Speeches

Madam President, Nigeria has a secular constitution that theoretically protects freedom of religion, but it also has an anti-blasphemy law imposed in colonial times that has not been abolished. In addition, in twelve states in the north of the country, the Shariah, which means that manifesting your religious beliefs can cost you your life. This is the case of musician Sharif Aminu, accused of composing and spreading a supposedly blasphemous song. She is therefore facing the death penalty and her family is being persecuted and harassed. In more than 70 countries around the world, criminal laws are being enforced or new regulations are being attempted to punish blasphemy, apostasy, religious defamation and conversion. And the truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that you don't have to go very far to find these countries: Spain, Italy or Germany are some examples of Member States of the European Union that maintain criminal laws against blasphemy or religious insult. In my country, citizens like Willy Toledo have faced legal proceedings for taking a shit on God and the Virgin. Inquisition in the 21st century. I demand the immediate release of Sharif Aminu and all those accused of crimes related to religion and blasphemy. But I also ask, once again, that we put aside hypocrisy and lead by example by abolishing these kinds of regulations in Europe, because religion can never be above our rights, even when we shit on God.

Madam President, the truth is that we often fill our mouths with respect for human rights, but the implementation of the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders is often no longer a priority when we talk about business. The European Union reinforces investments that often have a negative impact on the territory, the environment, the rights of communities and, in particular, on human rights organisations. On January 17, Antonio Díaz Valencia and Ricardo Arturo Lagunes, two Mexican environmental defenders who were providing legal support to a community affected by a mining project owned by a European company, disappeared. Despite the seriousness of the case, the European Union has not issued any public condemnation of it. Also in January, two Guapinol leaders were killed, and six others are currently falling victim to a second attempt at prosecution. This Parliament has denied that we have a human rights urgency on the case; and, unfortunately, they are not isolated cases. The implementation of such instruments should be mandatory and trade and cooperation policies should be strictly conditional on binding human rights mechanisms, because otherwise, in the end, what we do is fill out documents with good words, which we only comply with if our commercial or geostrategic interests are not affected. And that, Your Honor, is called hypocrisy. Let us hope that this report will begin to change this situation.

Madam President, exercising opposition in Equatorial Guinea is a high-risk activity, even for those who, like Julio Obama, lived in other countries. July was kidnapped in 2019 in South Sudan, along with three other opponents of Obiang's dictatorial regime. They were abducted, tortured and unjustly convicted. This, which seems like the script of a film, is a systematic plan of kidnappings, torture, arrests and execution of opponents by the Obiang regime, a regime that has been repressing its people for more than 44 years, but that also, we cannot forget, favors the interests of European companies that plunder Guinea's natural resources. That is exactly why it is explained that the kidnapping and torture of two Spanish citizens and two other residents has so far been treated with the so-called diplomacy of silence, which only serves the interests of dictatorships. It's not a time for silence. We must strongly condemn Julio's murder, demand the immediate release of Feliciano, Martín and Bienvenido, the three arbitrarily detained opponents; denounce all atrocities committed by the Obiang dictatorship; to seize the family property they have in European countries, starting precisely in the Spanish State, and to condition political and commercial relations with Equatorial Guinea on respect for human rights. The Guinean people deserve to live in peace and that from here we send a clear message in this regard.

