Changes from plenary report to adopted text

Right to freedom of expression, media freedom, academic freedom and the right to information

23. Is deeply concerned by the increasing setbacks to freedom of expression, including artistic expression, and media freedom around the world, particularly for journalists; condemns the censorship of journalists, HRDs, CSOs, public watchdogs, whistle-blowers and artists, through the application of so-called ‘foreign agents’ laws, as well as other legislative and non-legislative measures adopted by authoritarian, totalitarian and illiberal regimes, such as increasing administrative burdens, fines, threats, defamatory and demonising language; recalls its deep concern over the use of SLAPPs to silence them and urges both Member States and non-EU countries to halt such practices; notes that some of these practices can also take place in a number of long-established democratic countries across the world; welcomes, in this context, efforts to reinforce the protection of journalists and activists, also in the EU, against unfounded and abusive lawsuits aimed at silencing them;

24. Recognises the critical importance of supporting journalists who face persecution and threats to their safety, and calls for the establishment of journalist protection programmes that facilitate relocation and resettlement for those in immediate danger; regrets the practice of targeted surveillance and the use of spyware, as well as other digital threats, against journalists and condemns the violations of their rights to privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of thought, freedom of information and freedom of association imposed by state and non-state actors; reaffirms that access to credible and reliable information, both online and offline, is an essential right in a democratic society;

25. Calls on non-EU countries to adopt urgent measures to prevent any unnecessary or excessive use of force, harassment or arbitrary detention during protests, as well as to repeal or amend any legislation and administrative acts that violate the right to freedom of expression and of assembly;

26. Urges the EU and its Member States to step up their diplomatic efforts through bilateral and multilateral engagement in relation to censorship, threats or attacks on academic freedom, particularly the imprisonment of scholars worldwide, by state and non-state actors, which have important consequences for the right to education, the enjoyment of the benefits of scientific progress and the freedom of opinion and expression; calls on the EEAS and the Commission to revisit existing support and protection mechanisms in order to develop the capacity to identify and provide assistance, including emergency protection and support, in such cases; welcomes the inclusion of academics at risk in the EU Human Rights Defenders Mechanism;

27. Calls on the Commission to ensure continued high-level support to the Global Campus of Human Rights and Democracy which has provided a safe space for students and scholars who had to flee their countries for defending democracy and human rights, and is a flagship of the EU’s support to human rights education worldwide; supports the Joint Statement on Academic Freedom delivered at the 52nd Session of the Human Rights Council and supported by all Member States; calls on Member State and EU Delegations to play a key role in monitoring and reporting on violations of academic freedom in non-EU countries; supports the development of the draft Principles for Implementing the Right of Academic Freedom and calls for the EU to promote the adoption of guidelines on academic freedom within the UN system;

Right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief

29. Fully supports the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, to hold a belief, or not to believe, and the right to manifest and to change or leave one’s religion or belief without fear of violence and discrimination; denounces the attacks against individuals and CSOs for peacefully questioning, criticising or satirising religious beliefs; calls for the EU and its Member States to increase their efforts to protect these rights, to raise these issues at UN human rights forums and to work with the relevant UN mechanisms and committees, including working with non-EU countries to defend them and prevent any violations; calls also for more efforts and collaboration at multilateral level and with the support of the ICC to collect evidence of hate crimes, bringing the perpetrators to justice and compensating the victims;

30. Recognises the value of interfaith and inter-religious dialogue that leads to peaceful co-existence and mutual understanding between various religious, belief and ethnic groups, and encourages the EU and Member States to promote them; observes that atheism and the non-religious population are growing rapidly worldwide and should not be neglected in the EU policy framework on freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief;

