EUROPEAN PARLAMENT: JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION ON PRISIONERS OF CONSCIENCE IN CUBA

EUROPEAN PARLAMENT: JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION ON PRISIONERS OF
CONSCIENCE IN CUBA
2010-03-11.

(www.miscelaneasdecuba.net).- 10 March 2010

pursuant to Rule 110(4) of the Rules of Procedure
replacing the motions by the following groups:

PPE (B7 0169/2010)
EFD (B7 0170/2010)
S&D (B7 0174/2010)
ALDE (B7 0175/2010)
ECR (B7 0176/2010)
Verts/ALE (B7 0178/2010)

on prisoners of conscience in Cuba

José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Francisco José Millán Mon, Jaime
Mayor Oreja, Mario Mauro, Bogusław Sonik, Cristian Dan Preda, Laima
Liucija Andrikienė, Filip Kaczmarek, Tunne Kelam
on behalf of the PPE Group

Adrian Severin, Luis Yáñez-Barnuevo García, Emine Bozkurt
on behalf of the S&D Group

Renate Weber, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica
on behalf of the ALDE Group

Raül Romeva i Rueda
on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group

Edvard Kožušník, Charles Tannock
on behalf of the ECR Group

Fiorello Provera
on behalf of the EFD Group

European Parliament resolution on prisoners of conscience in Cuba
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Cuba,
in particular those of 17 November 2004, 2 February 2006 and 21 June 2007,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on the Annual Reports on
Human Rights in the World for 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, and to
the EU's policy in the field of human rights,

– having regard to its resolution of 14 December 2006 on the follow-up
to the Sakharov Prize(1),

– having regard to the Council Presidency Declaration of 14 December
2005 on the Damas de Blanco and to the earlier declarations of 26 March
2003 and 5 June 2003 on the situation in Cuba,

– having regard to Council Common Position 96/697/CFSP, adopted on 2
December 1996 and updated periodically since,

– having regard to the conclusions of the General Affairs and External
Relations Council of 18 June 2007, June 2008 and 15 June 2009, on Cuba,

– having regard to the statements issued by the spokesperson for the
Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Catherine Ashton, and by
the President of Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, on the death in Cuba of the
political prisoner and prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo,

– having regard to Rule 110(4) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas defending the universality and indivisibility of human
rights, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural
rights, remains one of the European Union's main objectives,

B. whereas dozens of independent journalists, peaceful dissidents and
human rights defenders, mostly members of the democratic opposition, are
still being held in jail in Cuba for exercising the basic rights of
expression and assembly and the right to hold meetings,

C. whereas Parliament awarded the 2005 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of
Thought to the Damas de Blanco; whereas the Cuban authorities' refusal
to allow the Damas de Blanco to travel to the seat of Parliament to
receive the award violates one of the basic human rights, namely the
right freely to leave and return to one's own country, as enshrined in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
D. whereas the Community institutions have made efforts to secure the
release and humanitarian treatment of political prisoners and prisoners
of conscience in Cuba,

E. whereas the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo – the first time in
nearly 40 years that a Cuban activist has died on hunger strike in
protest against government abuses – is considered a serious step
backwards for human rights in Cuba and has resulted in a wave of protest
at international level and in more Cuban political and dissident
prisoners going on hunger strike,

1. Strongly condemns the avoidable and cruel death of the dissident
political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo after a hunger strike of 85
days, and expresses its solidarity and sympathy with his family;
2. Condemns the pre-emptive detention of activists and the government's
attempt to prevent the family of Orlando Zapata Tamayo from holding his
funeral and paying their last respects;

3. Deplores the absence of any significant signs of response by the
Cuban authorities to the calls by the EU and the international community
for all political prisoners to be released and for fundamental freedoms,
especially freedom of expression and political association, to be fully
respected;

4. Calls on the Cuban Government for the immediate and unconditional
release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience;

5. Voices its concern at the situation of the political prisoners and
dissidents who went on hunger strike following Zapata's death; welcomes
the fact that most of them are now taking food again, but draws
attention to the alarming state of the journalist and psychologist
Guillermo Fariñas, whose continuation of the hunger strike could have
fatal consequences;

6. Deplores the failure to respond to the repeated calls by the Council
and Parliament for the immediate release of all political prisoners and
prisoners of conscience, and stresses that imprisoning Cuban dissidents
for their ideals and their peaceful political activity is contrary to
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

7. Urges the Council and Commission to step up action to demand the
release of political prisoners and promote and provide guarantees for
the work of human rights defenders, along the lines agreed by the
Foreign Affairs Council in its conclusions of 8 December 2009;

8. Urges the EU institutions to give their unconditional support and
full encouragement to the launching of a peaceful process of political
transition to multi-party democracy in Cuba;

9. Voices its profound solidarity with the entire Cuban people and its
support for them in their progress towards democracy and respect and
promotion of fundamental freedoms

10. Calls on the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs
and Security Policy and the Commissioner responsible for cooperation
immediately to begin a structured dialogue with Cuban civil society and
with those who support a peaceful transition in Cuba, in keeping with
the conclusions successively adopted by the Council of the EU, using the
Community's development cooperation mechanisms, in particular under the
European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights;

11. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council,
the Commission, the EU rotating Presidency, the Vice-President of the
Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly and the
Cuban Government and National Assembly of People's Power.

Source: the official homepage of European Parlament.

EUROPEAN PARLAMENT: JOINT MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION ON PRISIONERS OF
CONSCIENCE IN CUBA - Misceláneas de Cuba (11 March 2010)
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=26248