On 15 July, European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly issued her findings on how the European Commission monitors that human rights clauses are respected through its free trade agreements. She had launched a strategic initiative on this subject in July 2021.
According to Emily O’Reilly, the European Commission’s approach to sustainable development chapters in trade agreements is not primarily aimed at supporting human rights. In the TSD chapters, the emphasis is mostly on environmental sustainability and respecting workers’ rights, even since the review of the European Commission’s approach that was presented in June (see EUROPE 12977/13).
Mrs O’Reilly points out that the European Commission did not submit any questions regarding human rights when it consulted the public for this review. Moreover, the Single Entry Point (SEP) established by the European Commission in 2020 (see EUROPE 12602/24), which in theory “can deal with complaints touching on human rights issues, has not been used to file such complaints”.
Therefore, the European Ombudsman suggests that the European Commission establish a separate mechanism specifically for submitting complaints on this issue—one that would also be accessible to stakeholders based in the partner countries with which the EU has an agreement. This is not the case with the SEP, which is only accessible to persons or entities based in the EU. Emily O’Reilly believes that the institution should then also make it easier for stakeholders in partner countries to access this complaints portal.
See the [Ombudsman’s] findings: https://aeur.eu/f/2pi (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)