A delegation from the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI), joined by Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee MEPs as well as Members of the ASEAN Delegation visited Myanmar and the Bangladesh borders.
The Chair of the delegation Mr. Pier Antonio Panzeri (S&D, IT) said:
"The European Parliament has had concerns about the human rights situation in Myanmar and after a five-day visit these concerns remain as the human rights situation is clearly deteriorating in various regions of the country and affecting many diverse cultural, ethnic and religious groups, human rights defenders and journalists..." Read more below
The next meeting of the Subcommittee on Human Rights will take place on Tuesday 27 February 2018, from 09.00 - 12.30, meeting room József Antall (4Q1)
Representatives of NGOs as well as other organisations are requested to accede to the EU Transparency Register and follow the procedures therein for access to the European Parliament.In light of recent developments in Sudan, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Heidi Hautala and the Chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee, Pier Antonio Panzeri stated:
"We strongly condemn the arbitrary arrest by Sudanese forces of Salih Mahmoud Osman, Sakharov Prize Laureate and Vice President of the Darfur Bar Association, as well as arrests of other human rights defenders in Sudan..."
Shocked by the recent attack against a Save the Children office, the Chair of the EP's Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI), Mr Pier Antonio Panzeri, made the following statement:
"I express my strongest condemnation of this attack on the Save the Children office in Jalalabad. I am very saddened by this brutal attack which targets an organisation committed to improving the lives and well-being of children in Afghanistan and around the world."
Alarmed by the recent death sentence pronounced against Hamed bin Haydara, the Chair of the EP's Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI), Mr Pier Antonio Panzeri, made the following statement:
"On 2 January 2018, a rebel-controlled criminal court in Sanaa sentenced the Baha'i prisoner Hamid bin Haydara to death for allegedly collaborating with Israel and forging official documents. His execution, the date of which is unknown, is to be carried out in public. The sentence is the result of a fundamentally flawed process. I therefore call on the responsible Houthi leaders to make sure that Mr. Haydara's death sentence is repealed and that he and the other Baha'i prisoners are released."
Welcoming Professor Merera Gudina's release, the Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI), Mr Pier Antonio Panzeri, made the following statement:
"I am delighted about the release of Prof Merera Gudina, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), because his arrest had been particularly shocking for the European Parliament. In fact, Professor Merera Gudina had been arrested almost immediately after attending a meeting in the European Parliament on 9 November 2016 where the human rights situation in Ethiopia was discussed.."
Alarmed by the detention of Oyub Titiev, Chairs of the Foreign Affairs committee, David McAllister (EPP, DE), and of the Human Rights Subcommittee, Pier Antonio Panzeri (S&D, IT), stated:
"We are very concerned at the detention this week of Oyub Titiev, the prominent human rights defender and Director of the Memorial Human Rights Centre in the Chechen Republic and we call on the Russian authorities to immediately ensure his release and to provide him with all the necessary safeguards in the current proceedings."
MEPs call for elections in Democratic Republic of Congo, condemn violence in Nigeria and urge China to release human rights activists.
MEPs call for the release of Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Van Hoa, the reinstatement of Cambodian opposition lawmakers, and the decriminalisation of miscarriage and abortion in El Salvador.
We are alarmed to learn that a crackdown on protesters, human rights defenders, student activists, journalists, attorneys and academics continues in Sudan, with the authorities using arbitrary arrests and excessive force to deal with peaceful protests against rising food prices."