EVRÓPURÁÐIÐ MINNIR Á ÞÚSALDARMARKMIÐ SÞ
Á föstudag lauk fimm daga þinghaldi Evrópuráðsþingsins (sem er alls ekki það sama og þing Evrópusmbandsins).
Áhersla þingsins var á mannréttindamál, venju samkvæmt og í samræmi við eðli Evrópuráðsins sem eru samtök 47 ríkja Evrópu (i Evrópusambandinu eru 28 ríki) með 800 milljónir íbúa, frá Íslandi í vestri og austur í Úralfjöll. Meginverkefni Evrópuráðsins er að standa vörð um mannréttindi og efla réttarríkið.
Sem einn af fulltrúum Íslands á þinginu, tek ég þátt í starfi tveggja fastanefnda, annars vegar nefndar sem fjallar um heilbrigðismál og sjálfbæra þróun og hins vegar nefndar sem fjallar um flóttamenn og fólksflutninga almennt.
Á þinginu funduðu þessar nefndir stíft og sótti ég þá fundi, auk funda í nefnd sem ég á sæti í og myndar eins konar tenginet um kynferðisofbeldi. Þá hef ég verið tilnefndur í svokallaða eftirlitsnefnd sem hefur það verkefni að hafa með höndum eftirlit í þeim ríkjum sem þykja ekki sinna mannréttindum sem skyldi.
Drýgstur tími fer þó í setu í þingsal og þátttöku í umræðum þar. Sjálfur tók ég beinan þátt í umæðum um sjö málaflokka. Auk þeirra sem ég þegar hef getið hér á síðunni, nefni ég umræðu um loftslagsbreytingar og um margbreytilega orkunýtingu en þar talaði ég fyrir hönd vinstri flokkanna á þinginu. Gagnrýndi ég skýrsluna sem var til umfjöllunar, þar á meðal þá stefnu Evrópusambandsins að vilja vinna bug á mengun með markaðsvæðingu andrúmsloftsins - kaupum og sölu á kvótum. Sömuleiðs var ég talsmaður þeirra í umræðu um innflytjendamál og umræðu sem fram fór um próf sem innflytjendur eru látnir undirgangast, þar með talið á Íslandi, en skýrslan sem var til umræðu er gagnrýnin á það fyrirkomulag.
Ég var einnig talsmaður í vinstri flokkanna í umræðu um Þúsaldarmarkmið Sameinuðu þjóðanna og var sú umræða einkar fróðleg. Sýnt er að markmiðin sem þjóðir heims settu sjálfum sér á vettvangi Sameinuðu þjóðanna um aldamótin 2000, að draga úr fátækt og auka aðgengi snauðari hluta heimsins að vatni og velferð næst aðeins að mjög takmörkuðu leyti innan gefins tímaramma sem samkvæmt þúsaldarmarkmiðunum var 2015.
Í ýmsum efnum hefur þó orðið árangur. Er þetta rakið í skýrslu sem umræðan byggðist á en í lok hennar var samþykkt að stuðla að því að markmiðin yrðu nú endurskoðuð og fyrir þeim barist sem aldrei fyrr.
Læt ég slóðir á nokkra þessaara skýrslslna og samþykkta fylgja hér að neðan.
Fjölmargt annað kom til umræðu, þar á meðal hörmulegt ástand í Sýrlandi og merkileg skýrsla og samþykkt um að alþjóðastofnanbir og „diplomasía" skuli ekki standa fyrir utan lög og rétt einsog að nokkru leyti verið hefur.
Hér er tengill á allar skýrslur vikunnar:
Ræða mín um þúsladarmarkmiðin:
Millennium Goals
On behalf of the left parties I declare support for this report and the proposals which are now being tabled.
I would like to compliment the repporteur, Sir Alan Meale, and all those who have contributed to his excellent report. The report is very informative and gives a good overview of the progress of the Millennium Development Goals.It singles out some of the activities related to the achievement of the goals agreed on by the UN at the turn of the century; activities the Council of Europe, as a guardian of human rights, has paid particular attention to in its work , such as the right of the child and the fight against child abuse.In this field there has been progress in the sense - at least in many countries - that awareness has been raised.
Here I speak of experinece in my home country, Iceland, where we have been inspired by the work carried out by the Council of Europe and consequently put into action recommendations from the Council. This of course has to do with the Millennium Development goals whereby we pledged to uphold the „principles of human dignity, equality and equity," as stated in the text agreed upon in the UN in September 2000.
This report points out that even if more people are now having access to clean water and enjoy better living conditions than a few years back - the gap between rich and poor is wider than ever leaving a billion people - one thousand million human beings - in utter poverty and insecurity.There is something fundamentally wrong with a world social order that allows this to be so. The name of a culprit, not the only culprit but certainly a social evil in this respect, is of course greedy, and all too little controlled, capitalism with its inherent exploitation and disregard for the principles I just quoted from the UN Millenium text and we were reminded of this with Sir Meale´s remarks about the recent disaster in Bangladesh.
In this report there are concrete proposals put forward, aimed at individual states and collectively at all of us who are part of this organization of ours, the Council of Europe. We are urged to reaffirm our committment to the Millennium Goals - evaluate these goals- revise them and set new goals to strive for in the years beyond 2015. In this sense it is a fighting document and a reminder.
This report is a declaration of committment, and as I see it, a declaration of responsibility on behalf of the Council of Europe and as such it has our support.
Athugasemdir mínar um Migration og Immigration tests:
I would like to start by complimenting the rapporteur on Migrants: Ensuring that they are a benefit for European Societies, and all those have contributed to this excellent report and on behalf of the left party group I pledge support to the recommendations propsed. Migrants represent now 8,7% of Europe´s population and it is evident that this ratio will increase in the coming years. It is rightly stated that all too often migrants are unfairly portrayed as being a burden on public finances, and threatening economic prosperity and social cohesion in host societies. This has led to an increasingly hostile environment in many lands. In accordance the main task of this report and the proposals put forward is finding ways of countering this unfriendly environment by giving the public at large information and indeed evidence that shows that generally speaking migrants are not a burden but a benefit to society economically, culturally and in social terms. There are also concrete proposals in various fields such as education, that are meant to facilitate integration and creating a welcoming environment.
An appeal is made to the Member States to tackle misconceptions about migrants reminding us they are a source of cultural enrichment apart of course being so vital for large sectors of the economy in many countries that there would be total collapse without them. But if they are important for the host countries what is the lot of the migrants? Often their life is difficult and in many cases they have to suffer severe hardship not least on the labour market where they are often discriminated against and find themselves in a position to have to accept jobs that are in fact unacceptable.
We have to be very careful in the way we phrase our reports and our recommendations in this respect and I have put forward an amendment to the wording in one instance which the Migration Committee has now endorsed.
Having said this, it must be said that the report is informative, well balanced and and rightly emphasizes the importance that integration is a two way process benefitting the migrants and the receiving countries. I reiterate our support. I also pledge support, on behalf of the left parties, for the paper on Integration tests and thank the rapporteur for her valuable work. The paper is of great quality informative and thought provoking.The paper gives warning signals that integration tests, including language tests, meant to facilitate integration may on the contrary have the opposite effect, even preventing integration, sometimes hindering family re-unification and causing resentment amongst migrants. These warning signals we should take seriously.
It is important to get concrete proposals as the rapporteur and the Migration Committee hereby present to the Assembly and I reiterate my support.