Recommendation on the mandate of the EU Special Representative for Human Rights

In July 2012, the European External Action Service (EEAS) appointed a new Special Representative for Human Rights (EUSR for HR).

He is tasked mainly with enhancing the coherence of EU human rights policies, boosting their visibility and making them more effective.

Even though Parliament had no legally binding say in the creation of the new position it decided to set out its demands and expectations regarding the EUSR for HR.

The Greens were in favour of appointing an EUSR for HR to reiterate and consolidate the Union's stance on core EU values.

The creation of such a post had long been called for by Parliament, especially by the Greens, as well as by NGOs active in the human rights domain.

We demanded the broadest possible mandate for the EUSR for HR with a view to bolstering the coherence and consistency of EU human rights policy.

We also wanted to see this mandate cover a broad range of topics, including not only the fight against torture and impunity, but also freedom of religion, freedom of sexual orientation and sexual identity.

The Greens managed to incorporate a number of key points into the report and define the broadest possible mandate for the EU Special Representative, whose duties will entail improving the coherence and consistency of EU external actions, as well as their compatibility with other EU policies.

We also succeeded in ensuring that the scope of the EUSR for HR's mandate is in line with the principles of the universality and indivisibility of human rights.

Finally, to give the EUSR for HR enough time to implement his mandate, we forcefully advocated extending it from the one year initially envisaged by the Council to two-and-a-half years.