Speeches

Madam President, the persecution, intimidation and violence against the press is a very worrying problem. At least 47 journalists have been killed since 2018, making Mexico one of the world's most dangerous countries for the press. Violence that also hits human rights defenders and environmental defenders particularly worryingly, with 42 killings in 2021. In addition to the killings, one of the most dangerous threats facing journalists and human rights defenders are disappearances: Nearly 100,000 people have disappeared since 1964, according to Mexico's National Search Commission. All these are real problems that society faces and that make evident the shortcomings of the Mexican State. From here, we call for the implementation of policies that ensure a right as basic in democracy as the right to information, without risking one's life, in solidarity with journalists such as Guillermo García, a new case, among so many others, of harassment of the press. The problem is that some political groups in this House are using this situation as a throwing weapon against the Mexican government, with interests that have little to do with the defense of journalists and human rights defenders. And this is intolerable.

Mr. President, in the Philippines, under the alleged war on drugs, at least 30,000 people have been extrajudicially executed. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, trade unionists, human rights defenders and political leaders, such as Comrade Tripon/Jojo, who was recently assassinated, are now attacked, murdered and imprisoned. And from here I want to send a very strong hug to your comrades. Opponents of the Government are singled out as combatants and, on many occasions, this leads to persecution and murder. State agencies, such as the National Task Force, to end the local communist armed conflict, are responsible for carrying out these accusations that end with assassinations such as Tripon's. Unions are persecuted in such a way that people dare not even unionize. And so a long list of human rights violations that, apparently, are not enough for the Commission to suspend the privileges granted under the generalized system of preferences: five statements in this Parliament. A system that, in theory, is conditioned on the implementation of 27 human and labour rights conventions that are clearly not complied with in the Philippines. We demand the suspension of the generalized system of preferences and a technology embargo that serves the repression of the Filipino people. All our solidarity with the Filipino people.

Madam President, twenty-two women leaders and social leaders have been murdered in Colombia this year, and nineteen massacres have taken place. In 2021, as part of the protests, the police murdered, disappeared and sexually assaulted hundreds and hundreds of protesters. Systematic human rights violations are endless and progress in implementing the peace agreement is negligible. Despite this, at last week's human rights dialogue, the European Union did nothing but congratulate Colombia on its progress. No criticism, let alone a conviction for the murders of 174 human rights defenders. And, to complete the shamelessness, this week Duque is being greeted with a red carpet in Europe. This shamelessness in this Parliament today. What are the human rights tools for if they are not then applied with supposedly friendly governments? Stop hypocrisy. The life of the Colombian people is worth more than political and commercial interests. Let us take note and not tolerate again a shamelessness such as we have seen today with Ivan Duque here in this Parliament.

Mr President, a genuine workers' and people's revolt broke out in Kazakhstan at the beginning of January. The trigger for the protests was the rise in the price of liquefied gas, but in reality this was only the straw that filled the glass of a population living under a corrupt regime that squeezes the popular classes while benefiting corrupt elites, a regime that has been robbing and brutally repressing its own people for years. That in 24 hours and in the middle of winter the price of fuels doubled, while 70% of Kazakh oil is exported to Western markets, is simply an embarrassment. And this was the drop that filled the glass. That 162 people - which is the same thing, 0.001 % of the Kazakh population - own 55 % of the country's wealth is another example of the inequality so brutal that it is capable of generating the extractive capitalist model implemented in the country. This too is violence and we cannot forget it. Nor can we forget that a significant amount of the plunder of the Kazakh people has become actions and property in Western Europe amidst appalling silence. Demanding an end to corruption in Kazakhstan also involves looking at Western economic interests and defending the demands that have taken the Kazakh people to the streets, such as those made by oil workers calling for the nationalization of the country's oil wealth. As long as the causes behind the protests are not addressed and solved, and as long as we continue to look the other way, the problem will persist, because inequality and corruption have become a real hijacking of democracy. Let us not forget that without the distribution of wealth there is no democracy.

