Êaramanou (PSE).
– (EL) Mr President, it is a tragedy, in the Europe of the 21st century,
that there are so many serious problems with violations of human rights, as we
have heard in Mr Cornillet’s excellent report. If human rights are to be
respected in practice rather than merely in declarations, we need to defend
them vigorously against the hated dark, reactionary forces which hamper dialogue
and freedom of thought and conscience. The Union should, once and for all, find
policies and ways and means of wiping out all forms of discrimination based on
sex, ethnic origin, colour, religion or sexual orientation.
No cultural
tradition can gain recognition if it puts itself above fundamental human rights
and equality of the sexes. We urgently need to wipe out xenophobia,
fundamentalism and racial violence and to crush phenomena such as slavery,
trafficking in human beings and the sexual exploitation of women and children
which stigmatise our civilisation. We also need to create the mechanisms needed
to monitor and apply the Charter of Fundamental Rights and to give moral and
financial support to organisations fighting for human rights, such as the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International
Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims.