Brussels, 25/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the third Summit of the Heads of State of the EU and Latin America/Caribbean on 28 and 29 May in Guadalajara, the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) has voiced its fears over respect for individual rights in certain Latin American and Caribbean countries (see yesterday's EUROPE, pages 9 and 10). The FIDH makes three alarming observations: -the deteriorating situation for defenders of human rights; -increasing poverty; impunity from justice.
Latin America is the continent with the highest number of murders of human rights defenders, the FIDH points out, criticising the governments of these countries for using the fight against international terrorism as a weapon against human rights defenders. In this way, Colombia's Bogota Congress voted in new anti-terrorism legislation on 10 December 2003, giving the army judicial powers and allowing the police to arrest suspects without warrants, to conduct searches with no legal authorisation, to intercept mail and use bugging devices on telephones with no legal authorisation. Other equally worrying examples were reported from Chile and Argentina.
In a report, the FIDH calls upon the EU to take account of these problems at the Summit. It also congratulates the European Parliament on its adoption of an increasing number of resolutions in favour of defenders of human rights. It calls upon the Member States of the EU to adopt a specific common foreign and security policy instrument on human rights, to be integrated systematically into all EU policies relating to Latin America. It further calls upon the countries of the EU to promote regional and national policies to protect human rights defenders.
On poverty, the FIDH states that there are over 150 million people living in a precarious situation in the region, a 3% increase on 1980. The FIDH believes that the European Commission should see the fight against poverty as a social, political and economic objective, and propose concrete decisions to boost social cohesion by reducing poverty, inequality and exclusion. The FIDH spoke of the effects of agreements providing for the prevention of discrimination against women and ethnic minorities, and EU/third country agreements on rural development.
On justice, impunity remains the rule in many countries of the region, says the FIDH, which invites the EU to support initiatives to fight impunity, such as the creation of an investigation committee, and the reform of justice administration.