In his speech to the European Parliament on 15 July, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt expressed the importance that the Swedish Presidency attaches to promoting respect for human rights within the framework of the EU common foreign policy:
“I want to see a Europe acting forcefully for democracy, peace, freedom and human rights on the global arena. That has the courage to take a stand in foreign affairs. Because there are those among us who have experienced what it is like to live without democracy and freedom, and so we also have the credibility to act.”
One important issue for the EU at the Council meeting this autumn is extending the mandates of the independent experts, whose tasks include reporting on the human rights situation in Burundi, Somalia and Cambodia. Another priority issue for the EU is for the Council to adopt a forceful text on the importance of freedom of expression.
The agenda also includes the human rights situation in specific countries, thematic issues such as women’s rights, children’s rights, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, etc, support to countries that need and accept assistance in their human rights efforts, and reports from the High Commissioner for Human Rights and from the UN special procedures.
The Council’s work programme also includes dialogues with a number of people who have been tasked by the Council with studying, promoting and reporting on specific issues in the human rights area. One of these is the report from the Goldstone Commission which earlier this year was tasked by the Council with reporting on possible violations of human rights or of international law during the Gaza conflict last winter.
The work programme also includes a panel on rights for migrants in custody and a number of thematic initiatives covering a diversity of areas, ranging from women’s rights to an independent judicial system.