EU Annual Report on Human Rights
- Document number
- 1655
- Date
- 2006
- Title
- EU Annual Report on Human Rights
- Author/publisher
- Council of Ministers, European Commission, European Union (EU)
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Fundamental Rights Agency, SG/HR Personal Representative on Human Rights, EU Instruments and Initiatives in Third Countries, EU Guidelines on Human Rights: Death Penalty, Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, Children and Armed Conflict, Human Rights Defenders, China, Iran, Russia, Troika consultations on Human Rights with US, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Candidate Countries
- Summary
- Th e period covered by this eighth EU Annual Report on Human Rights is from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006. Th e purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the work of the European Union, through its institutions, in promoting human rights and democracy. An eff ort is made to cover, to the extent possible, the EU’s human rights related activities with regard to third countries, action at multilateral level as well as important thematic issues in order to give a balanced picture of the tools the EU has to promote human rights and democracy. Nevertheless, from the point of view of keeping the text relatively concise and readable, the picture cannot be complete in all areas. More specifi c information is off ered in separate boxes and in the relevant websites mentioned in the annex. From the point of view of highlighting specifi c emphases in the EU’s human rights policy during the period covered, the promotion of coherence has been a priority. Th e EU is an important global player in many ways – in economic terms, with regard to development cooperation etc. It has a number of tools and instruments that can be used to promote human rights and democracy. To this eff ect, mainstreaming of human rights has in particular been emphasized during the period covered by this report. In combating terrorism and extremism, the promotion of human rights remains highly relevant. Also initiatives to promote intercultural dialogue, based on universal standards and involving civil society, have been very topical during the year. By adopting specifi c Guidelines on certain issues, the EU has identifi ed priority areas for its human rights policy. On death penalty, to which the EU is opposed in all cases, the EU has continued to take up individual cases where minimum standards of international law are not fulfi lled, and has during the year also specifi cally looked at countries “on the cusp” ie whose policies related to capital punishment are about to change. On torture, the EU has during the year approached countries encouraging them to accede to the relevant international instrument, and to cooperate with the relevant mechanisms, with a view to strengthening international mechanisms aimed at the eradication of torture. On children and armed confl ict the EU has identifi ed certain priority countries, where it aims to make a diff erence on the ground from the point of view of alleviating the suff ering of children aff ected by armed confl ict, boys as well as girls in different ways.
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