COUNCIL OF

THE EUROPEAN UNION

 

Brussels, 29 June 2010

 

 

 

 

11393/10

 

 

LIMITE

 

 

 

 

 

COHOM 167

PESC 824

CIVCOM 383

 

 

NOTE

from:

GSC/Commission

to:

Delegations

Subject:

Recommendations on how to increase the visibility and public diplomacy on the EU’s external human rights work - State of play of the implementation (June 2010)

 

 

1. Introduction

1. Sweden circulated a non-paper on “Openness and public diplomacy in the EU’s human rights work” at the GAERC (April 2009) and the PSC (May 2009) with proposals on how to better publicize the EU’s human rights work in its external relations. Thereafter, the PSC invited the Council Secretariat and the Commission to produce recommendations (11867/09 of 7 July 2009) which it welcomed and endorsed in September 2009 on how to increase the EU’s public profile in human rights. The PSC agreed that the Council Secretariat and the Commission start implementing these recommendations and report on progress by June 2010.

 

This report identifies achievements after nine months of implementation of the agreed recommendations and points out follow-up opportunities. Actions taken to increase the EU´s public profile in human rights described in Annex are organized along the lines of the recommendations issued in July 2009 referred to above.

 

2. State of play

The implementation period coincided with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon and a transition period towards the European External Action Service (EEAS). This evolution has been a welcomed factor that has given an impetus to approximate actions and practices among the various actors involved. The full potential of the recommendations on visibility and public diplomacy on the EU´s human rights work should be delivered under the structure of the EEAS, where the overall visibility and communication strategy on the EU external action will be defined.

 

The agreed two-fold approach of enhancing the EU´s actions in this field is based on mainstreaming communication and visibility of the EU´s human rights work, as well as maximising the use of existing tools. Progress has been made in putting these recommendations into practice. This reporting period has witnessed several positive developments, including the following ones:

 

-       Websites have been made more comprehensive and communication of EU statements, declarations and press releases is better. On-line information is now more transparent and friendlier to the user. The status and the content of the Human Rights page of the Europa portal (which search engines provide as the first link) has been improved to serve as the main entry point, leading to the specific web pages under the EU external and internal human rights instruments. The standard human rights content of EU Delegations webpages has been established, and is under implementation on the ground.

-       Press releases on the holding of human rights dialogues/consultations/sub committees have now become a standard practice.

-       The annual human rights report has been successfully transformed into an on-line source of information on the EU´s human rights policy in external relations with a substantially enlarged section on country-focused issues. An attractive printed brochure on the annual report is produced in various EU and non-EU languages.

-       The EU Delegations in cooperation with the EU embassies have commemorated various international human rights days with public events and thus raised the EU´s profile on human rights issues in the local context. A new communication initiative ‘Partnership for a better world’ has been established with UN around international days.

 

3. Follow up

 

In the framework of the agreed recommendations, the way forward could focus on the following actions:

 

-       Continue to proactively implement the recommendations endorsed in September 2009 and fully integrate them into the work of the EEAS (both at the level of HQ and EU Delegations). For instance, the EEAS website could contain a dedicated part on the EU´s human rights policy in external relations with a comprehensive approach, thus merging the current elements from the Council and the Commission (Relex) websites.

 

-       Target press work, so as to boost the impact of statements, reports, or meetings (dialogues, meetings with human rights defenders) both centrally and at country level. Prepare an annual media plan for 2011 on the EU´s human rights work. This initiative should take place in conjunction with the overall EU external relations communication policy, and define clearly what are the targets of this policy (third countries public opinions? EU Member States public opinions? NGOs? diplomats?).

 

-       Publicize and boost the human rights dimension of the High Representative's visits, meetings, statements and seize opportunities of dedicated visits and meetings. The High Representative plays a key role in raising the profile on Human Rights in the media, thus sparking greater public interest (in the EU and outside the EU) in EU HR policy. A similar approach should be promoted for high level events and visits of Member States.

 

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ANNEX

Actions taken to increase the EU´s public profile in human rights (June 2010)

(Areas where further action is envisaged appear in italic.)

A. Mainstreaming communication and visibility into the EU's human rights work

1. Dialogues and Consultations

·           Press releases with reference to the tone of the exchange and information on the main issues discussed have been issued systematically following HR dialogues. They have been published centrally as well as locally (in EN/FR and in a local language), on EU Delegation and Presidency/Commission websites. EU Delegations have disseminated these press releases to the local media.

·           Updated calendars (in advance of the human rights dialogues and consultations) have been put in place on the GSC website, and press releases are accessible in the revised webpages.

·           Press releases related to the holding of civil society/legal experts’ seminar have been issued in most cases.

·           Organisation of press briefings/conferences/interviews in the context of HR dialogues whenever appropriate will be explored, as well as issuing press releases in the run up of the dialogues. Translation of press releases into the language of the third country concerned will be ensured.

 

2. Human rights Guidelines

 

·           The webpages of the GSC and of the Commission have been reorganised and give essential information on guidelines, in addition to the full text. Local implementation strategies of the guidelines have been substantially developed. Human Rights defenders are being given contact points at country level and are able to report on the local implementation. As a next step, the compilation of all guidelines in non-EU languages will be made available on the EEAS website.

·           Print copies of the guidelines (EN/FR) have been widely disseminated in meetings and conferences.

