What Maria spoke about.

22

Nov

2022

FR Speech

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EU-China relations (debate)

Madam President, China is a trading partner of the European Union. I even want to say the European Union’s trading partner. Almost 600 billion trade with China, 20 billion more than trade with the United States. At the same time, the Chinese regime does not share our human rights standards. We talked about forced labour, surveillance regime, sanctions against opponents of Hong Kong and these are j…

21

Nov

2022

FR Speech

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Situation of human rights in the context of the FIFA world cup in Qatar (debate)

Madam President, unlike my predecessor, I am not a footballer and therefore I cannot talk like him about the situation of football. But when I am asked if a World Cup is an opportunity to talk about human rights, I would like to say no. I would like to reply that no country should wait for any event to be able to address the issue of human rights. When, ten years ago, FIFA decided to organise this…

17

Oct

2022

FR Speech

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FRONTEX's responsibility for fundamental rights violations at EU's external borders in light of the OLAF report (debate)

Mr President, the management of the external borders is not without faith and law. I would even say that in these extremely sensitive policies, respect for human rights must be at the centre of the concerns of this agency, which is presented today as essential for the implementation of migration policy. However, we know that, and this is not the first time that Frontex has come under fire, both fo…

5

Oct

2022

FR Speech

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The recent humanitarian and human rights situation in Tigray, Ethiopia, notably that of children

Mr President, we strongly condemn the resumption of fighting on 24 August between Ethiopian government forces and the TPLF in the Tigray region. After five months of truce, the civil war in Ethiopia resumed. The conflict has lasted for more than two years and has caused the deaths of thousands of people and the displacement of millions more within the country. Civilian populations, especially wome…

5

Oct

2022

FR Speech

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Humanitarian situation after the devastating floods in Pakistan and the climate crisis (debate)

Mr President, the Human Rights Committee was in Pakistan two weeks ago, and we had the opportunity to meet the team of the National Disaster Management Authority and the communities affected by the floods. What they showed us was simply terrible, terrible in terms of the intensity of the phenomena that occurred. In April, the highest temperatures ever recorded in Pakistan – 51 °C in Sindh – caused…

5

Oct

2022

FR Speech

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Outcome of the Commission’s review of the 15-point action plan on trade and sustainable development (debate)

Mr President, we can no longer, as has been said, continue to regard the European Union's trade instrument in a relationship purely inscribed in a contract which promotes the maximisation of the profits of the strongest at the expense of the weakest. As we have seen, trade has adverse effects on the environment, human rights and sometimes labour rights. As the Ombudsman said, the European Union's …

4

Oct

2022

FR Speech

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The EU’s strategic relationship and partnership with the Horn of Africa (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, located at the crossroads between the Middle East and Africa, the Horn of Africa is at the centre of varying geopolitical challenges and is plagued by many intersecting and intertwining evils. In Sudan, waves of protests for the return to civilian government following the military coup have added to a dramatic economic situation, in a country that is already among th…

4

Oct

2022

FR Speech

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The death of Mahsa Amini and the repression of women's rights protesters in Iran (debate)

Mr President, since the death of Mahsa Hamani, a 22-year-old victim of the Iranian morality police and for wearing her veil badly, dozens of people have died and thousands have been arrested for protesting for their rights. And contrary to what the Iranian supreme leader claims, who sees these demonstrations as foreign manipulation, these women, these young people, these courageous men ask only on…

14

Sep

2022

FR Speech

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Violations of human rights in Uganda and Tanzania linked to the investments in fossil fuels projects

Madam President, Commissioner, it is well known that Uganda is not a land of human rights. Everyone knows that. Mr Museveni, who has been in office for 36 years, and those around him are responsible for violent repression of all opposition groups, whose members are arbitrarily arrested, abducted, unfairly prosecuted or even massacred. Recently, this outburst has targeted NGOs working on issues rel…

13

Sep

2022

FR Speech

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Renewed partnership with the Southern Neighbourhood – a new agenda for the Mediterranean (debate)

Madam President, first of all, thank you to the rapporteur for the constructive approach to this report. So, as we know, there have always been strong cultural and economic links between the different shores of this Mediterranean Sea, which is called the dividing sea and the sea that unites. Unfortunately, in recent years, we can say the sea that kills, in connection with migratory phenomena. In N…

13

Sep

2022

FR Speech

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Question Time (VPC/HR) The state of play of the war in Ukraine

Mr High Representative, with regard to African countries, thank you very much for meeting with a number of these countries. There is the Global Gateway strategy, which is now being put in place by the European Union, we know that it is a medium-term strategy and we congratulate you on this strategy. But in the short term, there is also a need to meet needs in relation to the price of food, to ensu…

13

Sep

2022

FR Speech

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Question Time (VPC/HR) The state of play of the war in Ukraine

Mr High Representative, I will ask three questions. The first concerns Ukrainian children, who are now particularly vulnerable. They are kidnapped, they are abused. Have you put in place any specific follow-up with regard to these child victims? The second question concerns crimes of aggression. We know that there was a request for an ad hoc court. What are the main obstacles to the establishment …