Mr President, in recent years, Serbia has implemented neoliberal reforms to attract foreign investment and in response to European demands in the framework of the accession process. Reforms that, as denounced by civil society, have affected the labor rights of workers with particularly serious cases that the Serbian Government has tried to hide, such as that of the Linglong factory. But reforms that have also devalued Serbian environmental regulations. We cannot forget that Serbia is the most polluted country in Europe. Massive mobilizations against the plundering of the country's natural resources have been taking place in recent weeks. One of those companies criticized in these mobilizations is Rio Tinto and its Jadar project, one of the largest lithium extraction projects that will mainly supply the European market and devastate the local environment. What a coincidence that the resolution did not want to mention it. Labor and environmental rights must be defended regardless of the nationality of the company that violates them. Enough of hypocrisy and looking the other way when Europe is splashed and the shames of its impossible green capitalism are stripped naked. Because we don't have planet B. It is urgent to change the system so as not to change the climate.

Mr President, humanitarian action faces three major dangers. Firstly, the constant threat of privatisation of aid. We won't stop saying it: neither humanitarian action can be a business opportunity nor the crisis become a pretext to deepen the doctrines of human rights. shock. If crises such as the pandemic we are currently experiencing increase humanitarian needs, the solution is to release patents and not to place pharmaceutical multinationals at the table of global governance. Second threat: the permanent geopolitical instrumentalization of humanitarian crises according to interests that have nothing to do with humanitarian objectives. A good example of this is the unpunished silence in the face of humanitarian crises such as those of the occupied Sahara or those of Palestine, or hypocritical calls to increase humanitarian aid in the Mediterranean while at the same time strengthening the mechanisms of Fortress Europe, which, in the end, generate new humanitarian crises such as those being seen in Libya. The third threat has to do with the criminalization of humanitarian actors, something we see daily in the Mediterranean. Saving lives is not a crime. Practicing racist policies and buying the xenophobic agenda from the far right should be. May this good report help combat these three scourges of privatisation, instrumentalisation and criminalisation of European humanitarian aid.

Madam President, the truth is that the number of military and private security companies is increasing, rightly encouraged by many states that use them with a clear geopolitical interest and to avoid public scrutiny and accountability. At the same time, there are also increasing reports of the involvement of these companies in cases of torture, sexual violence, murder and many other human rights violations. This resolution focuses on one particular company, but, unfortunately, there are many more that have not been mentioned, just as it has not been mentioned how some of these companies benefit from the increase in the budget of the "Fortress Europe" while selling weapons and fuelling the conflicts that force people to flee. Privatization of security generates global insecurity and instability. Therefore, our position is very clear: no to the outsourcing of security to private entities. Security cannot become a commodity in the hands of paramilitaries.

Mr President, our political group was in Slovenia a month ago and the reception of the far-right government was to accuse us in a tweet of being anti-fascist terrorists. This is just one example of the climate of intimidation and harassment that the opposition has to endure on a daily basis; an example of schizophrenic use of social media, encouraging hatred and tension. Very worrying is how the right to protest – a basic right in any democracy – is being seriously threatened by the repression against protesters, or how the government has tried to change the voting system to hinder the fundamental right of certain groups, or how the alleged anti-COVID-19 measures have also been used as a covert way of curtailing freedoms. All this is happening right now in Slovenia, but there is also resistance from independent media, from the feminist movement, from organizations that help migrants, from a left that does not resign itself. From here, from the European Parliament, I wanted to send you all our support and tell you that you are not alone.

Mr President, the truth is that I am not going to focus on denouncing the humanitarian situation on Belarus' border with Poland, where women, men, boys and girls are being treated as if they were real waste. I will confine myself to expressing my deepest rejection of the role of the Commission and the Council, of their terrible statements about the alleged hybrid war and of the support they are giving to the Polish far right in its repression of migrants, which includes supporting the separation of families at the border, just as Trump did and this Parliament has already condemned. They are authorizing and legitimizing the most reactionary, racist and dehumanizing version of migration. That is precisely what we mean when we accuse the grand coalition that governs the European Union of buying the discourse of the extreme right. Enough of imposing his immigration necropolitics. We don't need an army at the border, we need humanitarian aid. Enable safe and legal ways to enter Europe.