Madam President, more than twenty years and a corruption scandal like Moroccogate have had to happen so that we can talk about human rights in this House. Until now, Morocco has been the spoiled child of European foreign policy. Only in this way can Europe be understood to look the other way in the face of the repression of the protests in the Rif, in which hundreds of people like Nasser Zefzafi were arrested and tortured for demanding the most basic rights, and in the face of the criminalization of journalists who denounce this situation or the corruption of the Moroccan regime, such as the case of journalist Omar Radi, which is a magnificent example of how the Moroccan regime imprisons and spies with programs like Pegasus on independent or critical journalists. Europe cannot continue to be complicit in the violation of human rights and freedom of information or the occupation of the Sahara. That is why we must demand the freedom of Omar Radi and the rest of the imprisoned journalists, as well as the cessation of judicial harassment of the Spanish journalist Ignacio Cembrero and the freedom of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, especially Saharawis and Rifeños. Special mention should be made of the Sakharov Prize finalist Nasser Zefzafi. We must call for scrupulous respect for freedom of expression and of the press and make European funds conditional on respect for human rights and not on migration control. And to adopt with Morocco the same precautionary measures as with Qatar until the alleged plot of interference in this Parliament is clarified judicially. Today we can send a message to the Moroccan people: that beyond economic or geostrategic calculations, human rights, freedom of the press and democracy in Morocco matter and that those who struggle to achieve it in Morocco will never be alone.

Mr. President, Bolsonaro was defeated at the polls, but Bolzanarism is still very much alive in the institutions and in the streets, as we saw recently with the Trumpist assault, because the reactionary international shares an agenda, discourse and also ways of acting. On the right there are those who believe that the institutions belong to them and that democracy is a hindrance to their interests. Intellectual leaders and funders also have to be judged. But beyond the courts, the best way to combat Bagronarism is to dismantle its political heritage. From Europe we can give our support and a good way to do it from this Parliament is by refusing to sign a trade agreement like that of Mercosur negotiated by Bolsonaro, to break with his heritage. Brazil needs an agenda that expands rights, distributes wealth, builds popular democracy and combats the climate emergency.

It is a magnificent example of the hate speeches that fuel far-right terrorism. Thank you very much, comrade, for demonstrating it in public before the rest of the comrades. By the way, look at your mobile and the stickers that you have on your mobile and that you then put in the offices of the Members who do not vote as you like.

Madam President, it is enough to belittle the danger of the far right. Enough of scarring the violence and terrorism of the extreme right. They are neither lone wolves nor radical madmen. They are necessary actors of the reactionary international that travels the world. And they are not isolated cases. Today the far right represents the greatest danger to democracy in Europe. Let's go to the causes of this violence. Let us point out to the accomplices that, with their policies, they normalize hate speech, that gasoline for far-right terrorism. But let's not forget that authoritarian neoliberalism is the political economy of exclusion, scarcity and hatred: That "there is no one for everyone," that "there are people left," that feeds the rise of the extreme right and its violence. The far right is combated by rebuilding class and community ties. Today more than ever, they will not pass. (The speaker agreed to respond to an intervention under the "blue card" procedure)

Mr President, 24 June has been marked in this year's calendar. That day, at the southern European border, at least forty people were killed and hundreds injured in a brutal police intervention that also included hot returns. Seven months later, not only are no responsibilities assumed, but the Spanish Prosecutor's Office has decided to close the investigation. Many of the people trying to reach Europe were Sudanese, from a country struggling to overcome one of the many forgotten conflicts on the planet. And, although they do not open our newscasts and it has not been mentioned in this report, in the world there are armed conflicts in at least twenty-three countries that affect 850 million people, more than twice as many as a decade ago. Conflicts that are being fueled by our weapons and by our geostrategic and commercial interests, because for the European elites it seems that economic benefits are above human lives. But when people fleeing these realities come knocking on our door, there is no interest in opening it. Europe must put an end to its racist and hypocritical policies and bear the consequences of its decisions. There are no conflicts or refugees of first or second, depending on their origin or the color of their skin. International standards are clear, only political will is needed to implement them.

