Brussels, 25 May 2021
The inaugural meeting of the EU-US strategic inter-parliamentary consultation on human rights was held today. It is part of a series of remote gatherings organised by MEPs of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights together with the United States Helsinki Commission and the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives.
NPWJ welcomes this initiative between like-minded parliamentary bodies and institutions. It is a significant opportunity to strengthen transatlantic cooperation as a bedrock to promote human rights around the globe and to foster efforts for a coordinated response – including through sanctions – to fight impunity in the face of human rights violations and threats to peace and stability.
In particular, as highlighted during the meeting by MEP Andrea Cozzolino, there are both mutual interests and a necessity for a more concerted commitment and action against abuses and threats to peace being committed in the Gulf Region.
One area requiring more focus is the conflict in Yemen, where evidence of massive human rights abuses and war crimes including the targeted bombing of civilians has been clearly documented. Both the US Congress and the European Parliament have shown leadership in calling for a ban on weapons sale to UAE, even if as mentioned by Hon. Cozzolino it is still a disappointment to see that, despite these resolutions, an arms deal agreed by the previous American administration with the UAE is likely to go ahead, and even more disappointing still, is the fact that many of EU member States have continued to sell weapons to the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
This is clearly an area in which members of human rights committees and commissions in the US and EU need to unite further, to strengthen their impact on stopping future weapons’ sales that we know are destined for conflicts where atrocities are committed against civilians, like in Yemen.
- Click here to watch the video of the meeting
- Read also Parliament-U.S. Congress relations: MEPs stress importance of transatlantic link in the global fight for human rights, European Parliament, press release, 25 May 2021
For more information, contact Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org.
