Situation of human rights in Latin America
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 1 February 1980 (27th Sitting) (see Doc. 4458, report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure). Text adopted by the Assembly on 1 February 1980 (27th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
Reaffirming the principle that there is no interference in the internal affairs of states when the defence of human rights is upheld by taking this question up in the international circles, by acting in favour of co-operation for the achievement of the different rights, and by speaking out against serious and repeated violations of those rights wherever they may occur ;
Further reaffirming its conviction that the participation of democratic Europe in world efforts to defend human rights is an essential part of its international relations ;
Gravely concerned by the deterioration of the situation of human rights in such countries of Latin America as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Guatemala and Cuba, where all forms of opposition are systematically put down in cruel and brutal ways, by killing, kidnapping, and physical and mental torture ;
Profoundly alarmed by the disappearance of large numbers of people in such countries, including many children, pregnant women and foreign nationals ;
Considering that the governments exercising power in Chile and Argentina are, under cover of a certain economic liberalism, actually engaging in a policy which impoverishes the population on behalf of a few special interests, national or foreign ;
Noting with satisfaction the relative improvement of the human rights situation in such countries as the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia ;
Deeply concerned by the acute material difficulties facing Nicaragua, utterly exhausted at the end of its victorious struggle with the bloodthirsty Somoza regime ;
Welcoming the fall of the dictatorial regime in El Salvador, and hoping that all democratic forces in that country may reach a lasting understanding in the nation's interests ;
Convinced that Europe's efforts on behalf of human rights in the world must go hand in hand with action to satisfy the aspirations of the third world for greater justice, consecrated by an agreed new economic and social order,
Invites the governments of member countries of the Council of Europe :
a to halt all financial and military aid to the governments of Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Uruguay and Paraguay, except for direct humanitarian assistance to the peoples of those countries ;
b to subordinate all co-operation with Cuba, including financial assistance, to the cessation by this country of practices violating human rights and of military intervention in other countries, with the exception of humanitarian aid supplied for the direct benefit of the people of that country ;
c to exert pressure upon the governments of those countries to put an immediate stop to such means of repression as killings, kidnappings and torture ;
d to urge the Argentine Government to rescind Law No. 22.088, of 12 September 1979, enabling missing persons to be presumed dead ;
e to promote, in a world context within the United Nations, the conclusion of an international convention designed to prevent and abolish disappearances, in particular by defining the guilt of those responsible for them ;
f to provide immediate aid to Nicaragua, so that the country and its people can surmount the disastrous effects of the war of liberation and recent floods ;
g to make vigorous representations to the governments of all countries holding political prisoners, designed to secure their release, and, when release is conditional upon their leaving the country, to grant entry visas to such prisoners ;
h to afford, without discrimination, the legal, moral and material assistance provided for by the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol defining refugee status, to refugees from Latin America ;
i to ask their representatives in the various international organisations concerned to adopt an attitude consistent with the principles contained in this resolution ;
j Resolves to make all possible efforts in national parliaments to further these objectives, especially in those European member countries which, for historical, cultural or economic reasons, maintain close relations with the countries of Latin America.
