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Social Platform’s objective for 2014 is to ‘advocate for an EU internal strategy on human rights that ensures consistency between EU external and internal human rights standards and delivers on their implementation to combat the existing violation of human rights’. As a first step we invited Platform members and members of the Human Rights and Democracy Network (HRDN) to a capacity building workshop as well as the European External Action Service to share their experiences of the EU's human rights framework in external affairs.

Mr Stijn Houben, of the European External Action Service (EEAS) presented their ‘human rights package’ adopted by the Council in June 2012 that consisted of EU Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy. Additionally the EEAS appointed Mr Stavros Lambrinidis as EU Special Representative for Human Rights. The framework includes key principles: the founding principles of the EU; universality of human rights; semantic priorities; reference to bilateral and multilateral relations as well as to the UN, Council of Europe etc. It includes 96 actions (non-comprehensive), and identifies who is doing what and when. It recognizes the partnership with civil society organisations and meets regularly with NGOs. Several of the actions apply to member states as well; the most prominent one is linked to DG Enterprise where all EU member states have committed to development plans on human rights and businesses. The greatest achievement is that the action plan sets a clear allocation of responsibility which has shifted the debate from if it should be done to how it should be done. The advantage has been that human rights are now addressed in a more structured, accountable, coherent and ambitious way.

Ms Natacha Kazatchkine, representing the Human Rights and Democracy Network and Amnesty International presented how Amnesty and members of HRDN call for the EU to be stronger on human rights, e.g. in the case of expulsions of Roma in France, rule of law in Romania and Hungary the EU did not seize the momentum. A human rights framework is not a solution but an accountability tool to be pledged by all institutions and member states together. The HRDN sent a letter calling for ‘Strengthening the European Union’s Response to Human Rights Inside its Own Borders’ (Aug 2013) and Amnesty has a more detailed position outlining that the EU should set clear human rights standards, monitor and commit to prevent and act on human rights violations even when outside EU law.

Mr Pierre Baussand, Director Social Platform concluded from the discussions that Social Platform’s strategic orientation and work programme both call for a Human Rights framework to our work and to the work of the EU. Considering the current political climate, we will need the support from all the civil society in Brussels and in the member states. We need to address all the EU institutions; the Council, Commission and the Parliament and to identify supportive member states. We are still in an early stage of building this coalition and will need to define together the content of this internal human rights strategy. We will need also to take into consideration what is the current impact on EU external policies of the lack of a HR-strategy internally? How to address member states subsidiarity and sovereignty? How to ensure the indivisibility of human rights and maintain the social rights within the action priorities of the EU?

The Social Platform Secretariat will present the results of this workshop to the Steering Group at the end of March in order to get answers from our members on the questions raised above. We will continue our consultation on drafting a position, aiming to be ready at the end of June to address the new Parliament and ahead of the hearing of the candidates for Commissioners.

2014-03-13