The European Neighbourhood Policy

The European Neighbourhood Policy is the EU’s main framework for

engaging with the 16 countries which share its borders to the east and south.
Human rights and democracy are a central part of the policy. EU funding to
support reform in the neighbourhood is approximately €12 billion for 2007–
2013.

Each year, the EU and partner countries agree action plans which detail
reforms in democratisation, human rights and the rule of law. Progress under
each action plan is monitored through sub-committees. Progress reports are
published annually.

The second round of the EU–Armenia human rights dialogue took place on 7
December. This provided an opportunity for the EU to reiterate to Armenia
the importance of human rights as an essential element for Armenia’s
development into a fully democratic society.

On 15 June the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media commented

that amendments to the law on television and radio broadcasting in Armenia
were not sufficient to improve media pluralism. The EU encouraged the
Armenian government and legislators to continue to work closely with civil
society, the Council of Europe and OSCE experts to ensure that its
broadcasting law promotes media freedom and is in line with international
standards.

In March, the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
issued its report on the conduct of the trials that took place in the aftermath of
the March 2008 post-election violence in Yerevan. The report revealed
shortcomings in Armenia's justice system and made a number of
recommendations. It is important that the Armenian government implements
these recommendations as part of its judicial reform programme.

Although Armenia has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women and its principles are addressed in the
constitution, women continue to suffer significant discrimination in economic
and political life. On 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of
Violence against Women, the EU announced the launch of 10 new human
rights and democracy projects including one that aims to reduce gender-
based domestic violence in Armenia.

In Azerbaijan, EU member states continued to express concern about the

restrictions to freedom of assembly, including in the run-up to the November
parliamentary elections. The High Representative shared the concern of the
OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights that the conduct
of the elections was insufficient to constitute “meaningful progress in the
democratic development of the country” and called on the Azerbaijani
authorities to address these shortcomings. In November the EU welcomed
the release of the youth activist bloggers Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada, but
expressed concern over Azerbaijan’s reluctance to implement the European
Court for Human Rights’ judgment on Eynulla Fatullayev’s conviction for
alleged terrorism.

Association Agreement negotiations between the EU and Armenia and

Azerbaijan were launched in July. The first EU–Azerbaijan Sub-committee on
Justice, Freedom, Security and Human Rights and Democracy took place
between 30 November and 1 December.

In Egypt, progress on human rights and democracy has been an important

principle of the EU–Egypt Action Plan. The plan, which was adopted in 2007,
sets out priorities in the areas of strengthening democracy, judicial reform,
freedom of association and expression and the rights of women. However, in
2010 only limited progress was made in these areas. The state of
emergency, instituted in 1981, was renewed in 2010 and continued to present
a major obstacle to the full implementation of Egypt’s human rights
obligations, with provisions for administrative detention and curtailing the right
to assembly a particular concern. No amendments were made to the election
law in advance of the 2010 elections and the EU’s offer of technical
assistance in this area was not taken up.
On 12 May 2010, the High Representative made a statement in response to
Egypt’s decision to extend the state of emergency and encouraged the
Egyptian government to take the steps needed to adopt an anti-terrorism law
fully compliant with international human rights standards. Following the
flawed elections in November and December, the High Representative
released a statement on 6 December in which she raised her concerns about
reports of irregularities, as well as arrests of opposition activists.

We are working closely with the High Representative and EU partners to put
together a plan for long-term economic and institutional assistance to assist
Egypt’s orderly and peaceful transition to a civilian-led democratic
government, through free and fair elections.

In 2010 the government of Georgia approved constitutional changes reducing

the power of the president in favour of parliament, and started negotiations
with the opposition on further electoral reform. The Public Defender’s Office
received increased government funding despite widespread cuts elsewhere,
and continues to provide independent and critical advice. The government
also created human rights monitoring and protection units in various state
ministries. The local elections on 30 May marked evident progress towards
meeting OSCE commitments and other international standards. But the
OSCE mission and observers from individual EU member states noted
persistent shortcomings, notably in the legal framework.

Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations provide the EU and its member states with
a strong lever to promote reform, including in the field of human rights. A key
area of support has been in the justice sector, with a focus on the rule of law
and criminal justice reform. Other areas of EU activity include work to
promote media independence, electoral reform and participative democracy.
An EU–Georgia human rights dialogue takes place bi-annually, providing a
forum to discuss trends and individual cases. But whilst some progress has
been made, there were continuing concerns over media freedom, electoral
reform, judicial independence, religious freedoms, prison conditions, and the
rights of internally displaced persons and minorities.

Continued political instability presented an obstacle to progress on human

rights in Moldova. Abuse of police powers remains a problem. Restrictions
on the freedom of assembly still exist and, although gender equality is
enshrined in law, women still frequently face discrimination. The rights of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons continue to face severe
challenges and a peaceful demonstration supporting the adoption of anti-
discrimination laws was prevented from taking place in Chisinau city centre by
a court ruling in April. There were, however, some positive developments in
2010. Moldova ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In January,
Moldova commenced negotiations on an EU Association Agreement, in the
framework of the Eastern Partnership. The EU Association Agreement
includes human rights requirements. The Moldovan government has no de
facto control over the Transnistria region, where the human rights record of
the separatist regime is particularly poor.

Despite considerable advances in the protection of human rights over recent

years in Morocco, the progress of reform slowed in 2010. We are particularly
concerned about media freedoms and the closure of a number of independent
publications. We continued to support Morocco’s progress towards ratifying
the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and hope to see this
take place soon.