EU global human rights commitments

Presentation of the commitments of the EU in terms of Human Rights Commitments

The Strategic Framework on Human Rights and Democracy

The objectives of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) includes the development and consolidation of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Recently, in 2012, the EU released a Strategic Framework on Human Rights and Democracy that establishes some mechanisms and instruments supporting the implementation of its human rights goals.

EU Human Rights Action Plan

EU’s five-year Action Plan on Human Rights lays out specific tasks for various EU institutions and bodies to undertake. The progress towards implementing the Action Plan is evaluated annually in a public report on human rights and democracy around the world.

EU Human Rights Guidelines

The EU has adopted a series of guidelines that aim to provide a practical toolkit for actions to be taken by EU delegations and Member State embassies on key human rights issues. Those guidelines have been agreed upon at the ministerial level.

Examples of guidelines:

• Human rights dialogue with third countries
• Human rights defenders
• Violence against women and girls
• Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
• International humanitarian law

EU Human Rights and Democracy Country Strategies

The human rights and democracy country strategies are developed by the EU delegations based on an analysis of the human rights situation in the country. The strategies identify priorities for EU action, for a three to five-year period. They are endorsed by all the EU Member States.

The priorities are to be taken into consideration in human rights and political dialogues at all levels. While these strategies are in principle confidential, the EU delegations can share the priorities on their website, or at least verbally with civil society.

EU Country Roadmaps for Engagement with Civil Society

The Country Roadmaps for Engagement with Civil Society were introduced to improve the consistency of EU cooperation with civil society and to promote better coordination between EU delegations, Member States and other relevant actors. They assess the state of civil society in a given country as well as the EU’s current engagement with it.

Those Roadmaps are drafted jointly by the EU delegations and Member State embassies, with input from local civil society.