31. Recommends that the EU Special Envoy for the promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU work closely and in a complementary manner with the EU Special Representative (EUSR) for Human Rights, the EU Representatives for specific regions and the Council Working Party on Human Rights and, to this end, considers that the position of the Special Envoy should be integrated into the EEAS in a similar way to the other special envoys and EU special representatives; regrets the fact that the Special Envoy’s mandate was renewed by the Commission without a prior assessment of the effectiveness and added value of the position, as had been repeatedly requested by Parliament; calls for this assessment to be carried out and, on that basis, for adequate financial and human resources to be allocated in order to allow them to effectively execute their mandate; recalls that this year marked the 10th anniversary of the EU Guidelines on the promotion and protection of religion or belief; regrets the fact that although the Guidelines provide for their own three-year evaluation by the Council, no evaluation has been made public so far; calls on the Council to conduct this evaluation and to share the results with Parliament; fully supports the EU’s practice of leading related thematic resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly; calls on the EEAS and EU Delegations, where appropriate, to raise general issues and specific cases relating to the persecution of or discrimination against belief or religious minorities during human rights dialogues with partner countries and at UN human rights forums, while following a result-oriented approach and including a gender perspective;

Right to equality and non-discrimination

32. Reiterates its condemnation of all forms of racism, intolerance, xenophobia and discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, social class, disability, caste, religion, belief, age, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity; underlines the importance of taking an intersectional approach when considering discrimination issues; stresses that racism, discrimination, xenophobia, antisemitism and islamophobia, among others, as well as religious persecution and related intolerance, continue to be a major problem worldwide, and that these issues have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic;

33. Condemns the growing international threat of hate speech, including online; notes that women are more likely to be targeted online, which has a negative impact on women’s political participation and gender equality in decision-making; calls for the adoption of effective measures to respond to discriminatory behaviours and end impunity, and to develop, in collaboration with the Member States and with input from Parliament, specific local strategies to help fight discrimination in non-EU countries, in consultation with local representatives and CSOs; reiterates the crucial role of education and dialogue in promoting tolerance, understanding and diversity;

34. Notes with great concern the scale and consequences of caste-based hierarchies, discrimination and human rights violations, including the denial of access to the legal system or employment, continued segregation, poverty and stigmatisation, and caste-related barriers to the exercise of basic human rights and human development; reiterates its call for the development of an EU policy on caste-based discrimination and specific local strategies to help fight caste-based discrimination in the countries most affected by it; recommends that the European Parliament address caste-based discrimination in all its relevant committees and delegations, appoints a focal point on caste-based discrimination, and when visiting non-EU countries concerned by the issue, consult with relevant organisations and raise caste-based discrimination with local authorities and other counterparts, as well as hold an annual hearing to review EU actions and progress on the occasion of the International Day on Racial Discrimination;

Right to freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment

35. Condemns any action or attempt to instigate, authorise, systematise or consent or acquiesce to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings under any circumstances, including law enforcement; calls on all countries to adopt and implement effective measures with a victim-oriented approach, to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, while ensuring accountability for perpetrators; and deplores the fact that their use continues to be widespread in many countries; notes with great concern the trend of increasing instances of torture worldwide and widespread impunity for its perpetrators; calls on all countries to systematically review their respective interrogation rules and protocols of conduct for law enforcement in line with international human rights standards;

36. Deplores the existence of prisoners of conscience worldwide, and calls on the EEAS and the Member States to step up their efforts to secure their unconditional release; calls on the EEAS and Commission to support the establishment and functioning of National Preventive Mechanisms in non-EU countries, as well as CSOs active in this area; calls for the EU to engage in dialogue with third countries to make the improvement of prison conditions a major public policy issue, in particular by tackling the problem of prison overcrowding through the use of alternatives to detention; recognises the important role of CSOs and HRDs in the fight against torture and other forms of ill treatment and urges the EU to support them in monitoring places of deprivation of liberty in accordance with the revised EU guidelines on torture;

38. Calls for the EU to encourage third countries to bring their national provisions on judicial guarantees into line with their international commitments (e.g. criminalisation of torture in accordance with the UNCAT); condemns all forms of human trafficking and forced labour, including those sponsored by states, and all forms of modern slavery; calls for the EU and its Member States to take the lead in their eradication and to include, where relevant, a specific reference in this regard in EU agreements with third countries;

