Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, hoped on Monday 20 April that he could propose the European sanctions regime for serious human rights violations in the world for adoption by the foreign ministers in the next “couple of months”.
According to the High Representative, discussions are currently taking place at the level of the EU Council’s Technical Group on Human Rights. In order for it to be adopted, “unanimity in the EU Council is required, and for that, a number of concessions have to be accepted; the experts are at work”, he explained.
Foreign Ministers agreed in December 2019 to launch preparatory work on such a regime (see EUROPE 12386/5). The last meeting on the subject at the technical level was held on 12 February, but the process has since been suspended due to restrictions related to COVID-19, according to one source.
Mr Borrell was speaking to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the European Parliament Sub-committee on Human Rights on his new EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy for 2020-2024 (see EUROPE 12454/29). That plan is welcomed by MEPs. Hannah Neumann (Greens/EFA, Germany), however, regretted that the recommendations of the Parliament Sub-committee on Human Rights had not been taken into account and NGOs had been left out of the process. “This plan is ambitious, but there is no timeframe or concrete actions”, she added.
A regret shared by the High Representative. “Some say that the plan is too vague, that there are no specific targets, that it is not quantified. I can share that criticism to a certain extent. It is impossible to be precise when talking about human rights around the world in the coming years”, he said. Mr Borrell therefore referred MEPs to the reports prepared for each country for more details.
For her part, Maria Arena (S&D, Belgium) would have liked the measures concerning companies in the plan to be mandatory and not voluntary, adding that the business community was itself awaiting human rights obligations (see EUROPE 12324/10). “This is the first time that the plan includes a chapter on business”, the head of European diplomacy replied, saying that if “we need to do more, it’s a first step”.
Isabel Santos (S&D, Portugal) recalled that it would be important to continue to have a structured and regular dialogue on the implementation of the action plan.
In a debate on the coronavirus crisis, Mr Borrell and MEPs came back to the negative impact of the pandemic on human rights, in particular freedom of assembly, expression and the press. “The fight against the pandemic is being used to impose measures that may be maintained afterwards. We will have to be vigilant to avoid a step backwards (in terms of human rights) in the world”, added Miguel Urban Crespo (GUE/NGL, Spain).
The High Representative, for his part, also warned against “the desirability of using and abusing the coronavirus to take decisions that could be detrimental to human rights both inside and outside the EU”.
María Soraya Rodriguez Ramos (Renew Europe, Spain) also highlighted the use of artificial intelligence, which may be important to help fight the pandemic but which becomes a threat if not controlled democratically. “It may be necessary to collect health data, but personal data should be private”, Mr Borrell said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)