EU Meeting - Statement

Earlier this week, April 16th, the EU states met to discuss this year agenda of the GA. The meeting took place on the Faculty of Social Sciences and it was organized by the representative of Italy. 

According to information from the media statement, that Ms Tjaša Božič, the representative of the Italy send us, the delegates that were present involved United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden and Italy. Meeting was proceeded without the delegation of the Czech Republic, who was unfortunately unable to attend the meeting. However in the media statement the representative of Italy highlighted: "This meeting was a great opportunity for EU member states to meet and discuss topics on the agenda, especially since some of them are extremely important for the EU as a whole."

As already said, all of the topic of this year GA agenda were discussed. Promoting the values of the EU (promotion of the human rights, rule of law and democracy) the highest consensus was reached on the the topic of the forced migrations and minority issues. Regarding the latter topic, they have agreed about some steps that could be done in order to prevent and eliminate some issues that form main minority grievances such as occurrence of discrimination, hate speech and violence . 

On the other hand it seems that states of the EU are not of the same opinion when it comes to the question of the reform of the SC - so that it was not possible to precise how to put the reform into effect.

However the EU states agreed to continue the cooperation on informal and formal level in order to improve the outcomes of GA sessions.

Bellow you can read media statement issued by representative of Italy, Ms Tjaša Božič:

"On Tuesday April 16^th 2013 Italy hosted European Union (EU) meeting, which was held at the Faculty of Social Sciences, and invited all distinguished EU delegations represented in the 2013 Session of the General Assembly of the UN.

The meeting was attended by the delegations of United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden and Italy. Delegation of Czech Republic was unfortunately unable to attend the meeting, but sent us her deepest apologies and agreed to all statements written in this press release. This meeting was a great opportunity for EU member states to meet and discuss topics on the agenda, especially since some of them are extremely important for the EU as a whole.

On the topic of forced migration the states discussed the importance of prevention of forced migration and role of the international community. EU is a recipient of many forced migrants and is therefore aware that most of them come to EU because of conflicts, persecutions, violations of human rights and environmental catastrophes. All states agreed that we have to prevent future forced migration, especially through promotion of human rights, democracy and international law, and through improvement of infrastructure, protection of environment, promotion of social cohesion, etc. EU member states recognized the need that all states should mitigate the causes of forced migration. All EU states agreed that they will respect human rights of all persons and remain committed to helping rebuild society, infrastructure and trust in affected states. They came to an agreement that sending developmental aid, while keeping in mind contributing factors of displacement, such as climate change is crucial. 

They also highlighted the importance of protection of human rights of all displaced persons until their return home. EU powers also recognized the need that all states participate in the post-conflict or post-crisis rebuilding process. It is important that they help rebuild the living space in affected countries, make sure that conditions for return are good and safe enough and not send displaced persons back to their countries until they have somewhere to go. Since UNHCR is also responsible for that, it should be allocated more money and not be based anymore on voluntary contributions. A consensus exists among EU member states that all countries should contribute to UNHCR’s budget. 

On the topic of minorities all present states agreed that basic human rights of all human beings have to be respected, and stressed the importance of equality, solidarity and tolerance. Because of various international treaties safeguarding human rights of all individuals, the EU shares a common view that discrimination, hate speech, racially and ethnically motivated violence and extremism are deplorable acts and therefore the international community should cooperate fully to prevent and eliminate their occurrence. This could be done through education of minorities, raising awareness, building trust, and fostering social cohesion.

On the topic of the Security Council reform all states agreed that the Security Council has to be reformed, but they do not share a common view on the content, ways and means of the reform. 

All EU states expressed their willingness to continue cooperating formally and informally for the purposes of upcoming GA sessions. The EU is an important actor in international relations and should be a strong, unified force strenthening the improvement of outcomes of these sessions. With its full cooperation, the EU can also assure that its values, interests and goals are not overlooked."