Madam President, the first thing I wanted to say is that I find it a real shame that the People's Party is not participating in these debates. The People's Party seems to want to end third-country interference in this Parliament by abolishing human rights. It seems that the People's Party wants to fight corruption by abolishing democracy. What will be the next proposal of the Popular Party? Closing Parliament? Sure, that's what we're seeing. Eighteen months ago this House spoke of a coup d'état that the European Union did not want to recognise in Chad. A violence against the people that cried out for democracy. They asked us to trust in the transition period for stability in the region. Today we have reached the end of that period and the foreseeable has passed: The military junta and Déby have decided to extend their dictatorship and continue to repress their people. Dozens of dead, arrested and persecuted. The use of lethal force against protesters in Chad is a custom. While this is happening, the European Union and member states, such as France, have supported the military junta and maintained cooperation with the regime, including military and police cooperation with dead on the table. Is this stability? We demand the restoration of constitutional order and the handover of political power to the civil authorities and, until this happens, the cessation of cooperation with the Chadian dictatorship.

Mr President, a new far-right government in Italy and a new illegal closure of ports in Italy. A government that applies the same neoliberal policies of Draghi and that seems that the only thing left to differentiate itself is xenophobia. Xenophobia of illegal port closures. So what? How does the European Union respond? Calling for new rules for search and rescue NGOs in the Mediterranean. Look, NGOs comply with international maritime law, which is the norm to which they have to submit. What search and rescue NGOs need is to be heard. Commissioners, you have them up there, you can talk to them and you can see just what you are doing. They need to not be criminalized or stigmatized for saving lives. Because saving lives can never be a crime. And we have to repeat it more because our migration policy is turning the Mediterranean into a great mass grave and what we need is to change just that. We need safe passages. We need binding reception rules. We don't need solidarity. We need rights. Rights that can be demanded and fulfilled. And less hypocrisy. Does anyone think that if the ship that had to disembark in France, and that was not allowed to disembark in Italy, carried Ukrainian refugees, someone would have put a problem? No, that's called xenophobia. It has looked at the color of skin and not the need of these people. And I think Ukraine has been a great example. A great example that you can do things in a different way. That there is reception capacity, that there are no technical problems, that what is lacking is precisely the political will to be able to welcome and stop turning the Mediterranean into that great mass grave. What is needed here – as many have said – is fewer words and more political will.

Madam President, the Qatar World Cup is yet another example of how big events are used to wash the face of authoritarian regimes. Organizing a World Cup in a country that violates twenty of the thirty articles of the United Nations Charter is a political message, the message that money is above human rights. Qatari law considers women to be persons under male guardianship and homosexuality, a mental injury punishable by imprisonment. Not to mention censorship, the banning of trade unions and political parties or the thousands of migrant workers who have died in the works of this World Cup. A bloodstained World Cup. As FIFA and its crooks fill their pockets, bracelets in support of the LGBTI community are banned. That's a political message. For all this, I support the boycott of this World Cup of shame. If we can't help it, at least let our voices be heard. Boycott the Qatar World Cup.

Mr President, a year and a half after the coup d'état, the situation remains critical in Myanmar. The same soldiers responsible for the Rohingya genocide now continue to perpetrate widespread and systematic abuses against the Burmese people and, of course, try to silence the journalists who tell it. This is possible thanks, in part, to the financing that the Military Junta obtains from its business network. We have to strengthen sanctions against all companies linked to the Board and eliminate the exception that allows, for example, that when European companies leave the country they can transfer their shares to the Board, as happened with the departure of Total, which transferred its shares to a company controlled by the military. In addition, the freezing of specific assets and the prohibition of international financial transfers to the two State banks controlled by the Board should be promoted. Unconditional support for the pro-democracy forces must include recognition of the Government of National Unity, which I take this opportunity to request to express clearly its position on the status of the Rohingya and in particular on their right to citizenship and recognition as an ethnic group of Myanmar and their right to return to the country. Once again, the Burmese people are giving us an example of struggle and dignity. We can no longer just watch as he is massacred. We have to act.