12

Sep

2022

FR Speech

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Deforestation Regulation (debate)

Mr President, it has been said that the fight against deforestation is crucial in the fight against climate change and for the protection of biodiversity. But the fight against deforestation is also the fight for the rights of indigenous peoples and environmental defenders. Between 2010 and 2020, more than 1540 murders of its defenders were recorded, mainly in the Amazon and Indonesia. These indig…

8

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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The massacre of Christians in Nigeria (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, in Nigeria, the wave of violence does not stop. In 2021, more than 2,600 civilians were killed, an increase of more than 250% compared to 2020. This insecurity is generally seen as a result of the threat posed by Boko Haram. However, such a design underestimates the complexity and multifaceted nature of security challenges in the country. In addition to the insecurit…

8

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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The human rights situation in Xinjiang, including the Xinjiang police files

Madam President, once again, as we can see, the crimes committed by the Chinese regime in Xinjiang show the world the cruelty of this regime towards minorities, and the Uyghur minority in particular. This is not the first time we have spoken out here about this unacceptable situation of serious human rights violations in China. But what to do? Clearly, we do not have the capacity to change the Chi…

8

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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The Commission's proposal for "Attracting skills and talent to the EU", particularly the Talent Partnerships with North African countries (topical debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, I must say to you that I personally feel uncomfortable with this title 'How to attract qualifications and talent to Europe?' I am uncomfortable, not, as Mr Zimniok said, because I personally also have no difficulty in having an African colleague beside me who can actually share a number of things and values which are universal values, and which are not your values speci…

6

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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Question Time (Commission) Reducing the use of pesticides and strengthening consumer protection

Commissioner, I also wanted to ask you a question. We are talking here about their use by the public sector in public spaces, but these chemical pesticides also have private uses by private households, which are just as destructive of biodiversity. Do you also consider restrictive measures in this case?…

6

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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Question Time (Commission) Reducing the use of pesticides and strengthening consumer protection

Madam President, Commissioner, in order to reduce the use of pesticides, we must – as you have said – enshrine in law mandatory reduction targets at Member State level. But we also need to identify which substances will be targeted as a priority and we need to ban the most harmful substances, especially when they are listed as candidates for substitution. Will the Commission oblige Member States t…

6

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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2021 Report on Turkey (debate)

Madam President, as my colleague Mr Nacho said, the human rights situation in Turkey is catastrophic. According to the reports available to us, more than 87 journalists are in prison for terrorism, simply for doing their job. More than a thousand people have been arrested for posting posts, defamation, insult or terrorist propaganda. Life sentences without recourse for Mr. Osman Kavala. Students a…

19

May

2022

FR Speech

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The fight against impunity for war crimes in Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, we are witnessing a tragic event. Every day, in the world, there is a proliferation of war crimes, territorial and maritime aggression, systematic violations of fundamental human rights. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine confronts us with this reality in the strongest possible terms. The horrors experienced by the Ukrainian people despite their formidable resistance, the s…

4

May

2022

FR Speech

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Threats to stability, security and democracy in Western and Sahelian Africa (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the G5 Sahel, as you said, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Niger, but to which we can add Nigeria or Côte d’Ivoire or other countries, of course have common realities but also their specificities. In my opinion, summarising the policy we must pursue in the Sahel in the fight against jihadism is probably not enough. And as we have seen, our nine-year presence in th…

4

May

2022

FR Speech

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Reports of continued organ harvesting in China

Madam President, Commissioner, every year in the world there are more than 10 000 illegal organ transplants and this generates a profit of EUR 1 billion per year. In China, the low rate of voluntary donors, but also the authorisation of non-consensual harvesting and the lack of transparent mechanisms guaranteeing the traceability and origin of these organs, despite being requested by the WHO, are …

2

May

2022

FR Speech

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Amending Annexes IV and V to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, behind this nice little word called POP, which might seem nice, are substances that are particularly dangerous, carcinogenic, toxic for reproduction and that disrupt our endocrine system. They are chemical molecules found in dioxins, pesticides, insecticides and flame retardants. They are also, and are said to be, very persistent in the environment. They contaminate …

6

Apr

2022

FR Speech

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Increasing repression in Russia, including the case of Alexey Navalny

Mr President, in 2005, an institute for studies on the Russian regime wrote: “To install his plebiscite dictatorship, Putin decided to break with liberalism and replace it with an ideology of another order. Putin has brought his regime into patriotic, anti-Western, imperialist, clericalist, militarist, authoritarian and xenophobic nationalism. It is this brutal face that we see today in Russia. Th…

5

Apr

2022

FR Speech

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Situation in Afghanistan, in particular the situation of women’s rights (debate)

Madam President, 44 years of conflict make Afghanistan one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world. But the seizure of power by the Taliban on 15 August 2021 marked the return to the situation that characterized the country 20 years ago, cancelling the few advances in human rights and especially women's rights. They have been systematically denied access to education. Even access to healt…