Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

and December, the High Representative released a statement on 6 December in
which she raised her concerns about reports of irregularities, as well as arrests of
opposition activists.
We are working closely with the High Representative and EU partners to put
together a plan for long-term economic and institutional assistance to assist Egypt’s
orderly and peaceful transition to a civilian-led democratic government, through free
and fair elections.
In 2010 the government of Georgia approved constitutional changes reducing the
power of the president in favour of parliament, and started negotiations with the
opposition on further electoral reform. The Public Defender’s Office received
increased government funding despite widespread cuts elsewhere, and continues to
provide independent and critical advice. The government also created human rights
monitoring and protection units in various state ministries. The local elections on 30
May marked evident progress towards meeting OSCE commitments and other
international standards. But the OSCE mission and observers from individual EU
member states noted persistent shortcomings, notably in the legal framework.
Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations provide the EU and its member states with a
strong lever to promote reform, including in the field of human rights. A key area of
support has been in the justice sector, with a focus on the rule of law and criminal
justice reform. Other areas of EU activity include work to promote media
independence, electoral reform and participative democracy. An EU–Georgia
human rights dialogue takes place bi-annually, providing a forum to discuss trends
and individual cases. But whilst some progress has been made, there were
continuing concerns over media freedom, electoral reform, judicial independence,
religious freedoms, prison conditions, and the rights of internally displaced persons
and minorities.
Continued political instability presented an obstacle to progress on human rights in
Moldova. Abuse of police powers remains a problem. Restrictions on the freedom
of assembly still exist and, although gender equality is enshrined in law, women still
frequently face discrimination. The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
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