2023-06-30 15:23:11
©Michele Spatari/NurPhoto via Getty Images. The human rights organization points out six priorities in which the Spanish Government can advance “from the first day” of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising geopolitical tensions, worsening climate crisis, new challenges for the protection of the international human rights system and those who defend them, the rollback of the rule of law, the growing movement anti-genderism within the European Union, and the unacceptable number of people dead and missing while a common European rescue-at-sea policy has been abandoned and some governments criminalize individuals and NGOs that rescue people at sea. This is the scenario in which the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) begins on July 1.
Amnesty International has addressed a letter to the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, as a representative of the Spanish Presidency, asking him to prioritize six important aspects in these six months to contribute to the protection of human rights.
1. Promote effective asylum and migration policies focused on ensuring that there is a European policy of rescue at sea, solidarity with refugees, human rights and the distribution of responsibilities between different countries in the protection of refugees. To this end, state ships must coordinate to rescue people at sea, maintain an open and accessible international protection system for those seeking refuge in the EU, based on the shared responsibility of states, promote commitment to ensure the adequate reception and reception, as well as accountability for abuses and violations of human rights against migrants, refugees or asylum seekers. In particular, illegal returns at European borders must be stopped.
2. Place the human rights at the center of EU foreign policy with third countries and regions, including Latin America, Ukraine, China, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan, Turkey, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. In terms of trade, energy and digital security, and other global challenges, collaboration in defense of the international human rights system and its universality must be intensified, and support for human rights defenders should be strengthened.
3. Guarantee concrete advances in the protection and promotion of human rights and the rule of law in the EU, among others, ensuring that gender-based violence against women is combated in the strongest possible way, and ensuring that a strong directive against gender-based violence is agreed that protects all survivors of the same and that penalizes the violation, guaranteeing a definition based on consent. Also ensure that the space for civil society and human rights defenders throughout the EU is protected.
4. Advance in technology regulation to contain strong human rights protections against potential harm from artificial intelligence (AI) systems, to seek to crack down on illegal targeted surveillance, and to ensure greater regulation of the cyber-surveillance industry.
5. Push one business and sustainability directive solid and effective law that provides access to justice to victims of damages caused by companies in their operations abroad.
6. Promote bold and human rights-friendly steps at COP28among them: guarantee the gradual, agile and equitable elimination of fossil fuels, establish a monetary fund for the mitigation and adaptation to climate change in developing countries, as well as the repair of the damages caused by it in these countries.
“There is no time to lose. Despite the electoral advance, with the Spanish presidency of the EU, the government of Pedro Sánchez has the opportunity to promote the protection of human rights starting tomorrow,” claimed Esteban Beltrán, director of Amnesty International Spain.
See the summary of the letter sent by Amnesty International at the following link.
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