Mr President, Pakistan produces less than 1% of global emissions. However, it is one of the countries that suffers the most from the consequences of climate change. It has been on the list of the ten most vulnerable countries due to climate risks for twenty years. Twenty years in which he has also been suffering another crisis: the external debt trap. Recent floods have led to losses of $10 billion. But so far this year, Pakistan has paid more than $15 billion in debt repayments. Debts that continue to rise thanks to the agreement signed with the IMF, which forces Pakistan to cut its social spending and increase the prices of basic necessities. It is illegitimate to be enriched by the impoverishment and misfortunes of others. If the European Union wants to help alleviate the humanitarian emergency in Pakistan, let it begin by cancelling the part of the European Union's illegitimate debt to Pakistan.

. – Madam President, first of all, I would like to take advantage of the end of the speaking time to ask that the debates on human rights not be the last debates of the evening in this plenary session. I think it speaks ill of this Parliament and speaks ill of the European Union that the debates on human rights are relegated precisely at 22 or 23 h. I think they deserve much more. I would simply like to thank those who took the floor during this debate and those who made it possible for this report to reach the plenary and be voted on tomorrow. I would like to make a special mention of the Secretariat of Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights, the shadow and shadow rapporteurs of the various parliamentary groups, their technical teams, who work doubly in the shadows, and most particularly my colleagues Ana and Leire, members of the staff of the Left Group. Without the invisible work of all these people, none of the reports we debated and voted on in this and other plenary sessions would be possible. In conclusion, I would like to recall that, although this report focuses on the external dimension of access to water and sanitation, as has been acknowledged by other colleagues who have preceded me, we cannot ignore that in the European Union there are also serious problems in enjoying this right of access to water. Without going any further, in the European Union, 13 million – and it is said quickly – 13 million people are at risk of exclusion from the right of access to water. Let us hope that the adoption of this report will contribute modestly to the fight to make the right to safe drinking water and sanitation a universal reality, both in Europe and in the rest of the world. Because we cannot forget that the enjoyment of this and other rights does not cease to be political decisions. And tomorrow we have the opportunity to make a good political decision.

. – Madam President, the truth is that, if water is the basis of life, access to water is a human right, perhaps the most basic, and its enjoyment is a requirement for other fundamental rights such as health, education or the rights of women and children. However, the human right to water and sanitation is dramatically poorly distributed among countries, regions, classes and social groups. A couple of facts in this regard: 1 in 3 people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, i.e. more than 3 billion people – 40% of the world’s population – live in areas with severe water shortages. Today access to water is threatened for multiple reasons: extractivism, land grabbing, intensive livestock farming, hydroelectric dams, polluting agro-industry, war conflicts and, of course, the climate crisis, with record temperatures and historic floods and droughts. In fact, about 90% of all current natural disasters are related to water. Its scarcity could displace 700 million people by 2030 in search of climate refuge. A situation that particularly affects women. And this report calls for a gender approach that takes into account these inequalities in water resource management. Water resources are, today, an overexploited and disputed asset. The denial of access to water and the destruction of water infrastructure have been used by occupying powers, such as Israel or Morocco, to displace the Palestinian or Saharawi population. This report recalls that all peoples, including the occupied, enjoy the sovereign right to control their natural wealth and equitable access to water. This text also addresses the situation of those who defend the human right to water and sanitation: Indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant communities, environmental rights defenders and social leaders who are being attacked and criminalized daily for defending the right to water. Berta Cáceres or the defenders of Guapinol or Lolita Chávez are some examples of those who are persecuted for defending access to a public and common good or for confronting mining and hydroelectric companies. We need binding instruments that ensure respect for human rights by transnational corporations. In this regard, this report calls on the European Commission to ensure that infrastructure and energy projects financed through the various development cooperation instruments and European foreign policy respect and do not jeopardise the human right to water and sanitation, and that they do not contribute to the expulsion of indigenous peoples from their lands and territories. The pandemic has once again demonstrated the market's inability to provide basic goods and rights for life. Instead of taking note, two years ago water began trading on the Wall Street futures market, contrary to the criteria of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation. Faced with those who consider it a commodity, this report insists on the defense of water as a common and public good, and demands that States take measures to prevent water from being subject to financial speculation and to promote democratic governance and a human rights approach. Ensuring equitable, universal access to water involves increasing public investment in sustainable infrastructure, protecting water as a public and essential good and undertaking exprivatization processes to improve the effective enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation. Let us sincerely hope that this report will be another step towards ensuring access to water as a human right that allows for a life worth living.

