In adopting the 2019 annual report by Isabel Santos (S&D, Portugal) on human rights and democracy in the world and the EU’s policy on the matter (459 votes in favour, 62 against and 163 abstentions), MEPs called on the EU to do more in its defence of human rights around the world.
“It is the duty of the EU institutions to actively support organisations and individuals committed to the defence of democracy and human rights”, says Ms Santos’ report.
According to MEPs, the EU and its Member States should develop a “high-level strategic vision” to counter the growing global attacks on human rights defenders.
Once again, they call for a move to qualified majority voting in the Council of the EU on human rights issues and call on Member States to set an example in terms of respect for human rights.
Advocating result-oriented human rights dialogues with non-Member States and regular reviews, the European Parliament also wants all international agreements—in particular trade and association agreements between the Union and non-Member States—to systematically include human rights clauses and to ensure that they are properly implemented and monitored.
See the report: https://bit.ly/393Dh0V (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)