EU Committed To Uphold Human Rights

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 (Bernama) -- The European Union (EU) marked the International Human Rights Day themed - Human Rights 365 - celebrated Wednesday with a commitment to upholding these rights. In an EU declaration, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, said that the theme reflected the aspiration that "each one of us, everywhere, at all times, is entitled to the full range of human rights." In the statement transmitted by the Delegation of the European Union to Malaysia, she said that two years ago the EU adopted the Strategic Framework on Human Rights and Democracy, together with its Action Plan, and appointed an EU Special Representative for Human Rights. She added that with the support of EU Member States, EU have been advocating human rights in over 40 human rights dialogues with third countries and have been engaging with regional and multilateral organisations, including the United Nations (UN). Meanwhile, EU Special Representative Stavros Lambrinidis, has closely and proactively interacted with key partners and supported the role of civil society organisations throughout the world, the statement said. The EU delegations have also been monitoring, reporting, and acting on human rights issues, and sometimes deals with difficult circumstances. "We have achieved a lot but much remains to do. One such area of work is torture; the Convention against Torture was adopted by the UN 30 years ago today and yet torture is still widely practised around the world and this demands our urgent attention," she said. The renewal in 2015 of EU Strategic Framework on Human Rights and Democracy will be the opportunity to renew the commitment and to address new challenges to the universality and indivisibility of human rights, she said. The Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on Dec 10. The date was chosen to honour the United Nations—General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on Dec 10, 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). --BERNAMA