13/12/2012 Political Affairs and Democracy
14.12.2012 – A step towards encouraging more human rights in European foreign policy was agreed today in Turin when key committees in up to 47 national parliaments agreed to meet on an institutional basis to promote the issue.
In a declaration adopted today at the end of a two-day conference on this topic, the representatives of foreign affairs and human rights committees in parliaments across the EU and Council of Europe proposed to meet in a forum organised by PACE and to invite the European Parliament to join the organisation of these meetings.
Over 100 participants at the conference, including the newly appointed EU special representative for human rights, Stavros Lambrinidis, also called for a stronger relationship between human rights and foreign policy, pointing out that “when foreign policy neglects human rights and is solely guided by Realpolitik, human rights crises erupt”.
In the declaration they also called on EU member states to be more consistent in their foreign policy decisions and behaviour, and said UN and Council of Europe standards should be systematically included in foreign policy and upheld in all circumstances.