Resolution on human rights violations in Colombia
C 175/252 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 21. 6. 1999 Thursday 11 March 1999 7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, the Presidents in the OSCE’s Minsk Group, the parliaments of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh. 7. Human rights (a) B4-0240, 0249, 0258, 0274, 0298 and 0308/99 Resolution on the situation of human rights in Cuba The European Parliament, A. whereas the most recently adopted Cuban laws amending the Penal Code and the National Independence Protection Code extend both their scope and the length of the sentences involved, going so far as to include the death penalty, B. whereas on 16 July 1997, Vladimiro Roca, Fe´lix Bonne, Marta Beatriz Roque and Rene´ Go´mez Manzano were arrested and imprisoned without being charged, following the publication of the document ‘the motherland belongs to everyone’ and which urged electoral abstentionism as a peaceful way of rejecting the Cuban regime, C. whereas it took almost a year to state that the reason for their imprisonment was ‘sedition’ and 19 months for the prisoners to come to trial on 1 March this year, and whereas EU diplomats and the media were denied access to the court and a mere 13 hours were required for the court to retire to consider its verdict, D. whereas 50 members of the opposition were taken into custody and sixty dissidents placed under house arrest on the eve of the trial, to remain so until the end of the trial, Rejects the adoption of new laws which, amongst other planned measures, extend the scope of the 1. death penalty and limit the exercise of fundamental freedoms; 2. Calls on the Cuban authorities to release all political prisoners starting with the four on trial; Condemns the imprisonment and house arrest of dissidents and members of the opposition, which 3. flagrantly violates human rights; 4. Calls on the Council and the Commission to continue their efforts to achieve positive change in Cuba through constructive dialogue, while upholding EU principles with regard to respect for human rights and democratic values, and to make sure that EU programmes contribute to this goal; Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Cuban 5. authorities and to the National People’s Assembly of Cuba. (b) B4-0237, 0273, 0287, 0292 and 0296/99 Resolution on human rights violations in Colombia The European Parliament, − having regard to its previous resolutions on Colombia, − having regard to the forthcoming sittings of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights,