour finir avec la discrimination des femmes et filles dans les procès judiciaires? 7. War on Terrorism and Islamophobia - Question to the Commission (Sajjad Karim) The operational measures of certain counter-terrorism legislation implemented worldwide means that powers are disproportionately used against members of the Muslim Community so that, in particular, young men within a certain age bracket, who have a certain racial appearance and are perceived to follow a particular faith, should merely accept as a "reality" that they will be targeted by the police more often than the rest of the public. The right to freedom of religion, and to be free from discrimination based on religion, is long enshrined in international law, through the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other instruments. However, Muslim men continue to be subjected to arbitrary and indiscriminate stop and search, and even arrest, because of their ethnic makeup, rather than on the basis of concrete evidence, obtained in the proper manner. When enacting counter-terrorism measures, states should adhere to the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination; instead, certain states are judging the Muslim community as a whole, by the acts of extremists who have deliberately targeted and killed civilians. Does the Commission find it acceptable that under the cloak of the war against terrorism countries are institutionalising Islamophobia in this way, whilst simultaneously breaching international human rights principles and practices? 8. Situation of the Finno-Ugric Mari people of Russia - Question to the Commission (Csaba Sándor Tabajdi) The Finno-Ugric Mari people of Russia are currently suffering severe discrimination with reports of beatings and deaths. The attacks were prompted by the Presidential elections in December 2004, in which the ethnic Mari put their support behind their own candidate, Mikhail Dolgovia. When the elections were won by Leonid Markelov, officials in the republic began a campaign of intimidation against the Mari. The Mari number about three- quarters of a million, with around 43 percent of them living in Mari El, a formally autonomous republic within the Russian Federation, south east of Moscow. Most others live in neighbouring regions. They speak Volga-Finnic, a branch of the Finno-Ugric family of languages. I ask the Commission whether they are aware of the specific situation of the Mari people of Russia, the atrocities committed against them? Is there a willingness on behalf of the Commission to raise its voice concerning the Mari case and to take steps to encourage Russian authorities to help ending the attacks? Is there a willingness on behalf of the Commission to raise its voice concerning the general situation of minorities in Russia and to take steps to encourage Russian authorities to ensure the protection of minority rights? I ask the Commission to call on the Russian authorities at all levels to take immediate steps to end the attacks on members of the democratic opposition in the Republic of Mari El. .