·           We now need to turn towards the publication of best practices (“story telling”) on the use of the guidelines, which will be fed by the current implementation work in the fields (e.g. feedback now received from more than 100 posts on the local EU strategies on violence against women, or from some 60 posts on local strategies for human rights defenders) .

 

3.. EU declarations, statements and Council conclusions

 

·           Declarations, statements and conclusions are published in respective websites (EEAS, Council website, EU@UN). Some EU declarations on human rights issues have received considerable media coverage (Bangladesh, Taiwan) in third countries concerned, showing the impact of targeted media efforts.

·           EU Delegations have on many occasions translated and disseminated press releases and declarations to their networks in the national press.

 

·           The press coverage of EU declarations, statements and Council conclusions can be boosted by providing lists of writers of editorials and articles, givers of interviews, speakers for events etc and by making sure that EU delegations closely liaise with the local media community..

 

4.. Human rights mainstreaming into ESDP (Missions and operations) and EUSRs activities

 

·           Communication on the human rights and gender aspects of ESDP and of the EUSRs' work has improved. EUSRs, HoMs and Commanders should be reminded of the PSC tasking and continue to ensure that their press officers enhance communication on the Human Rights dimension of their mandate.

 

5. EU assistance including EIDHR

 

 

B. Maximising our communication tools

 

6. Websites

 

·           The current portal under EUROPA “Activities of the European Union – human rights“, which a huge majority of users reach through search engines; has been upgraded and provides relevant links. The portal is an effective focal entry point on the EU human rights policies, both internal and external, across the institutions.

·           Multilateral action is now better reflected through the EU@UN webpage (managed by New York Delegation), and higher visibility for activities covered by Geneva, Paris, Strasbourg and Vienna Delegations will be ensured.

·           All existing EU websites on human rights (GSC, Commission) are constantly revised, their user-friendliness, the frequency of updates and their content has improved. The start of the EEAS will lead to the merging of the human rights information currently available on the GSC and Commission (RELEX) webpages under the “eeas.europa.eu” website.

·           The EU Delegations are tasked to make sure that an introductory standard text on human rights (including a link to the EU human rights guidelines) is posted on all renewed EU Delegation websites.

·           An increasing number of links to the EU portal have been created from EU Member States national portals on Human Rights.

 

7. Annual report and country specific reporting

 

·           Great effort has gone into making the latest annual report more readable, including through the use of hyperlinks to direct readers to other sources of information.

·           In parallel with the 200 pages of the on-line report (in all EU languages), a booklet featuring the overview of report (12 pages) was published on the occasion of the adoption of the report on 10 May 2010. The booklet is now available in English. Work is in progress to translate it into non-EU languages (Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Russian) with a view to its dissemination via EU Delegations. Print out of the overview in French, Portuguese and Spanish is also produced.

·           The annual report was covered by the press briefing of the Foreign Affairs Council on 10 May 2010 and it was launched through a presentation on the same day at the Human Rights Subcommittee of the European Parliament, where representatives of Member States, civil society, media and the diplomatic community were present. It has been presented to the EP plenary on 16 June 2010 by the HR. The High level launch of the 2011 report could be explored, to increase its visibility.

·           A press release concerning the annual report was distributed in Brussels and to all EU delegations, including those to the UN in New York and Geneva.

·           The publication of the annual report was featured as a “Top Story” under the EEAS website

·           The country specific section of the annual report expanded from 24 pages to 75 pages.

·           Being published online, the whole text of the annual report is readily searchable.

 

8. Media strategy

 

·           Preparation of press work ahead of key EU achievements has improved. In the field adequate dissemination of statements has increasingly shown up in the local press.

·           At headquarters level, these efforts need to continue in order to feed Human Rights content into press briefings in a more regular way.

·           A number of statements have been released on the occasion of key international days and commemorations on human rights (such as children’s and women’s days, human rights day) in several languages and disseminated to the press.

·           An annual media plan 2011 on the EU´s human rights work under the EEAS focusing on human rights international days and commemorations, multilateral meetings, EU events and priorities and linking it to the High Representative agenda will help to better plan and communicate, using different channels and formats to convey messages.

 

9. In-country communication tools

 

·           The EU Delegations have been invited to apply recommendations regarding visibility and public diplomacy on the EU´s human rights work to their work. A large number of EU Delegations have organised public events and established contacts with the local media on various international days related to human rights. On these occasions, the Delegations have often cooperated with Member States embassies and local UN offices.

·           Printed materials on human rights (such as leaflets in various languages on the EU’s human rights policy, human rights defenders or the rights of children) have been disseminated via EU Delegations

·           Updates and instructions on Human Rights issues have been sent on a regular basis to EU missions and delegations in the field. These have included current developments and priorities as well as “lines to take” on specific and urgent human rights issues. The participation of Human Rights officers in dialogues and sub-committees on human rights, as well as their missions to the field have been used to organize “on the spot” information sessions on the HR policy for EU diplomats as well as meetings with local civil society organisations.

·           There has been relatively few public diplomacy efforts on the Human rights content ofhigh-level visits or meetings (HR/VP, Commissioners, Presidency). As these events have a high media potential, and as they provide valuable support to the Human Rights defenders community, communication on the Human Rights dimension of such events could be better planned, systematised and further developed. This is especially true in light of the High Representative commitment, in front of the European Parliament on 16th June, to continue to meet Human Rights Defenders both in Brussels and in the course of her missions abroad.

 

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