Dubai: Members of the European Parliament have reportedly criticised Amnesty International for ignoring the progress made in the human rights situation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and for not promoting discussions and cooperation with the local authorities.
The criticism followed the presentation of a report on the human rights situation in the Gulf countries by David Nichols, senior executive officer in the Amnesty International European Institutions Office, during a session organised by the European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula (DARP), on Monday evening in Brussels, Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) reported.
Nichols said that here is “is not a lot of good news in terms of the human rights picture in the region” and claimed that the crackdown on human rights defenders had increased in the Gulf.
However, Michele Alliot-Marie, chair of the Delegation, in her comments, said, “The message that has come out from this debate is the idea that Amnesty has somewhat a one-sided approach.”
“It does not say real improvements are being made. This is something that needs attention,” she said.
““In some Gulf countries, there has been progress concerning legislation [on human rights]. We need a genuine dialogue and we should not imagine that we have all the solutions and that our solutions are the best,” the former French defence, interior and foreign minister said.
Ramona Manescu, MEP from Romania, said that “we have been working with the region since many years and there is evidence of progress.”
“It is constantly progressing, we can see. Generalising in such a way, I don’t think is constructive,” she said.
“It is much better for us to discuss and cooperate with the authorities instead of always criticising and having resolutions in the European Parliament against them. I think it is not very constructive to do this.”
Afzal Khan, British MEP, who has visited the Gulf region several times recently, said: ”One thing that has struck me in opposite to what you are saying is the pace of progress made in the whole Gulf Cooperation Council.”
“These countries provide to their people the services that we in the EU don’t have. I want to see more dialogue and exchange of information of the situation with these countries,” he said, quoted by the news agency on Tuesday.
