What Hannah spoke about.

14 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Chinese government crackdown on the peaceful protests across the People's Republic of China

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Madam President, I would like, first of all, to make the statement that whatever Ms Zovko just said was totally out of scope of the debate. So please allow me to also make a remark a bit out of the ordinary. I have to say that I am quite surprised by the fact that the EPP now decides not to table, not to negotiate and not to vote on urgency resolutions. The fact is that apparently, third countries…

13 Dec

2022

EN Speech

Suspicions of corruption from Qatar and the broader need for transparency and accountability in the European institutions (debate) (debate)

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Mr President, we have all been elected to represent European citizens and entrusted to protect European democracy. And that is the very foundation of our mandate, and it is so across party lines. And colleagues, until last Friday, I was pretty sure that the dissent that we have, the debates that are sometimes hard, but always the core of democratic decision-making were based on political opinions,…

22 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Promoting regional stability and security in the broader Middle East region (debate)

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Madam President, and because a number of colleagues have spoken about the role of women in the region, allow me to read out a small list to you, who are the EU heads of EU delegations in the region. Israel: Mr Dimiter Tzantchev, Syria: Mr Dan Stoenescu, Lebanon: Mr Ralph Tarraf, Libya: Mr Jose Antonio Sabadell, Egypt: Mr Christian Berger, Yemen: Mr Gabriel Munuera Viñals, United Arab Emirates: Mr …

22 Nov

2022

EN Speech

EU response to the increasing crackdown on protests in Iran (debate)

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Madam President, schoolchildren burying their classmates shot by the regime, reduced liberties, electricity cut-off, people screaming, gunshots, and then, silence. It’s always the same patterns: the regime shuts down the internet, it kills in darkness, and that is why it is our job to put the spotlight on what is happening in Iran. There are even testimonies that the Revolutionary Guards picked th…

21 Nov

2022

EN Speech

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

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Madam President, earlier this year, I visited a refugee camp near Duhok in Iraq – the place that is right now being bombed by Iran and Turkey at the same time. Even five years after the defeat of ISIS, Yazidi families still live there in confined places in an environment of unhealed trauma and limited possibilities. But that day I played soccer with the Scoring Girls, a team of girls that practice…

9 Nov

2022

EN Speech

EU response to the increasing crack-down on protests in Iran (debate)

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Mr President, what would a world without the so-called Islamic regime look like? This is exactly the question I asked Iranians on Twitter after 227 members of the Iranian Parliament asked for their execution. I got thousands of replies. I could use my real name on Twitter. I could walk in the streets without fear of being beaten up. I could finally go back home to my homeland, hug my old mother. U…

9 Nov

2022

EN Speech

Order of business

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Madam President, colleagues, last Sunday, 227 out of the 290 members of the Iranian Parliament called on the Iranian judiciary to severely punish protesters and political prisoners, including with executions. So people in the streets, people in prisons are beaten up, are raped, are killed – not by criminals but by people who claim to be the government of this wonderful country. And, colleagues, th…

15 Sep

2022

DE Speech

Ecological Disaster in the Oder River (debate)

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Madam President, In the summer I stood in the water of the Oder to collect dead fish. That was disgusting, and it was also insanely sad. I did this for two hours. Others did it for two weeks. No one does this voluntarily. And first of all I want to say: Thank you – for all those who have done this work. What happened this summer was a man-made disaster. And that means people have to do something n…

12 Sep

2022

EN Speech

Surveillance and predator spyware systems in Greece (debate)

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Mr President, we knew it from the very beginning, spyware is a dangerous technology, it’s prone to misuse, which is why it needs to be regulated extra carefully. And so far we've failed on all levels. What's with the regulatory frameworks put in place to make attacks on journalists from members of parliament impossible? Well, apparently they collapse, at least in Hungary, Poland, Spain and Greece.…

4 May

2022

EN Speech

Use of the Pegasus Software by EU Member States against individuals including MEPs and the violation of fundamental rights (topical debate)

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Mr President, the Pegasus scandal has finally reached the European Union. We have seen at least one Commissioner and his staff members being spied on. We have seen five members of the European Parliament of this House being infected. This is an attack on EU institutions and it’s an attack on our parliamentary immunity. Mr Commissioner, if you say it’s Member States in charge, would you mind tellin…

5 Apr

2022

EN Speech

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

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Madam President, it is now 8 months since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. Girls are not going to school, activists are in hiding and families remain torn apart. Everyone has the responsibility to change that, especially the Taliban leadership; so this goes to you. In August, in your famous press conference, you promised to respect women’s rights and media freedom; but now, for 200 days, girls…

8 Mar

2022

EN Speech

EU Gender Action Plan III (debate)

