157. Expresses its disappointment at the lack of progress achieved by a number of human rights dialogues
and consultations; notes the fact that the involvement of civil society in these dialogues and
consultations is not systematically guaranteed and is sometimes subject to constraints imposed by the
non-EU parties; is concerned that even when cases are raised, governments are not fulfilling their
commitment to report back to the EU on the individual and structural issues raised within the
framework of the dialogue;
158. Calls for real participation by the EP in the on-going evaluations of the human rights dialogues and
consultations; asks for full access to the outcome documents and to other relevant sources; expects,
as a result of the evaluations, the development of clear indicators to measure the impact of the
dialogues and explicitly defined suggestions, based on a country-by-country approach, as to how to
improve these outcomes and avoid any repeated failures of EU human rights consultations;
159. Calls on the European institutions to ensure transparency and coherence between themselves in terms
of objectives, values and attitudes in this field;
160. Points out the need to feed the conclusions of the human rights dialogues and consultations into EU
summits with its partners;
161. Takes the view that, in general, human rights dialogues and consultations must be planned and
conducted transparently, and that objectives set in advance of the dialogue must be evaluated
immediately afterwards; calls on the Council and the Commission to press the non-EU countries’
authorities for high, broad ministerial involvement in the dialogues and consultations;
162. Calls on the EU accession countries to improve the level of human rights protection in their
territories in the light of that provided for under the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;
163. Calls on the Commission and the Council in their human rights consultations and dialogues with non
EU-countries to pay close attention to the situation of ethnic and religious minorities and the frequent
violations of their rights;
164. Welcomes closer coordination and cooperation between the United States and the European Union
on human rights;
165. Welcomes the establishment of human rights dialogues with each of the Central Asian states –
Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – and the holding of a second
dialogue in each case up to November 2009; welcomes in addition the first EU-Uzbek civil society
seminar on human rights dialogue in October 2008; regrets that the EU-China human rights
dialogues have consistently failed to deliver any improvements as regards specific human rights
abuses in China; points out that, despite some steps taken by the Chinese authorities in the right
direction (labour reform, Supreme People’s Court review of death sentences), the human rights
situation continues to deteriorate and is marked by widening social unrest and tightening of the
control and repression of human rights defenders, lawyers, bloggers, and social activists, as well as
by targeted policies aimed at marginalizing Tibetans and their cultural identity; is deeply concerned
about the lack of progress of the Sino-Tibetan dialogue; is deeply concerned about the deteriorating
human rights situation of the Uighur population in China, condemns its longstanding oppression in
East Turkestan and deplores the non-adherence of the Chinese authorities to the safeguards of
freedoms including those of expression, demonstration, assembly, religion and person contained
within the constitution of the People’s Republic of China; also deplores the population transfer
policy of the People’s Republic of China, which is intended to dilute the culture of the Uyghur