Pubdate: Fri, 9 Oct 1998
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Contact:  (c) Guardian Media Group 1998
Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Author: Martin Walker in Brussels

EUROPE'S HUMAN RIGHTS RHETORIC AT ODDS WITH REALITY, REPORT FINDS 

European governments have moved to squash key proposals in a strongly
worded report on human rights policy in the European Union, due to be
published today.

The report claims that Europe's "strong rhetoric on human rights is
not matched by the reality". It comes from a high-ranking committee
that included Lord Jenkins and the United Nations human rights
commissioner, Mary Robinson.

Early drafts of the report, obtained by the Guardian, called on the EU
to set up a special department led by a new commissioner to
co-ordinate human rights work throughout the European Commission.

The final draft calls for a new commissioner, but there is no mention
of a department. The report is to be released today at a human rights
conference in Vienna. Austria currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

Strong references in the initial version to "inhumane and degrading
treatment of detainees", and specifics on asylum-seekers who died in
police custody, have also faded away in the final version, entitled
Human Rights Agenda for the European Union.

But the report does warn against "the tendency towards a Fortress
Europe which is hostile to 'outsiders' and discourages refugees and
asylum-seekers".

It says: "The quality of justice in the EU is inevitably - and rightly
- - judged in part by our response to the plight of refugees fleeing
persecution. Yet within Europe we see pressures to shape asylum policy
to accommodate nationalism and to weaken accepted international
protection standards in the name of greater 'efficiency'."

The report comes soon after Tony Blair spoke in China of the need to
allow dissent and open debate and Germany's new Social Democrat
government under Gerhard Schroder pledged to put human rights "at the
centre of our concerns".

The report was requested by the EU Commission, which wanted to chart a
new human rights policy to mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights.

But the sensitivities it exposed illustrate its conclusion that EU
human rights policies are "ambivalent, incoherent and effectively in
disarray".

It recommends that a senior EU official be appointed to promote human
rights as a key part of foreign and domestic policies across the
board, and calls for a new monitoring agency to report on developments
worldwide.

"The internal and external dimensions of human rights must be seen as
two sides of the same coin. A union which is not prepared to embrace a
strong human rights policy for itself is highly unlikely to develop a
credible external policy," it says.

It recommends that the EU publish an annual report on international
human rights to monitor countries with which it has trade or aid
relationships.

The call for an annual survey reflects concern that a parallel survey
by the United States state department each year is tailored to
American diplomatic priorities.

"A European Union which fails to protect and promote human rights
consistently and effectively will betray Europe's shared values and
its long-standing commitment to them. However, the EU's existing
policies are no longer adequate," it says.

"The EU must conduct an informed, consistent, credible and effective"
policy, the report goes on. "But it cannot do so in the absence of an
authenic commitment" underpinned by political, financial and
administrative support.

The present EU approach "tends to be splintered in many directions,
lacks the necessary leadership and profile and is marginalised in
policy-making."
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Checked-by: Patrick Henry