Brussels, 20/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - During a forum organised by CONCORD (the European confederation of relief and development NGOs) and Mesa de Articulacion in Brussels on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 March, Euro-Latin American civil society called for the relationship between the European Union and Latin America to focus on human rights.
“Europe must have a fairer relationship with Latin America, ensuring that its political action in the trade, energy and agriculture sectors is coherent and does not have harmful consequences”, said CONCORD deputy head Laura Sullivan in a press release.
Between 2001 and 2011, Latin America's exports of primary resources to the EU increased to 52%. Nevertheless, the “aggressive” extraction of natural resources has a negative impact in terms of displacing populations and violating their human rights, says civil society.
At the end of the forum, the participants were expected to adopt a joint statement.
Opening the discussions at the forum on 19 March, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini spoke about the positive experience of the dialogue between public authorities and civil society organisations conducted in Chile and in Colombia as part of the peace negotiations with the FARC. “In some countries, the dialogue with civil society organisations is limited (…) and is even reduced, in certain cases”, she said, without going into further detail. Mogherini gave assurances that at the next EU-Latin America and Caribbean summit, to be held in Brussels in June, civil society would for the first time be able to make its grievances known directly to the leaders attending. (Mathieu Bion)