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Mr President, do you still remember how we chuckled at Putin’s horse riding pictures, his long table that just got longer the more lies he was telling us? Well today we know this man is peak toxic masculinity. And what we see in Ukraine is the suffering that comes with a foreign policy that focuses on domination and aggression. What hides behind the term feminist foreign policy, on the other side,…

17 Feb

2022

EN Speech

The recent human rights developments in the Philippines

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Mr President, some of you may remember it, 17 months ago, we already had a resolution on the Philippines. Like many of you, I spoke back then and for some reason my video was dragged all over Filipino news. Troll armies were sent out against me, I had 35 000 hate comments on my Facebook page and I have to admit I was glad I could just close my laptop and turn all of this off. I was glad I was not …

16 Feb

2022

EN Speech

The EU priorities for the 66th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, our response to climate change is a magnifying glass for gender discrimination around the world, but also in our own institutions. Eighty per cent of the people displaced by climate change are women. Only 10% of the aid provided for local solutions goes to women, and only 0.2% of the funding goes to women—led organisations. While women are most affected by climate change, they receiv…

15 Feb

2022

EN Speech

Human rights and democracy in the world – annual report 2021 (continuation of debate)

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Madam President, if we are serious about all these things that have been said today, about the promotion and protection of human rights, it’s actually human rights defenders who are our closest allies. They may not fight with weapons, they use the power of the word, they need a lot of persistence, but they are the only key we have to a sustainable change on the ground. And last year was clearly no…

19 Jan

2022

EN Speech

Violations of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong

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Mr President, Chow Hang-tung was sentenced to 15 months’ prison in Hong Kong for organising an event to light candles on 4 June. Like her, so many activists and journalists fight to protect civil liberties in Hong Kong, but more and more of them end up in jail, they are being beaten up with no due process inside. So dear colleagues, what we have here – the freedom to raise our voice freely – is qu…

16 Dec

2021

EN Speech

MeToo and harassment – the consequences for the EU institutions (continuation of debate)

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Mr President, turning to my dear colleagues, especially those to my right, let me say I know it’s hard to be a man these days with all this uncertainty about what you can do, what you can say, where old school manners stop and harassment starts – but no need to panic; I’m going to womensplain a few things to you. One. Welcome to the club! Women have grown up policing their own behaviour for centur…

25 Nov

2021

EN Speech

Human rights violations by private military and security companies, particularly the Wagner Group

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Madam President, if private military and security companies behave like warlords, it’s time we treated them like warlords. The original job of these companies is actually to protect people and buildings, but what some do is smuggle arms, rape, torture, kill and do the dirty jobs for other governments. In return, they are allowed to use and to loot countries’ natural resources. The Wagner Group is …

16 Sep

2021

EN Speech

The case of human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor in UAE

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Madam President, Ahmed Mansoor is so many things: he’s a father of four, he’s a poet, he’s an Emirati engineer, he’s a husband. This sounds like a rich and fulfilled life. But Ahmed Mansoor is also a prisoner. He’s serving a 10 year prison sentence because he was running an opposition blog, calling for human rights and political reform. And he’s by far not the only one in the United Arab Emirates …

15 Sep

2021

EN Speech

The Pegasus spyware scandal (debate)

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Madam President, this is my phone. I take it everywhere, apparently. I do 1 000 things with it, to a degree that sometimes my husband is even jealous about the intimate relationship the two of us are having. But now imagine your biggest enemy sits in this phone. The person now wants to know everything about your contacts, the person now wants to see you dead, and there’s nothing you can do about i…

14 Sep

2021

EN Speech

Situation in Afghanistan (debate)

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Madam President, we made mistakes in Afghanistan in the last 20 years, but what we are doing right now is much worse. Two weeks ago, it was our ministers of home affairs who met and they didn’t pledge a single, a single resettlement place because they were afraid of bad opinion polls back home. Bad opinion polls, while the women are marching in the streets of Afghanistan, although they know they w…

8 Jul

2021

EN Speech

The death penalty in Saudi Arabia, notably the cases of Mustafa Hashem al-Darwish and Abdullah al-Howaiti

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Mr President, Commissioner, dear colleagues, diplomatic engagement with Saudi Arabia is quite a tightrope walk. They have made progress on women’s rights and announced substantial legal reforms. That’s good news. But we also know that blatant human rights violations are still a reality. It’s a reality for most in prisons that their situation is very, very bleak and we describe it all in our resolu…

6 Jul

2021

EN Speech

EU global human rights sanctions regime (EU Magnitsky Act) (debate)

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Madam President, dear colleagues, it has been quite a struggle, but now we have the EU global human rights sanctions regime. And you may have realised, especially with regards to China, it has created some effect and some impact. So I think it’s good that we finally debated it here in the European Parliament because it was actually the Parliament that initiated this mechanism. It is the Parliament…