trade and technical or financial aid agreements – to include clearly worded conditionality
and clauses on human rights and democracy, without exception; considers that the current
threshold in Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) schemes that could trigger action on
the human rights clauses is high but should be adjusted to each country concerned; notes
the new GSP reform proposal from 2011 which suggests that the consultation procedure
should be widened and which contains provisions to ease investigations of human rights
violations in the GSP Committee; expresses, in this regard, deep concern about the
deteriorating human rights situation in Cambodia where land grabbing has lead to
increasing poverty and to the violation of human rights clauses which are part of
agreements in force between EU and Cambodia; warns that the lack of consistency in the
implementation of the human rights clause can undermine the credibility and effectiveness
of the EU’s conditionality policy;
71. Welcomes the measures undertaken and plans developed in 2011 by EU institutions and
Member States aimed at creating a more coherent and coordinated policy as regards
corporate social responsibility (CSR), i.a. in support of human rights in the world, and the
implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights from 2011;
72. Stresses the importance of anchoring CSR in free trade agreements with third or
developing countries in order to promote human rights and social and environmental
standards; suggests including a comprehensive human rights chapter, in addition to social
and environmental chapters, in all future free trade agreements; calls as well on the
Commission to use free trade agreements to promote the four core labour standards,
namely the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of
all forms of forced labour; the abolition of child labour; and the elimination of
discrimination in the area of employment; stresses also that the monitoring and
enforcement mechanisms of the GSP+ scheme should be further strengthened;
73. Reiterates that the consistent application of the human rights clause of agreements is
fundamental in relations between the European Union and its Member States and third
countries; stresses the importance of reviewing how Member States have cooperated with
the apparatus of repression in the name of countering terrorism; underlines, in this respect,
the need for the newly revised European Neighbourhood Policy to focus on providing
support for security sector reform and, in particular, to ensure a clear separation of
intelligence and law enforcement functions; calls on the VP/HR, the EU Special
Representative on Human Rights, the EEAS, the Council and the Commission to step up
their cooperation with the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, and with other relevant
Council of Europe mechanisms, in the planning and implementation of counter-terrorism
assistance projects with third countries, and in all forms of counter-terrorism dialogues
with third countries;
74. Emphasises the importance of continuing the work on global practices relating to secret
detentions in the context of countering terrorism; stresses that combating terrorism can
under no circumstances be used as a justification for violations of human rights, whether in
third countries or in the EU; draws attention, in this respect, to the adoption of its
resolution of 11 September 2012 entitled ‘Alleged transportation and illegal detention of
prisoners in European countries by the CIA: follow-up to the European Parliament TDIP
Committee report at the request of the Member States and implementation of its
recommendations’;