EU and Human Rights

Talking to journalists, the director of Amnesty’s European Union office in Brussels, Dick Oosting, said the German presidency had done a lot to promote human rights issues outside of the EU, but largely failed to properly protect human rights internally.

He argued that the fight against international terrorism had eroded many human rights standards, particularly in the field of privacy rights.

"The overall assessment we have of the German presidency is reasonably positive…but there are serious issues," Oosting said.

"If Europe doesn't get its own house in order and act properly it will undermine its credibility and effectiveness on the global stage. And that is something we cannot afford, certainly not after the US has lost its credibility as an actor for human rights."

Human rights: just a footnote?

The head of the German section of Amnesty International, Barbara Lochbihler, warned that human rights issues must not become a mere footnote in any future European basic treaty and deplored the fact that the German presidency had failed to promote a world-wide ban on torture.

"As far as we know, no steps have been taken during the German EU presidency to put a global ban on torture on the agenda again," Lochbihler said. "Germany itself still hasn’t ratified the special UN anti-torture protocol, although it became a signatory to it in September of 2006."

Oosting said he was most concerned about the failure of the EU to confess to past mistakes and speak out openly about its alleged part in the CIA’s deportations of terror suspects.

"For a limited number of people, most of whom we know to be innocent, the rule of law in the heart of Europe has broken down totally," said Oosting.

"It has been established that there has been European complicity in European countries, by the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, by NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. And yet we have seen only silence and denial. And that more than anything undermines the EU's credibility."

Both Oosting and Lochbihler praised the foreign office in Berlin for initiating a productive human rights dialogue with Central Asian nations.

They also noted that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier hadn’t shied away from criticizing Russia for human rights violations, but added that the same amount of openness had not been displayed towards their trans-Atlantic allies.

"Germany criticized Russia, but not the US," observed Lochbihler.