Right to public participation

39. Notes that the right to actively and passively participate in free, transparent and fair elections is not respected in authoritarian, totalitarian and illiberal regimes but also more and more obstacles to the full enjoyment of such rights are present in a number of democratic countries; highlights that these regimes conduct fake elections with the aim of entrenching their power, as they lack real political contestation, legitimacy and pluralism; calls for the efforts to guarantee the public participation of minorities, as well as to increase representation of women and young people in electoral processes, to be strengthened; highlights the role of the European Union Election Observation Missions in the independent and impartial evaluation of the electoral processes they monitor; calls for follow-up to the adoption and implementation of the recommendations of these electoral observation missions in third countries, and for them to be included as a key element in the framework of relations between the EU and the third country in question; notes that there is an increasingly frequent scenario of countries refusing to invite the EU to observe their elections and calls on the EEAS to address the situation;

Cultural rights

40. Affirms the universality of cultural rights as a form of human rights that allows individuals as well as groups of people to develop and express their humanity and their identity; supports the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights to give greater visibility to cultural rights in the human rights system and to foster a better understanding of the severity of their violation, and of the opportunity of their realisation for all, and calls for the renewal of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate after 2024; strongly condemns the destruction of historical, artistic and cultural heritage in conflicts, as well as the systematic and politically or ideologically targeted destruction of historical, artistic and cultural heritage and the eradication of the identities and cultures of sovereign states, peoples or minorities; condemns the unlawful removal of, and trafficking in, cultural objects; urges the return of cultural works and artefacts to their places of origin; recalls that the destruction of cultural heritage may constitute a war crime and a violation of human rights, and, in this context, recalls the Responsibility to Protect commitments undertaken by the international community, including with regard to the protection of cultural heritage during and in the aftermath of armed conflicts;

Rights of women, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, and gender equality

41. Stresses that women’s rights and gender equality are indispensable and indivisible human rights, as well as a basis for the rule of law and resilient democracies; deplores the fact that millions of women and girls continue to experience discrimination and violence, especially the most vulnerable ones in the context of conflicts, post-conflict and displacement, in particular women and girls with disabilities, who suffer double discrimination and that women and girls are denied their dignity, autonomy, including bodily autonomy, and even life; condemns the ongoing and increasing backlash against gender equality and women’s rights, including all attempts to roll back, notably in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), existing entitlements and protections, as well as legislation, policies and practices that continue to deny or restrict these rights in many countries, which can amount to gender apartheid; condemns all forms of gender-based violence, as well as exploitation, and expresses concern over forced marriages and honour-based abuse, violence and killings perpetrated against women and girls; calls for the EU, its Member States and like-minded partners to step up their efforts to ensure the full enjoyment and protection of their human rights; welcomes the accession of the EU to the Istanbul Convention and calls on the EU Member States which have not yet done so to ratify and implement it as soon as possible; supports the role of the EU Ambassador on Gender and Diversity and the EUSR for Human Rights engagement on these fields; calls for an EU charter of women’s rights;

42. Recognises that the promotion and protection of SRHR is essential to achieving gender equality and affirms the right to access comprehensive SRHR services, including modern contraception, safe and legal abortion, maternal, prenatal and postnatal healthcare, assisted reproduction and access to education and information on SRHR, including comprehensive sexuality education, without any form of discrimination, coercion or violence; calls for the EU, the EEAS and the Member States to take robust action to prioritise and promote SRHR, including access to safe and legal abortion, in multilateral and bilateral relations in accordance with international human rights law and standards and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines;

43. Recognises the compound vulnerability of women belonging to minorities such as ethnic, religious or belief communities, especially in places with the presence of radicalised groups and violent militias; condemns in strong terms all acts of violence in all forms, including sexual violence, abduction, forced displacement, trafficking or killings of women perpetrated on the grounds of ethnicity, religion or belief, or those driven by radical and extremist agendas; strongly condemns the discrimination and human rights violations against women with intersectional identities, including those belonging to ethnic minorities; reiterates its calls on the Member States to adopt and implement strategies, policies and programmes to advance the SRHR of marginalised groups of women and to eradicate the systemic, financial, legal, practical and social barriers they face, and to ensure that SRHR are protected and respected everywhere;

