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The European Union should protest the prohibition of a civil society forum at an Africa summit in Cairo.
The Organization of African Unity (OAU) has prohibited a gathering of representatives of African civil society that was scheduled to take place before the first EU-African Summit.

The E.U. should be trying to promote civil society groups in Africa, not helping governments to silence them," said Peter Takirambudde, Executive Director for Africa of Human Rights Watch. He urged the E.U. to increase its aid to civil society organizations so that they have the necessary resources to continue their work.

In a letter addressed to the prime ministers of the European Union member states, Human Rights Watch also called on the E.U. to shine a spotlight on widespread human rights violations in Africa and take concrete steps to end impunity for such abuses. The organization urged the E.U. to make support and strengthening of civil society a key element of the Cairo Summit and its action plan.

A copy of the letter can be found at https://www.hrw.org/press/2000/03/euletter0331.htm

Key recommendations about E.U. policy toward Africa include:

In order to end impunity, leaders on all sides in the Great Lakes who were responsible for war crimes or crimes against humanity must be brought to justice. The E.U. and its member states should support the creation of an international jurisdiction to try cases from Burundi, the DRC, and Rwanda since 1994, which would reinforce the impact of judgments from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

The E.U. and its member states should energetically denounce violations of human rights and humanitarian law by all parties involved in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including Rwanda and Uganda, and insist upon accountability for the perpetrators. Close scrutiny of the E.U.'s economic assistance to all the states involved in the conflict should continue to ensure that funds earmarked for social and economic development programs do not end up in the war chests of the belligerents. The E.U. and its member states should call for a U.N. embargo on the sale and transfer of arms to the region, and to governments with troops in the DRC.

Any assistance to the military or police by E.U. member states to Nigeria should be carefully tailored to ensure that it cannot be used to benefit officers who have been responsible for human rights violations or in situations where human rights violations are likely. The E.U. and its member states should express its grave concern about recent incidents in which soldiers have fired indiscriminately on civilians during disturbances in Kaduna and elsewhere over the introduction of Sharia or in the oil-producing regions of the Niger Delta. The E.U. and its member states should make clear to the Nigerian government that any attempt to resolve the crisis in the Niger Delta, where there is serious discontent about the terms of oil production, in a way that does not respect the rights of those who live in the oil-producing regions is unacceptable.

The E.U. and its member states should use all possible means to pressure the rebels in Sierra Leone to cease their attacks on civilians, to release all abductees, and to allow for full access by humanitarian organizations. The E.U. and its member states should support the operation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, with a strong investigative component as required by the Lomé accord, and support the rebuilding of the judicial system.

The 1997 Mine Ban Treaty provides the best framework for the total eradication of antipersonnel mines, including their clearance. The E.U. and its member states should work for universalization of this important agreement.

All E.U. and OAU member states should swiftly sign, ratify and implement the new child soldiers protocol after its formal adoption by the United Nations General Assembly, and also declare a minimum age of at least eighteen for voluntary recruitment.

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