Food for Thought Paper

Speaking with One Voice on Human Rights and Global Values

Following-up on the initiative presented at the Gymnich meeting of 5-6 March 2010, Germanyand Denmark are presenting a paper that identifies challenges and opportunities facing the EUwith regard to the promotion and protection of human rights.The quintessence of our considerations consists of three major points: The EU needs to sendout a coherent and audible message in tenacious defence of human rights and global values as acommon good for humankind and as an indispensable precondition for international peace anddevelopment. This needs to be buttressed by a systematic EU outreach that shifts the issue tothe centre of EU foreign policy and encompasses the full range of our relations with other statesand actors. Our human rights policy should be understood as a task that cuts across all policyareas. Any meaningful dialogue will require us to both reflect upon our own achievements andpositions and be ready to engage with those partners who have been critical of our concepts orshow deficient human rights records.

Where we are

The EU acts upon the firm conviction that the international scene shall be guided by theprinciples which have inspired its own creation; namely the universality of human rights, equalityand human dignity, respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and internationallaw, the rule of law, and democracy. In recent years the universality of human rights has becomesubject of critical debates and was questioned numerous times in the UN Human Rights Counciland the UN’s Third Committee. Especially fundamental civil and political rights have beensubjected to mounting pressure. Attempts to limit the freedom of expression by introducingnew legal standards on defamation of religions are but one example. Against this background,the EU tends to be coerced into a defensive role, where an active human rights policy wasneeded and likely to be more efficient.In the EU’s bilateral relations, we are engaged in multiple human rights dialogues andconsultations. These fora have developed into well established venues for exchange, but havenot yet realised their full potential. We ought to utilise these and other relevant fora to allyclosely with partners who share our understanding of the promotion of global values and humanrights, but also to be explicit in limiting our cooperation where partners reject to respect humanrights and fundamental freedoms. In this context, the emergence of new global actors – such astransnational businesses, liberation movements, or crime networks – shows the limits oftraditional approaches and at the same time increases the demand for internal coordination.

Facing the Challenges

Europe needs a more effective approach to the promotion of human rights and global values toregain the initiative and take a lead on the matter. In order to achieve this, we need to strengthenour ability to communicate a cohesive and unambiguous message to other actors and strive totake advantage of the entire spectrum of instruments - political and economic - as provided bythe Lisbon Treaty and the External Action Service. In addition, EU member states should use

their bilateral consultations – including those at the level of Heads of State and Government –to demonstrate political will to advance the human rights and global values agenda.The long term objective of these efforts is to promote a change of mind in those parts of theworld where the universality of human rights and fundamental freedoms are drawn intoquestion. This demands a consistent and systematic outreach effort. The EU has employedaccording skills on selected occasions like General Assembly preparations or conferencediplomacy. One approach for the EU to strengthen and expand its capabilities is through anintensified dialogue with international partners which puts human rights and global values at itscore. An important part of it will be to demonstrate a sincere openness to the concerns andinterests of other parties without compromising the fundamental democratic values upon whichthe EU is founded, including full respect for all human rights.An intensified outreach effort should target all countries and regional actors. One way for theEU to strengthen its outreach is to specifically target those African states who have previouslyproven responsive to the human rights agenda advanced by the EU. Likewise, the EU shouldbuild upon existing ties with Latin American countries who have supported the EU ininternational fora on a number of issues, such as the rights of the child or the death penaltymoratorium, and expand this collaboration. It is important that we seek to identify areas ofpossible joint cooperation and that we enter into a partnership of mutual commitment whereincreased EU support for African and Latin American priorities is conditioned on acomprehensive respect of human rights.The EU should also rethink the way it has been engaging with specifically critical Arab, Africanand Asian countries, and with the OIC group in particular, in the debate on global values. Weshould be responsive to the concerns of Islamic countries over issues such as discrimination andislamophobia and express a desire to combat these problems. Only by professing the will toengage in dialogue will we be able to promote the human rights agenda in this vital region. Onekey task for the new External Action Service will thus be to examine new ways for the EU toreach out to those countries.

Way ahead

The EU should measure its extensive efforts to promote human rights and global values againstactual results. In order to reach its full potential, it will be paramount that the EU strengthens itsinternal procedures and allocates sufficient resources.Moreover, we suggest a number of concrete initiatives:To make the EU a leading actor in promoting human rights and conducting the globalvalue debate, the Foreign Affairs Councils needs to engage Ministers in timely andsubstantive discussions on this subject on a regular basis. These discussions should focuson establishing a more effective and coherent approach to engaging the EU ininternational human rights promotion.

The Foreign Affairs Council should task the EU working group on human rights and thePSC with developing a detailed strategy. This should include assessing possibleimprovements to our early warning mechanisms and identifying concrete outreachmeasures. The PSC should engage more frequently in issues of human rights and globalvalues at an early stage and in the understanding of this policy area as constitutional for EUforeign policy and action.We propose to establish a Brussels formation of the Council working group on humanrights. A division of labour of Brussels and capital formations should improve our abilityto act and allow for ascribing more time to strategic considerations and the developmentof concrete proposals for action.The EU delegations at the relevant international organizations should have the means andmandate to speak for the EU on issues of human rights and global values. The EUdelegations should pre-empt and anticipate situations before they develop, coordinate theexchange of views with member states, and establish a joint and robust EU position topresent, argue and defend in the fora in question.In our bilateral relations with third countries, the EU should constantly seek to improve itsdialogue mechanisms on human rights and global values. To achieve this, tailor-madeapproaches are necessary to cater to the often specific challenges in individual partnercountries. Yet in general terms, the success of dialogue mechanisms should be measuredagainst benchmarks, such as improvements of the human rights situation on the ground,the ratification of human rights documents, or cooperation in the international humanrights fora.