45. Calls for the EU, in implementing the Gender Action Plan III, in elaborating the local EU strategy against gender-based discrimination and in relevant sectoral work, to address intersectionality by developing a policy to fight the multiple forms of discrimination faced by the millions of women and girls who are victims of human rights violations, including sexual abuse and violence, displacement, forced and/or bonded labour, prostitution and trafficking, and including gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls within all aspects of external relations and development cooperation, namely adopting an EU feminist foreign, development and defence policy, in accord with its global commitments;

46. Calls for more concerted efforts to eliminate the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and to fight impunity for the perpetrators of such violence; calls on the Commission to pursue efforts to fully eradicate the practice of female genital mutilation, mass sterilisation and forced abortion worldwide;

Rights of minorities

47. Recalls that most of the drivers of violent conflicts worldwide involve minorities’ grievances of exclusion, discrimination and inequalities linked to violations of the human rights of minorities, as observed by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues; stresses the need to mainstream the protection of the rights of minorities and the development of protection mechanisms at United Nations level; recalls the obligations of states to protect the rights of their national, ethnic, cultural, religious or linguistic minorities within their respective territories; deplores the cases worldwide, despite international obligations and commitments to protect minorities, of policies of forced assimilation of national, ethnic and linguistic minorities by disregarding their fundamental and human rights; calls for the EU and its Member States to provide active support for third countries to respect the fundamental human rights of national, ethnic and linguistic minorities in all areas; calls on the Commission to support the protection of the rights of minorities, including as a priority under the human rights and democracy thematic programme of the EU’s Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation – Instrument (NDICI) – Global Europe;

48. Highlights the external dimension of the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan, and calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the EU Delegations to engage with partners in non-EU countries to support the development of similar strategies and policies, in dialogue with representative of CSOs and members of marginalised and vulnerable communities, based on the approach outlined in UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Guidance Tool on Descent-based Discrimination, and which should cover the range of possible EU actions such as the promotion of legislative changes and implementation, visibility plans and support programmes;

Rights of migrants and refugees

49. Denounces the erosion of the human rights and the safety of migrants, refugees and forcibly displaced persons; reaffirms their inalienable human rights and recalls the obligation of states to protect them in accordance with pertinent international law; calls for the EU and its Member States to effectively uphold these rights in the EU’s migration and asylum policies and their cooperation with partner countries in this regard; deplores the increasing trend of xenophobia, racism and discrimination towards migrants; stresses that refugees and migrants, especially those who are undocumented, face different forms of violence, including during displacements, such as sexual and gender-based violence, as well as many barriers, such as in access to education, healthcare, decent housing and other basic services; is extremely concerned by the unprecedented number of forcibly displaced people as a result of human rights violations, which has doubled in the past 10 years; welcomes the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive and calls for its use when necessary; calls for the strengthening of efforts in the protection of the right of migrants and to guarantee their access to all basic services, including while in transit, and to respect the principle of non-refoulement; calls for an immediate end to the illegal practice of pushbacks; calls for the root causes of migration and forced displacement to be addressed;

50. Stresses the importance of the principles of solidarity and shared responsibility among Member States when addressing migration flows, including in order to alleviate the challenges faced by Member States of first arrival; reaffirms its support for the Roadmap on the Migration and Asylum Pact; urges the co-legislators to redouble their efforts to complete the reform of the legislative framework on asylum and migration before the end of the current parliamentary term;

51. Insists that all EU and Member States’ migration cooperation and readmission agreements with non-EU states strictly comply with international human rights, refugee and maritime law, particularly with the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees; calls on the Commission and the Member States to integrate pre-assessment as well as monitoring mechanisms to evaluate the human rights impact of cooperation on migration with third countries, and to share the results with Parliament; is deeply concerned about the practice of concluding informal arrangements with third countries in relation to migration cooperation, over which Parliament has no oversight; calls on the Member States to ensure transparency and allow for parliamentary scrutiny and democratic oversight, notably regarding cooperation with parties known to have committed violations of human rights; insists that human rights need to be mainstreamed and monitored in all the activities carried out by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the European Union Agency for Asylum (EASO);