Madam President, the truth is that the extreme right that proposes this point is absolutely equal to the rights of children and the family. In fact, his party recently voted in the Spanish Parliament against the proper investigation of cases of pedophilia within the Church. The only thing that interests the far right is to continue spreading its hoaxes against women, feminism, the LGTBI collective and, also, against sex education. I therefore call for this proposal to be voted against so that the far right stops using this Parliament as a loudspeaker for its hatreds and lies.

Madam President, the East African pipeline is yet another example of how the new European colonialism reaps benefits while outsourcing human and ecological costs. Another flagrant case of the plundering of the natural resources of an African country and the violation of the environmental and social rights of a people. And all this with the invaluable cooperation of European governments such as the French. Several investigations have denounced not only the support of the French authorities for the activities of Total in Uganda but also the revolving doors, which function as a real prize for politicians and politicians accommodating the interests of multinationals. Even so, or rather for that reason, this Resolution not only did not want to demand the immediate suspension of this project, but it did not even ask for the one-year moratorium on Total. In 2021, the International Energy Agency warned that to avoid the most destructive effects of the climate crisis, the development of new oil and gas fields needed to be stopped immediately. But in this Parliament we continue to ignore these recommendations. The climate crisis we face may be one of the greatest challenges and dangers we have as a society. We can't go on like nothing happened. It is essential to put an end to a European neocolonial and extractivist policy in African countries, such as Uganda and Tanzania, which not only has a high environmental but also social cost, because there is no planet B. The benefits of multinationals can never be worth more than the lives of people.

–Mrs President, the murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira are not isolated cases. Persecution of indigenous and environmentalists is part of Bolsonaro's genocidal and ecocidal policy. Today, Brazil is not only one of the most dangerous countries for environmental and indigenous defenders, but also leads the world in deforestation rates. Agro-industry, mining and indiscriminate logging have grown exponentially during Bolsonaro's government, expropriating and destroying indigenous territories. An extractive and predatory model of the environment that will multiply if we do not stop the signing of the current EU-Mercosur Agreement. But this is not only the fault of Bolsonaro's criminal policy, but European countries must take responsibility for the impacts that their business model is generating, because we do not have a planet B, because we do not have another Amazon. It is essential to reject both Bolsonaro's necropolitics and the extractivist and neocolonial economic model of the European Union-Mercosur Agreement.

Mr President, in a world where enough food is produced to feed the entire population, hunger is a political issue or, more specifically, a matter of political will. It is not a problem of lack of food, but of how food is distributed. The pandemic or the war in Ukraine is aggravating, but the causes of food insecurity have other, much deeper roots: food speculation, deregulated commodity markets, abuses by multinational corporations, unfair trade agreements, i.e. wealth sharing, injustice and inequality. Capitalism is incompatible with food sovereignty. We live in a war between capital and life, between profits and collective rights. And there is no more basic right than the right to food. If we want to defend it, let us attack at the root the political and economic causes of hunger. If not, we'll stay the same.

Madam President, the deaths at the Melilla border are not a tragedy, they are a massacre, they are murders provoked by fortress Europe. These crimes are guilty: the Moroccan Government and police. But also responsible, and we must talk about them: first, the Spanish Government, which shamefully described the situation as well-resolved; Second, the criminal European migration policy of externalizing borders that subcontracts dictatorships like the Moroccan one to act as border thugs. It is essential to promote an international and independent investigation that abolishes the criminal and political responsibilities of this massacre. Spain's interior minister, Grande-Marlaska, can't stay in office another day. More than forty deaths well deserve a fulminant resignation. And that is what we are also asking for from here, from this House. Europe must put an end to its migration, racist and hypocritical policies. There are no refugees of first and second according to their origin or the color of their skin. That's racism. Rights for all. No human being is illegal. Let us bring down Europe's strength.

