January 2020
Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) safeguarding environmental rights are a fundamental pillar in the protection of their communities and natural resources for future generations. However, today they are confronted with an unprecedented scale of persecution and repression. This Tuesday, in cooperation with ProtectDefenders.eu and MEP María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos (Renew) I hosted a conference on this issue at the European Parliament...
"Iranians no longer put up with everything, and many are willing to take a high risk for it," I explained to the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) on Friday. After the killing of General Soleimani by the USA initially silenced domestic protests, the tragic shooting down of the plane brought government critics back onto the streets. After the chaotic back and forth, the RND asked me for an assessment of how the situation in Iran is now developing.
The EU Annual Report on the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) ignores existing criticism and supports the US rearmament demands. But more weapons do not make a region any safer, and there are European treaties that lay down an appropriate mix of military and civilian measures that turn security policy into peace policy. As shadow rapporteur for the Greens/EFA Group, I strongly criticised the report by Arnaud Danjean (EPP Group) and called for a policy of mediation, disarmament and prevention.
After the attack on Soleimani initially threatened to overshadow the protests, people in Tehran and Baghdad are now back on the streets. The EU must show more effort to protect the demonstrators* from violence and manslaughter. To do so, we must fill the gap left by the withdrawal of US troops in Iraq and send a clear message to the Iranian regime.
It is important that all parties to the conflict come together and discuss a peaceful solution for Libya. Germany's initiative for a conference in Berlin is the right approach. Most importantly, however, eventually it should be the Libyans themselves who decide on their future. That was my core message in the interview with Deutsche Well on the occasion of the meeting of Merkel and Putin in Moscow.
"If the EU wants to play a mediating role based on international law and defend the rules that make peaceful coexistence possible, it will only work if it criticises all actors who violate them," I told the Handelsblatt on Wednesday. "But it is holding back on the USA. Yet the killing of Soleimani in Iraq was most likely contrary to international law."
