|
CSW Press Release: Eritrea's Human Rights record in the spotlight at United Nations |
|
On 30 November 2009, States from every continent of the world expressed concern at the extent of human rights violations taking place in Eritrea. Appearing before the Human Rights Council, the Eritrean delegation faced broad-ranging questioning of their human rights record. Statements by members states expressed concern at the ongoing use of torture, arbitrary and indefinite detention, the suppression of press freedom and freedom of religion and belief, the recruitment of child soldiers, the abuse of female conscripts and the indefinite term of national service.
To read the full press release from Christian Solidarity Worldwide, click here.
|
|
President Barroso unveils his new team |
|
 With the words "We have a European programme, and now we have a European team", José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, today announced the portfolios responsibilities for the next Commission. The new College will have 27 members, including President Barroso, one from each Member State. It includes 9 women and it will have 7 Vice-Presidents, including Vice-President Baroness Catherine Ashton who will, at the same time, be the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December next.
For more information on the new team of Barrosso and the new look of the College, click here.
|
|
Stomping out Poverty begins with a Treaty? |
|
This week, an article on the Lisbon Treaty, written by Alia Papageorgiou, was published in NewEurope. In this article Mirjam van Reisen (director of EEPA) was quoted, saying that the Lisbon Treaty ‘strenghtens the objective of development co-operation, confirming "poverty eradication" as the principle aim of the EU's development co-operation. The administration of the EU executive, the European Commission, needs to be systematically reminded that this policy definition underpins development co-operation and all other policies to developing countries to ensure coherence in policies. This should also now apply to Member States.' To read the full article, click here. A copy is posted by the author here.
|
|
Peter Englund's appeal for Dawit Isaak |
|
 On 19 November 2005 Dawit Isaak was arrested again, after he was released for two days. To commemorate this day and to help Dawit Isaak's wife Sofia, Peter Englund wrote an article. For each published article of Peter Englund, Sofia will receive 2000 SEK (the news papers will pay 2000 SEK per article). Today 91 Swedish news papers published Peter Englund's appeal, and three TV stations broadcasted programs about the case of Dawit (TV 4, SVT, and Adakutsson).
To read the article of Peter Englund (Swedish), click here. An English translation can be found here (PDF). On the same day, Esayas Isaak has written an appeal to the Eritrean government: ‘Hoping for a sign'. To read the appeal, click here.
|
|
Tread carefully in forming EU diplomacy |
|
The Lisbon Treaty foresees the set-up of a European External Action Service (EEAS), which is causing a strong debate about the tasks of this new diplomatic service. Mirjam van Reisen underlines in an article in European Voice that the EU's new diplomatic service must not seize powers that have always been in the hands of the Commission and EU governments. The Lisbon Treaty, which clearly distinguishes between sensitive intergovernmental policies (security, defence, foreign policy) and consensual Community policies (development and humanitarian aid, trade) that are implemented by the Commission with European Parliament oversight. Ms Van Reisen argues that a mixing of the intergovernmental and community policy areas would weaken the accountability of the diplomatic service and should therefore be avoided.
To read the full article, click here.
|
|
