EU human rights report voices concern over situation in Syria, Iran

A draft resolution on the Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the world 2012 and the EU policy in this field was passed Thursday by Committee for Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament. The report expresses "deep concern about the crisis in Syria, strongly deplores the excessive use of force and violence against the civilian population in the country, and abhors the scale of state abuses that may constitute crimes against humanity." It calls on all armed factions to "put an immediate end to violence in the country and expresses grave concern at the ongoing humanitarian crisis and the implications for neighbouring countries." The report expresses grave "concern regarding the steadily deteriorating human rights situation in Iran, the continued repression of reformists, the growing number of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, the consistently high number of executions, including of minors, the widespread torture, the unfair trials and exorbitant sums demanded for bail, and the heavy restrictions on the freedom of information, expression, assembly, religion, education and movement." The report supports "all steps leading to political dialogue, which is essential to move the transition in Egypt forward; expresses its deep concern about recent crises and calls on all political leaders in the country to find a way to break the dangerous stalemate and agree on implementing tangible confidence-building measures to avoid the risk of more bloodshed and polarisation in the country." The report considers human rights to be at the centre of EU relations with all third countries, including its strategic partners. It welcomes furthermore, the attention given by the EU Special Representative for human rights "to a number of countries of concern, including Russia, Egypt and Bahrain." The report emphasises that the EU should give "its full support to countries that have dislodged authoritarian regimes and are undergoing a transition to democracy; recalls that the police, the military and the judiciary are often used as mechanisms to perform systematic violations of human rights." The report encourages the EU to continue to learn from past experiences, both positive and negative, to avoid repeating certain policy mistakes, and to establish best practices in order to influence and consolidate democratisation processes