On the occasion of the 4th EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summit held on 12 May 2006 in Vienna (Austria), the FIDH published an open letter to the attention of the EU, Latin American and Caribbean heads of State.
In this letter, the FIDH welcomes the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on the 27th of April 2006 on « a stronger partnership between the European Union and Latin America », and its reference to Human rights, and calls upon the heads of State to put at the center of their discussion serious human rights violations that affect the different continents, in particular,
the deterioration of the situation of human rights defenders in the Latin American region,
the plundering and the exclusion of indigenous people in the Latin American region,
the inequalities of wealth distribution in the Latin American region,
the impact of the European security policies on fundamental rights, in particular on asylum and migrants’ rights.
The FIDH moreover calls upon the EU, Latin American and Caribbean countries to:
expand their discussion on human rights beyond the framework of their political dialogue, so as to mainstream human rights within the entire relationship between the two regions, including in matters dealing with cooperation, trade and investment development of the relationships
broaden the consultation with civil society and strengthen the process for its participation in the follow-up of the agreements,
recognize the supremacy of human rights covenants over other cooperation agreements,
consider the possibility of carrying out sustainable impact assessments that measure the realisation of civil, political, economic and social rights, in order to identify the impacts of the economic agreements on those rights.
Read the open letter in Spanish: http://www.fidh.org/article.php3?id_article=3307