Mr President, the UN rapporteur for Burma has made it very clear: The actions being taken by the international community are not working. We have to go further. The same soldiers responsible for the Rohingya genocide are today crushing the Burmese people and this is possible thanks to the financing they obtain from their business network. It is crucial, therefore, to cut this income, and for that we would have to impose sanctions against all companies linked to the military junta, especially those related to oil, gas and minerals, which are today the ones that are giving the most benefits. Secondly, all relations of European banks and companies, such as Total, Eni or Shell, with companies directly or indirectly linked to the military junta must be paralysed. In addition, there is an urgent need to support Burmese democratic forces, to recognise the Government of National Unity and to ensure that humanitarian aid does not benefit the military or contribute to further human rights violations, i.e. that aid is delivered through local civil society organisations and, in particular, ethnic minority organisations. Despite the brutal repression, hundreds of thousands of people in Burma continue to face the military regime. Once again, the Burmese people are setting an example of struggle and dignity. We can't keep looking the other way.

Mr President, I would like to thank the colleagues who have made it possible to speak in this Parliament with a T-shirt from the Manteros Union in Madrid that speaks against racism, which is not a banner. Just as in this Parliament you can talk with branded T-shirts and no one poses any problems. What's the problem? That we are here promoting the Manteros Union, the Paperless Assembly and a message they have? Or that we wear the one of a brand: Nike, Adidas or others? We really have to look at it, because, in theory, this is the supposed home of European democracy. If anti-racism does not fit in the house of European democracy, let us look at it. Partners, assisting Member States to ensure that each asylum seeker has personalised, individualised, rigorous and resourceful care, this, and not others, should be the aim of a European asylum agency. However, what is presented to us is a proposal, in our opinion, cut short, which removes basic elements of border control and supervision at the request of countries such as Greece, Italy or Spain. A proposal that has as one of its main objectives to promote expulsion to unsafe transit countries, which we believe contravenes any international regulations and endangers the same right to asylum in Europe. It is a paradigm of European migration policy that an asylum agency like this has far fewer resources than an agency like Frontex. But what can we expect from a European migration policy that allows countries like Greece to suspend de facto Many times the right to asylum or that governments such as Spain illegally deport unaccompanied minors in Ceuta? A European asylum agency must serve refugees with respect for international law and human rights. Any other proposal will not have our support.

Madam President, the announced judicial reform is the umpteenth sign of Erdogan's authoritarian drift, not to mention the attempt to outlaw the HDP, the persecution and imprisonment of activists, opponents and critical journalists or the departure from the Istanbul Convention. Violation of human rights, political persecution and attacks on democracy that are well known right in this House, but which, however, do not seem to matter when it comes to qualifying Turkey as a safe third country to expel migrants from or to give it millions to police the borders of strong Europe. These funds were supposed to respond to an emergency, but here we are, five years later, discussing how to make exceptionalism the new permanent norm. And it is not enough to improve budgetary transparency or parliamentary scrutiny of these funds, because the problem is the same funds. The problem is the agreement of shame, of the externalization of borders from the European Union to Turkey, which we will not tire of denouncing wherever we are. The problem is this agreement.

