Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1167-W796
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1167-W796
Release
Date: December 20, 2018
发布日：2018年12月20日
Topic:
Human Rights Day, 10 December, US Congress speech -- By Antoine Ripoll,
Director of the European Parliament Liaison Office in Washington DC
标题：人权日在美国国会发表的讲话 -- 欧洲议会驻华盛顿办公室主任安托恩·瑞珀利
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Human
Rights Day, 10 December, US Congress speech
--
By Antoine Ripoll, Director, European Parliament Liaison Office in Washington
DC
Ladies
and gentlemen,
Dear
Wei Jingsheng Foundation,
Dear
representatives of the National Endowment for democracy,
Dear
Uighur American Association, dear Tibetan Youth Congress,
Dear
International committee to support the non-violent movement for human rights in
Vietnam,
Thank
you for your invitation today. It honors me to be able to speak before you as a
representative of the European Parliament Liaison Office here in Washington DC.
For
the European Union, values and human rights are at the forefront of our work.
They are not simply words and ideals, they are actually a very important legal
obligation set out not only in our Charter for fundamental rights, but also in
the Treaties that govern our functioning. In the EU, we take human rights as
essential legal rights. They are to be applied to all people, not only to
citizens.
This
year has been a challenging year in terms of the respect of human rights around
the globe. This should have been a festive year celebrating the 70th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But all across the
globe, we have seen that this has not been the case.
It
suffices to read this year's Annual report of Human Rights Watch. The focus of
this year's report on authoritarian governments and populism is warranted. Why?
Because with an increasing inward look in order to defend societies from the
surge of populist politicians, a global leadership vacuum has often resulted.
With
it, grave human rights abuses have resulted in countries like Turkey, Egypt,
Libya, Russia, China, Yemen and Burma (those are the ones mentioned in the HR
Watch report). Saudi Arabia has also come to the front with the gruesome case
of Mr Khashoggi, an item on which the European Parliament drafted a political
resolution whose strong terms leave no space for interpretation.
The
same goes for the European Parliament's annual report on human rights
(rapporteur MEP Petras Austrevicius) that condemns from its first paragraph the
pushback against democracy, human rights and the rule of law worldwide in 2017.
In this
vacuum, particular European governments, but also the EU as a whole, have tried
to act, but so have many of your private and non-governmental organizations.
I
would like to report that on the side of the European Parliament, the human
rights vigilance has never wavered.
This
year, the European Parliament awarded its Sakharov Prize to the Ukrainian
filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, arrested illegally on trumped up charges and kept in a
Russian jail. On 12 December, in two days, his prize will be awarded in Strasbourg
probably to another grieved family member.
Last
month, between the 19 and 21 November we held in Brussels the important Human
rights week, in which we looked not only at important cases, such as the one
faced by Saudi Arabia, but we also celebrated human rights defenders around the
world. These days, we are looking at the important intersection between human
rights and advancing technology.
The
EU, without having per se a constitution, considers human rights a
constitutional matter. Thus, it has gone against international abuses, but even
more importantly, it has not closed an eye to internal abuses. The EU and the
Parliament that I represent, have not allowed any infliction brought to Article
2 of the Union.
This
is as important a phrase to Europeans, as the Bill of rights is important to
the Americans:
"The
Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom,
democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including
the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the
Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance,
justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail."
The
Union did not hesitate to trigger Article 7 when Members States were found to
be in contradiction with the values exposed in Article 2. This is a matter of
political courage, but also a realization that we cannot be a champion abroad
without maintaining our values at home.
Ladies
and gentlemen, 22 years ago, the EP Sakharov prize was awarded to our host of
today, Mr Wei Jingsheng, because exactly 40 years ago he did an act of courage
unparalleled in China of 1978, when he published his essay on "The Fifth
Modernization" that spoke of democracy on a wall in Beijing.
This
is the kind of courage that we must always fight for. By rewarding acts of
courage and of principle, we light the power of example for millions of others,
without the participation of which, change is impossible.
I
conclude by saying that the Western world, both Europe and the United States
must continue to practice what they preach. Only by doing so, by maintaining
human rights and liberties intact at home, will they continue to exert moral
leadership around the world.
Thank
you once more for being here today, when we are reminded together that there
are no rights more important and more universal than human rights.
