Greens and Human Rights

The EU was founded on a community of values and fundamental rights, however experience has shown that some of these commitments only exist on paper.

Greens want to establish a genuine culture of human rights in EU policy and practice.

As a first step, Greens want the systematic inclusion and enforcement of a binding human rights clause in all EU agreements and for EU Member States to allow EU scrutiny of their human rights practices.

Thanks to the work of the Green presidency of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights, it has been increasingly playing an expert role on human rights and democracy, providing input to reports from the Foreign Affairs committee, mainstreaming human rights issues throughout Parliament bodies and creating a platform for permanent dialogue with civil society representatives.

Explore below to see :

• Green achievements during the legislative period 2004-2009
• Green demands for the next legislative period 2009-2014

Discover also our main positions when navigating in our thematic and regional folders.

 

Protecting individual rights and liberties within and outside the EU

Summing up Green activities in the EP

The European Parliament, as the directly elected representative of EU citizens, has a clear responsibility to uphold the principles of fundamental rights. The Greens deplore the fact that Member States continue to refuse to allow EU scrutiny of their own human rights policies and practices, thereby undermining the active role played by the EU in the world as “a defender of human rights” and damaging the credibility of its external policy in thearea of the protection of fundamental rights.

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InternationalBrussels 15.05.2009

Rights first

The Greens' commitment to promoting human rights

Human rights are not a subsidiary issue for the European Union. Within the Subcommittee on Human Rights (2004-2009), chaired by a Green MEP, Greens have stood for human rights without distinction and without exception and have proposed a number of practical ways of making the Union's human rights policy more effective.

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