I External aid

Horizontal Issues
20
Future generations
deserve to live in a
better world
© Santiago Herrero Villa
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE
1 EUROPEAN INITIATIVE
FOR DEMOCRACY AND
HUMAN RIGHTS
Founded on the principles of freedom,
democracy and the respect of Human
Rights, the European Union is defending
these principles – protecting Human
Rights, consolidating democracy and the
rule of law, as well as fighting poverty –
the promotion and protection of which
are among its fundamental objectives. (11)
Beyond the Community’s foreign aid programmes
and the resources of the European
Development Fund, the European
Initiative for Democracy and Human
Rights (EIDHR) offers the Union a legal
framework and significant resources
to provide targeted aid and to act in situ,
on its own initiative and without prior
agreement.
What is the European Initiative for Democracy
and Human Rights? The EIDHR
serves to bolster the EU’s other actions in
the field of human rights and democratisation. Compared
with other Community instruments (EDF, Tacis, ALA, MEDA,
CARDS, Phare), it:
◗ is complementary to these programmes which are undertaken
with governments in that it can be implemented with
various partners, in particular NGOs and international organisations;
◗ represents a type of “venture capital fund” for Human
Rights, allowing initiatives to be launched at a pilot or
experimental level, which can then be picked up by governments
on a larger scale;
◗ can be used without host government consent or where
mainline Community programmes are not available;
◗ constitutes an essential complement to the EU’s foreign
policy and common security objectives in the fields of
human rights, democratisation and conflict prevention. (12)
In certain regions it represents the sole legal basis for certain
activities (political and civil rights protection, election
monitoring, conflict resolution initiatives, etc.).
For its beneficiaries, EIDHR provides an added value which
sets it apart from other donors. Because it is identified with
the European Union, it is seen as reflecting and promoting
the EU’s democratic values. In this way, the EIDHR is considered
to emanate from Europe as a whole, rather than from
specific interests or traditions.
Because it enjoys the political support of the EU, EIDHR subsidies
can, in certain cases, help protect vulnerable civil
society organisations.
Because the EU is an organisation committed to regional
integration and given the existence of agreements between
the Union and regional groupings, the EIDHR can also facilitate
the adoption of Human Rights and democratisation initiatives
on a regional basis.
With the exception of Turkey, the candidate countries are not
eligible for the EIDHR.
THREE EXPRESSIONS OF THE UNION’S
HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY
- The European Community’s foreign aid programmes
attack the root causes of poverty.
- The European Development Fund (EDF) covers Africa, the
Caribbean and the Pacific Region. €182 million have
been spent on direct support for Human Rights and democratisation
between 1997 and 2000, and €115 million
on election assistance and monitoring between 1996 and
1999. (The total EDF budget amounts to €13.5 billion
between 2000 and 2007.)
- The European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights
has permitted a considerable improvement in the EU’s
commitment. The amounts devoted to Human Rights have
increased from €200,000 in 1987 to €100 million at the
end of 2000. In addition, since 1999, the Union has a
significant legal framework for promoting human rights in
its external policy. (13) The EIDHR enables the Community,
in particular, to support the activities of non-governmental
and international organisations (such as the United
Nations High Commission for Human Rights) as well as
regional organisations (Council of Europe, OSCE, etc.).
(11) See the Communication from the Commission to the Council to the European Parliament of 8 May 2001 on the European Union’s role in promoting human rights and democratisation in third
countries (COM(2001)252 final).
(12) Communication of 11 April 2001 on conflict prevention (COM(2001) 211).
(13) Council Regulations 975 and 976/1999 of 29 April 1999 – OJL 120 of 8 May 1999.