52. Calls for the EU and its Member States to ensure full transparency on EU migration-related funding to third countries and to guarantee that it does not directly or indirectly facilitate the perpetration of human rights violations or impunity for such violations; calls for EU-funded humanitarian operations to take into account the specific needs of children and other vulnerable groups, and to ensure their protection while they are displaced; condemns, in this context, the placement of migrant children in detention centres, especially when they are separated from their parents or legal guardians;

53. Strongly condemns the smuggling networks engaged in migrant smuggling and human trafficking and calls for the EU and its Member States to strengthen their efforts to fight against these networks and prevent smuggling, including by engaging with third countries, in compliance with European and international human rights standards; stresses that owing to the lack of safe and legal migratory routes, smuggling networks profit and are responsible for tragic losses of human lives along migratory routes; stresses that the dissemination of information and awareness-raising campaigns on the risks of smuggling is crucial;

Rights of indigenous peoples

54. Notes with regret that indigenous peoples continue to face widespread and systematic discrimination and persecution worldwide, including forced displacements; condemns arbitrary arrests and the killing of human rights and land defenders who stand up for the rights of indigenous peoples; stresses that the promotion of the rights of indigenous peoples and their traditional practices are key to achieving sustainable development, combating climate change and conserving biodiversity; urges governments to pursue development and environmental policies that respect economic, social and cultural rights, and that are inclusive of indigenous peoples and local populations, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals; reiterates its call for the EU, its Member States and their partners in the international community to adopt all necessary measures for the recognition, protection and promotion of the rights of indigenous peoples, including as regards their languages, lands, territories and resources, as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, notably in relation to free, prior and informed consent; calls for the EU and its Member States to ensure engagement in good faith and respect for the above-mentioned rights through EU trade instruments and the relevant EU legislation applying to EU-based companies; encourages the ratification of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples;

55. Calls on all states, including EU Member States, to ensure that indigenous peoples and local communities are included in the deliberations and decision-making processes of international climate diplomacy; encourages the Commission to continue to promote dialogue and collaboration between indigenous peoples and the EU;

Human rights, business and trade

56. Stresses the role of trade as a major instrument to promote and improve the human rights situation in the EU’s partner countries, including through the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+); notes, however, that there has been little to no improvement in some of the countries concerned; deplores the detrimental effects of excessive and exploitative business activities on human rights and democracy, and condemns those corporations that unlawfully exploit natural resources, adversely impacting on the enjoyment of human rights in local communities;

57. Calls for the EU to ensure complementary and ambitious European and international instruments laying out robust and substantive provisions, including on access to justice and effective remedy for affected people; in this regard, calls for a swift and ambitious final agreement on the directive on corporate sustainability due diligence with binding EU rules on responsible corporate behaviour with regard to human, labour and environmental rights, and a timely finalisation of the forced labour product ban to ensure that products made with forced labour are prohibited on the Union market; underlines that meaningful stakeholder engagement which includes victims, representatives of victims, workers’ unions and other concerned stakeholders is an overarching and ongoing component of the due diligence process and also a fundamental step to identify, address and remedy forced labour; stresses the importance of remediation and access to justice measures that are in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, including financial and non-financial measures in consultation with the victims; urges the Commission to submit a recommendation to the Council to obtain an ambitious mandate for the EU to engage in the ongoing negotiations on the UN legally binding instrument on business and human rights as soon as possible; calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the EU Delegations to champion corporate social responsibility and corporate accountability and the principles in their dialogue with third countries, and in supporting them to develop their own national action plans;

58. Recalls the responsibility of businesses in ensuring that their operations and supply chains are not implicated in human rights abuses, including against environmental, indigenous and labour rights defenders; stresses the essential obligations and responsibilities of states and other actors such as corporations and enterprises, to mitigate the effects of climate change, prevent their negative impact on human rights and promote appropriate policies in compliance with human rights obligations;

59. Recalls that the right to work is enshrined in Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, highlights, in this regard, that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) provide more than two thirds of jobs worldwide and can support the advancement of social and economic rights; reiterates, in this context, the importance of ensuring an adequate level playing field for SMEs;