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中文版
Wei
Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A1167-W796
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1167-W796
Release
Date: December 20, 2018
发布日：2018年12月20日
Topic:
Human Rights Day, 10 December, US Congress speech -- By Antoine Ripoll,
Director of the European Parliament Liaison Office in Washington DC
标题：人权日在美国国会发表的讲话 -- 欧洲议会驻华盛顿办公室主任安托恩·瑞珀利
Original
Language Version: English (Chinese version at the end)
此号以英文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2018/report2018-12/RipollAspeech181220atHRWB4thA1167-W796.htm
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12月10日人权日在美国国会发表的讲话
-- 欧洲议会驻华盛顿办公室主任安托恩·瑞珀利(Antoine
Ripoll)
女士们先生们，
亲爱的魏京生基金会，
亲爱的美国国家民主基金会代表，
亲爱的维吾尔族美国人协会，
亲爱的西藏青年大会，
亲爱的支持越南人权非暴力运动国际委员会，
谢谢今天的邀请。我很荣幸能够作为欧洲议会驻华盛顿办公室的代表在此发言。
对于欧盟而言，价值观和人权是我们工作的重中之重。它们不仅仅是文字和理想，实际上它们还是一项非常重要的法律义务，不仅仅在我们的基本权利宪章中，而且在管理我们运作的条约中。在欧盟，我们将人权视为基本的法律权利，适用于所有人，而不仅仅适用于公民。
就尊重全球人权而言，今年是充满挑战的一年。这本应该是庆祝"世界人权宣言"70周年的一年。但在全球范围内，我们看到情况并非如此。
阅读今年的人权观察的年度报告就够了。今年报告的重点是有关威权政府和民粹主义。为什么？因为为了保护社民粹主义政治家的崛起而越来越向内看的社会，全球领导层的真空常会产生。
因此导致了土耳其、埃及、利比亚、俄罗斯、中国、也门和缅甸等国严重的侵犯人权行为（这些是人权观察报告中提到的那些国家）。沙特阿拉伯也以可怕的卡舒吉案件走到了前面，为此欧洲议会起草了一个没有留下任何解释空间，带着强力条款的政治决议。
欧洲议会（特别报告员 Petras Austrevicius议员）所做的有关人权的年度报告也是如此。该报告的第一段就谴责了2017年全球对民主、人权和法治的袭击。
在这种真空中，整个欧盟尤其是欧洲议会都试图采取行动，许多你们这样的私人和非政府组织也是如此。
我想报告说，欧洲议会方面对人权的警惕从未动摇过。
今年，欧洲议会将其萨哈罗夫奖授予乌克兰电影制片人奥列格·桑佐夫（Oleg Sentsov），他因捏造的罪名而被非法逮捕并被关押在俄罗斯的监狱。 两天之内的12月12日，他所获得的奖将在斯特拉斯堡颁发给又一位悲伤的家庭成员。
上个月的11月19日至21日期间，我们在布鲁塞尔举行了重要的人权周。我们不仅审视了重要的如沙特阿拉伯的案件，我们还在世界各地庆祝人权卫士们。如今，我们正在研究人权与先进技术之间的重要交叉。
欧盟在没有自身宪法的情况下，将人权视为宪法。因此，它反对国际上的人权迫害。而更重要的是，它没有停止对内部人权迫害的关注。我所代表的欧盟和议会不允许对欧盟第2条施加任何影响。
这对欧洲人来说很重要，如同对美国人而言权利法案很重要：
“联盟的基础是建立在尊重人的尊严、自由、民主、平等、法治和人权，包括属于少数群体的人的权利。这些价值观在一个成员社会中是共同的。在这个社会中，多元化、不歧视、宽容、正义、团结和男女平等占上风。”
当成员国被发现与第2条中暴露的价值观相矛盾时，欧盟会毫不犹豫地开启第7条。这需要政治勇气，但也是因为意识到如果我们在自己的家园里不能保持我们的价值观，我们就不能在海外做人权的冠军。
女士们，先生们，22年前，欧洲议会的萨哈罗夫奖被授予我们今天的主持人魏京生先生，因为正是在整整40年前的1978年，他做了当时在中国需要无与伦比的勇气才能做到的事--在北京的民主墙上发表了他"第五个现代化"的文章，谈论民主。
这是我们必须始终为之奋斗的那种勇气。通过奖励勇气和原则的行为，我们为成千上万的其他人点亮了榜样的力量；而没有这样的参与，变革是不可能的。
最后我要说，西方世界，无论是欧洲还是美国，都必须继续实践他们所宣扬的东西。只有这样，通过在自己的国家里保持人权和自由不受侵害，他们才能继续在全世界发挥道德的领袖作用。
再次谢谢今天大家来此。我们得以聚在一起并意识到没有权利比人权更为重要和普世。
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