Madam President, the United Arab Emirates is the place that welcomes corrupt leaders fleeing justice, such as the former president of Afghanistan or the emeritus king Juan Carlos I, while massacring, repressing and torturing his people. Ahmed Mansur has been detained for more than four years in a two-metre cell, without contact with relatives or other prisoners. Because it does not have, it does not have hot water or even a mattress to sleep on. One of the charges Ahmed was charged with is based on e-mails, in wasaps, which were obtained thanks to the interception of their communications via Pegasus and other spyware from European companies. But look!: We have already said this in this Parliament's 2018 resolution. The European Union and its companies have neither taken any responsibility nor done anything to prevent this violation of human rights from continuing. In fact, countries such as Spain have dedicated themselves to signing arms sales agreements and giving courses between policemen and offering days with snipers, while the Emirates kept activists and tweeters in prison. How can they continue to exchange weapons, security equipment, with the Emirates while human rights are violated? We therefore believe that it is time to demand the immediate release of Mansur and all political prisoners; an immediate moratorium on the sale of the transfer and use of surveillance technology to the Emirates; that a genuine arms embargo be put in place, because we cannot be complicit in the acts of repression and torture being committed in the Emirates; and that political, trade and cooperation relations be conditioned on human rights outcomes. Mansur said the only way to counter repression in his country was to make it public. Let's not let his complaints cost him his life. We cannot continue to be silent accomplices by prioritizing benefits over human rights.

Mr President, since 2015, Saudi Arabia has executed more than 800 people, including at least eight young people who were minors; minors like Mustafa, executed in June, and like nine others who can be killed any day. Despite the promises and millions invested in washing its image, the reality is that we are facing an absolute dictatorship, which violates the rights of women and social activists, and those of the Yemeni civilian population, on a daily basis. And all this in the face of the complicit silence of the European Union, which has Saudi Arabia on its list of strategic partners. That is why we demand that executions cease; an arms embargo is already in place; the termination of preferential relations and cooperation; and that political and trade relations are conditioned on human rights outcomes. Closing our eyes to the barbarities committed by this regime only contributes to fueling the impunity of the Saudi regime.

Mr. President, eight years ago the textile factory in Rana Plaza collapsed. Under its rubble, 1,134 people died and more than 2,600 were injured. But the foundations of global capitalism did not suffer. Rana Plaza is one of the thousands of links in the endless and unjust global value chains. Rana Plaza is one of the thousands of shop windows of European multinationals. Rana Plaza remains today an example of the impunity of corporate power. The families of the victims are still not compensated. No one is responsible for the deaths. Everything stays the same. Why? Because no one's forcing them to do it. Rana Plaza is further proof of the futility of voluntary systems of corporate social responsibility and institutional collusion with this global system of injustice, exploitation and death. The Rana Plaza shows that we need binding rules and exemplary sanctions against corporate power.

Madam President, this Fund should be a key structural tool to support asylum and integration. It should allow funds to be received and managed, without any hindrance, by municipalities and municipalities. It should be a Fund that encourages regularization policies. It should be a lot more than it isn't. And, although it includes positive issues, such as supporting real solidarity between Member States, humanitarian resettlement and the explicit mention to take into account NGOs in the implementation of funds, we cannot support with our vote a Fund that says to itself of asylum and integration, but that includes funding for the externalization of borders to third countries and returns. Because integrating and deporting are contradictory elements and because a policy focused on externalization of borders and deportation we already know very well where it ends: in the systematic violation of human rights. And don't count on our vote for that.

Madam President, since the outbreak of the protests in 2018, the popular mobilization has demanded the release of political prisoners and guarantees for the respect of civil and political rights. In response, Daniel Ortega has only built an institutional structure that legitimizes repression, the criminalization of protest and the arbitrary detention of critical voices in the face of this authoritarian escalation. Two weeks ago there was the arrest of Dora María Téllez, Hugo Torres, Víctor Hugo Tinoco, Ana Margarita Vijil, Suyén Barahona and Tamara Dávila Rivas, the latter of the Autonomous Women's Movement, against which Ortega has been especially vicious. To this day no one has been able to see them, neither relatives nor lawyers. We demand that they can be seen, that they can visit them immediately. We also demand the cessation of repression and the release of political prisoners and that their physical and moral integrity be guaranteed. The so-called anti-imperialist rhetoric deceives no one. There is nothing left of the Sandinista project in the Government of Nicaragua. From here all our solidarity with the Nicaraguan popular demands.