31 October 2011

According to a United Nations report released on 10 October 2011, the use of torture on prisoners is ‘systematic’ in Afghanistan.
The UN report is the most comprehensive look at the Afghan detention system to date. It paints a devastating picture of abuses perpetrated during interrogations by Afghan intelligence and police officials, even though US and EU donors provide training and pay for nearly the entire budget of the Afghan ministries running the detention centres.
The report does not assess whether international officials knew of the abuses; but since it is difficult to believe that the foreign funds intended for the Afghanistan detention centres have been disbursed with total lack of control and oversight, such widespread use of torture raises serious questions about potential complicity or carelessness by international officials.

31 October 2011

In the answer to question E–004539/2011 of 10 May 2011 (by Pino Arlacchi) about the protection of witnesses and judges in Kosovo, the Vice-President/High Representative stated: ‘EULEX has developed a highly professional witness security unit, able to offer protection to witnesses and where appropriate seek relocation out of Kosovo. Experience has shown that the mission is capable of handling high-level and sensitive cases involving protected witnesses’.
Agim Zogaj, a key witness in the war crimes trial against Fatmir Limaj, a top former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (now one of the most powerful politicians in the country), was found dead last week in the German city of Duisburg.
Fatmir Limaj has been under house arrest since last September, awaiting trial on charges of killing and torturing Serbian and Albanian prisoners during the Kosovo war. Mr Zogaj was under witness protection from the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX).

24 October 2011

More than a dozen US and European human rights and arms control groups are urging the US Congress to block a proposed USD 53 million arms sale to Bahrain, mostly armoured Humvees, which could conceivably be used by the kingdom’s security forces against protestors.
This sale is the first proposed by the US Government since the Government of Bahrain cracked down last February on hundreds of thousands of people peacefully demanding greater political freedom . Since that time, Bahraini security forces have continued to brutally suppress protests and undertaken a relentless programme of retribution. In mid-March the Government declared a ‘state of national safety’ which put the Bahraini Defence Force (BDF), the recipient of the proposed arm delivery, in charge of suppressing the largely peaceful protest.

21 ottobre 2011

Nella sua comunicazione sull’uguaglianza tra uomini e donne del 2010, la Commissione ha sottolineato l’impatto positivo che l’uguaglianza di genere ha sullo sviluppo economico.

Nell'ambito dell’Unione europea, la strategia 2020 non prevede tuttavia alcun obiettivo dedicato espressamente alla parità di genere.

21 ottobre 2011

Ai sensi dell’articolo 3, paragrafo 3, del trattato sull’Unione europea «L’Unione (..) combatte le discriminazioni e promuove la parità tra uomini e donne».

Il bilancio di genere costituisce uno strumento centrale per promuovere la parità fra generi e consiste, infatti, nell’adottare una valutazione d’impatto sul genere delle politiche di bilancio, integrando la prospettiva di genere a tutti i livelli delle procedure di bilancio e ristrutturando le entrate e le uscite al fine di promuovere l’uguaglianza tra uomini e donne.

21 ottobre 2011

Nella strategia per la parità tra donne e uomini 2010-2015, la Commissione europea si è impegnata a migliorare la parità di trattamento tra gli uomini e le donne, rivolgendo un'attenzione particolare alla promozione di buone pratiche in materia di redistribuzione dei ruoli attribuiti ai sessi nel settore della gioventù, dell'istruzione, della cultura e dello sport. A questo proposito, una particolare attenzione va prestata al mondo dei media e dei mezzi di comunicazione.

La risoluzione del Parlamento europeo del 2008 sull'impatto del marketing e della pubblicità sulla parità tra uomini e donne (P6_TA(2008)0401), invita, tra gli altri, il Consiglio, la Commissione e gli Stati membri a lanciare campagne di sensibilizzazione contro gli insulti a sfondo sessista o le immagini degradanti della donna e dell'uomo nella pubblicità e nel marketing.

15 September 2011

In May 2011, the world's richest countries agreed a multibillion-dollar aid package for Tunisia and Egypt to support their transition to democracy and their economic reforms. During their summit in Deauville, the G8 members pledged to provide a combination of debt relief, aid and assistance to the two Arab countries ‘to help build their democracies’.

In the meantime the European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, announced that on top of the EUR 5.7 billion already allocated for the period 2011-2013 from the European Neighbourhood Policy, additional funding of EUR 1.24 billion would be transferred from other existing resources in support of the ENP. In addition to that, the European Council agreed to High Representative Ashton's proposal to increase EIB (European Investment Bank) lending to the Southern Mediterranean by EUR 1 billion over the same period.

22 July 2011

Commission Regulation (EC) 606/2003 extended approval to operations carried out in Israel to check conformity with the marketing standards applicable to fresh fruit and vegetables. Commission Regulations (EC) 1580/2007 and 543/2011 renewed that approval. The approval recognises that Israel implements marketing standards that are equivalent to Community marketing standards and obliges Member State inspection bodies to assign less risk of non-conformity to Specific Marketing Standards products exported by Israel, provided such products are accompanied by a conformity certificate issued by Israel’s approved inspection body as defined by these Regulations. The approval also enables Member State inspection bodies to limit the number of conformity checks they carry out on such products to a small percentage of randomly selected consignments, thereby conserving their own resources and providing practical benefits to their importers and exporters.

15 luglio 2011

I dati relativi all'attuazione dei programmi operativi regionali (POR) 2007-2013 della Regione Calabria appaiono particolarmente preoccupanti stando all'ultimo monitoraggio della spesa al 31 dicembre 2010.

Sulla base dei risultati dell'ultimo Comitato di Sorveglianza del POR, può la Commissione dirci se sono stati appurati passi in avanti nella certificazione della spesa e se ritiene necessario prendere iniziative per stimolare un'accelerazione delle procedure di attuazione del POR in Calabria?

20 June 2011

According to the information received from several NGOs, the women’s rights activist Maryam Bahreman was arrested on 11 May 2011 in Shiraz. Security force officers from the Intelligence Ministry went to her house with a detention order. They reportedly arrested her on the charge of ‘action against national security’.
Maryam Bahreman is a social activist and a member of ‘One million signatures’.