Brussels, 19/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 19 May in Brussels, the Council of the EU emphasised that there is still a lot to be done to give some real shape to a rights-based development cooperation approach incorporating all human rights (civil, political, economic, social or cultural).
EU28 ministers in charge of development met up at the Foreign Affairs Council, chaired by High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. They welcomed the usefulness of the “toolbox” in this respect, which the European Commission had just presented to them in an effort to help integrate human rights principles into the operational activities of the EU for promoting development at an institutional level and on the ground.
In its conditions, the Council highlighted the fact that the implementation of such a development cooperation approach would be based on the universality and indivisibility of human rights, as well as the principles of inclusion and participation in the decision-making process, which is non-discriminatory and based on equality and fairness, transparency and accountability. It also pointed out that the application of these principles should be the heart of development policy, in order to provide the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society, particularly women and children, with the possibility of taking their destiny into their own hands.
The Council therefore believes that there are two pre-requisites for proper implementation, which are: - an evaluation of the human rights situation in the various partner developing countries of the EU, to include a comparative analysis between the sexes and to be taken into account in the entire cycle of development projects; - coherent political and strategic dialogue with all stakeholders in each of the countries.
Continued EU support to human rights defenders and a reinforcement of the resources available to local civil society organisations in the developing countries will round off the mechanism. Commercial investments and activities in the developing countries must respect human rights, the Council stresses. It therefore calls upon the European Commission to speed up the implementation of the strategy 2011-2014 for corporate social responsibility and stresses the importance of continuing to carry out impact analyses of trade and investment agreements on human rights. It reiterates that the EU plans to set in place a rights-based approach to development cooperation in the global framework for post-2015.
Due to a duty of coherence, the Commission feels that it is vital to implement everything in order for the internal and external policies of the EU to have a positive impact on the observance of human rights in the partner countries. The Council calls upon the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) to monitor the progress made in order to make this approach a reality and to report back to it at regular intervals. The first assessment of the integration of this approach and the implementation of the toolbox will take place in 2016. (AN)