Brussels, 28/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 28 November, the special representative for human rights, Stavros Lambrinidis, said he wanted to develop cooperation with NGOs. “I hope to be able to create a favourable environment for cooperating with non-governmental organisations”, Lambrinidis said to MEPs on the human rights committee. “We must engage in dialogues on human rights with NGOs. I want to be able to ask NGOs to provide me with information and vice-versa (…) We need to strengthen cooperation with them (on the exchange of information)”, he said, explaining that NGOs are sometimes present on the ground where EU delegations are not.
Lambrinidis stressed that human rights defenders are one of the top priorities of the European External Action Service (EEAS). Being concerned that the place given to NGOs is limited in many places in the world, he explained that the EU must be at the outposts of the bilateral on the ground, and of the international contact to strengthen the freedom of association and the initiatives which enable NGOs to be authorised and which aim to abolish restrictive practices.
Human rights at the centre of foreign policy. Lambrinidis also said that the EU's commitment to promoting human rights as part of foreign policy is a “thread which must run through every policy”, including the fight against terrorism and development policy - “a guiding principle to be put into practice and not just beautiful words”(our translation throughout). Lambrinidis added that the EU must review its way of being as effective as possible in dialogues on human rights, and must work harder - in its communication with the outside world and in its internal discussions - to underline the universality of these rights.
In his post for just under three months, Lambrinidis spoke of his meetings with Russian partners, dialogues on human rights with Mexico and the African Union, the place of NGOs in the Taskforce with Egypt, his relationship with the international institutions, Islamic cooperation, the Arab League and also the Council of Europe. (CG/transl.fl)