Mr President, European development cooperation policy is in the process of transformation. We are witnessing a progressive subordination to interests that have nothing to do with the fight against inequalities or against poverty. And all in the midst of a climate emergency, which is the greatest challenge we face as humanity. The Sustainable Development Goals are not enough and their implementation is fraught with shortcomings. We have to go further. This report identifies some key elements for progress in this regard. We have to break with the neoliberal corset of the European Semester, which conditions any expansionary policies in favor of the European and Global South popular classes. And we need to improve the governance of the SDGs to avoid the growing capture of multilateral bodies by corporate power. More prominence for local communities and organised civil society and no role for multinational companies in the development agenda. And none is none.

Madam President, last year, 53 journalists were brutally attacked by far-right groups while covering the LGTBI demonstration in Georgia. This year, those same groups have already announced their opposition to the march. Persecution of journalists and attacks on press freedom are, unfortunately, long-standing problems in Georgia, as is the persecution of the LGTBI collective and hate speech against them. But, once again, it seems that the position of the European Union is motivated by the important geostrategic role of the Caucasian country and its application for membership, and not really by the human rights situation in Georgia. We demand that freedom of the press and expression be guaranteed and that all necessary measures be taken to protect the LGTBI collective. The people of Georgia deserve our solidarity and respect, and this means not being used as puppets for external interests that often have nothing to do with defending freedom of expression or defending human rights.

Mr President, despite three months of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations has said loud and clear that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine since at least 2014; the perpetrators have never been convicted, and it is therefore essential to support an independent investigation to identify and convict the perpetrators. Let us hope that this House's sudden interest in war crimes in Ukraine will be a change of attitude so that from this moment on all war crimes will be fought, wherever they come from: I want to remember here today how the assassination by the United States Army of the Spanish journalist José Couso in Iraq remains unpunished, or how Julian Assange expects to be extradited to the United States for revealing terrible war crimes, or how countries like Spain continue eighty years later without judging their war crimes or restoring the principle of... (the Chair took the floor from the speaker).

Mr President, Kavala's life sentence, without evidence, shows how the judicial system in Turkey has been destroyed and politicised, and how people critical of the government are attacked, harassed and prosecuted. Another good example of this is the case of Demirtaş, who has been imprisoned for years, or how the HDP is facing an imminent outlawing that aims to leave millions of people unrepresented. The European Union can no longer look the other way. Clear and forceful actions are needed, such as making any improvement in the official relations of the European Union with Turkey conditional on its obligations in respect of human rights and the rule of law and demanding compliance with the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, releasing Kavala, Demirtaş and the hundreds of political prisoners currently imprisoned in Turkey. Violating human rights must come at a political and economic cost, and it must be made very clear.

Mr. President, Álvaro Marcos Román is one of the twenty-three leaders of the indigenous organization CODECA killed since 2018. Bernardo Caal has been imprisoned for more than four years for defending the rights of his community in the face of a hydroelectric project. Lolita Chavez is exiled for opposing megaprojects that affect indigenous territories. Union leader Carlos Mancilla and his family have recently received death threats. In Guatemala, those who oppose the interests of extractive capitalism, impunity and corruption are increasingly persecuted. Megaprojects of European transnational companies, such as the Renace hydroelectric project or the Phoenix miner, are responsible for this situation and also for this persecution. We demand that no European aid allows extractivist projects that do not comply with the free prior informed consultation of indigenous communities, that the provisional application of the trade pillar of the Association Agreement be immediately suspended... (the Chair took the floor from the speaker).