2011-10-24

The closing moment of the plenary sessions of the European Parliament is constituted by the debate of the situation in third countries under the title Debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

On the 27th of October, the MEP discussed the increasingly retaliatory measures of the Chinese authorities in Tiber and the situation of the Christian communities in Egypt and Syria.

Urging for concrete action, DAHR’s MEP Csaba Sógor expressed his opinion in writing about the situation in Tibet:
„The European Union is considered worldwide to be an alliance of countries that protect fundamental rights, follow the rule of law and uphold human dignity. It has earned these flattering attributes because it has raised its voice against infringement of fundamental rights all over the world, and because its commercial relations are admittedly influenced by the attitude of its partners toward human rights. We know that China is one of the most important commercial partners of the Western world. The interest of the European states is to keep this relationship fruitful in the future as well.

Chinese policy in Tibet, disregard for the rights of the Tibetan people is now a new phenomenon. The suicide of the Tibetan monks is a cry for help towards the whole world. These are cries for help because it seems that the Western world, along with the champion of human rights, the EU has not heard the signals, the less drastic forms of protest so far. But we’ve heard them, and we still hear them and no decisive action has been taken to clarify the situation apart from debates in the EP and national parliaments. I am convinces that European countries need to be more serious in their response and the EU should take itself more seriously.”
The Hungarian MEP from Transylvania also spoke about the events of the democratic transition in Egypt and the atrocities towards the Coptic Christian community, as well as about the potentially conflictual nature of recent events in Syria, with regard to the relations between ethnic and religious communities.

Here follows Csaba Sógor’s speech:
“It is not enough to vote on a motion for resolution; we need to do everything in our power to stop the persecution of Christians worldwide. Not just because Europe has Christian roots, because we share the Christian fate, but because this is primarily a minority and human rights issue.

The EU bares great responsibility in the fact that the proportion of Christians in Syria has shrunk to 8% from 10%, that thousands of Christians are forced to take up Islam and that Christian communities that have survived centuries of dictatorships die out in our times. The responsibility is great so that we should not be ashamed of our Christian past and will not tolerate any form of ethnic or religious discrimination within our borders. There is much to do, especially in the field of setting an example.”