60. Underlines that the freedom to conduct a business is a right enshrined in Article 16 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; encourages the EU and the Member States to lead the discussion at UN level and other multilateral forums for the establishment of the recognition of the human right to conduct a business at global level;

Rights of LGBTIQ+ persons

61. Deplores the human rights violations, including discrimination, stigmatisation, segregation, persecution, violence and killings against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) persons around the world, as well as to the defenders of their rights; recognises the importance of an inclusive education to combat discrimination from its early stages; is extremely concerned by the spreading of hatred and anti-LGBTIQ+ narratives and legislation, targeting LGBTIQ+ persons and human rights defenders; calls on non-EU countries to adopt specific policies protecting LGBTIQ+ persons and giving them the tools to safely report a violation of their rights; calls on non-EU countries to remove law provisions that directly or indirectly translate into discrimination, harassment and persecution of LGTBIQ+ persons; reiterates its calls for the full implementation of the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025 as the EU’s tool for improving the situation of LGBTIQ+ persons around the world; expresses particular concern over LGBTIQ+ persons living under non-democratic regimes, and calls for flexible mechanisms to protect them as well as the defenders of their rights; calls for the EU and the Member States to thoroughly and consistently apply the EU guidelines to promote and protect the enjoyment of all human rights by LGBTIQ persons across its external policy;

Rights of the child

62. Strongly condemns the decline in the respect for the rights of the child and the increasing violations of these rights, including through violence, early and forced marriage, sexual abuse and exploitation, genital mutilation, trafficking, child labour, including forced child labour, recruitment of child soldiers, including by criminal gangs, the lack of access to education including the right to learn about their own culture, traditions and languages and healthcare, malnutrition, segregation and extreme poverty; condemns the kidnapping, forced separation or deportation, adoption and forced assimilation of children, including of ethnic minorities, especially in cases of war and conflict; highlights the still large number of children around the world forced to work, usually under hazardous conditions; reiterates its call for a systematic and consistent approach to promoting and defending children’s rights through all EU policies; calls for the inclusion of a specific child rights approach in justice processes improving children’s access to justice and effective remedies, and ensuring accountability of the perpetrators; stresses the need to create sustainable ways for reintegration and reparations for children who have had their rights violated in conflicts around the world; urges the full and universal ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as a matter of urgency;

63. Highlights the role of education in the development of children and young people around the world; stresses that access to universal, inclusive and quality education is a human right which should include raising awareness on their human rights, as well as what constitutes a violation of their rights and how to report it; notes that according to Article 26 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that must be given to their children; calls for the EU and its Member States to do their utmost to ensure that the right to education is respected all around the world, including in refugee camps and centres; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to maintain strong funding for education through the Union’s external funding instruments and to support non-EU countries in the creation and development of quality education systems; stresses that all education and school material must adhere to UNESCO standards on education;

Rights of persons with disabilities

64. Is concerned by the challenges to the full enjoyment of the rights of persons with disabilities, such as access to inclusive and quality education, healthcare and employment, and participation in political life; reiterates is calls for the EU to assist worldwide in the development of policies in support of carers for persons with disabilities; calls on all stakeholders to raise social awareness and combat discriminatory behaviours against persons with disabilities; reiterates its calls for the Commission and the Member States to increase their efforts to promote equal rights for persons with disabilities through EU external action, including in relation to candidate countries, in line with existing obligations as State Parties to the UN CRPD; underlines the need to ensure a systematic and structured dialogue with organisations representing persons with disabilities in partner countries and to implement policies that guarantee the full enjoyment of their human right to equally participate in society, including in exercising their right to vote, taking into account their specific needs and perspectives; reiterates its calls for the EU to assist partner countries in the development of policies in support of high-quality, accessible and affordable carers for persons with disabilities; calls for a swift adoption of the proposal for a Council directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation;

Rights of elderly people

65. Reiterates its call for the EU and its Member States to develop new avenues to strengthen the rights of elderly people taking into account the multiple challenges they face, such as age-based discrimination, poverty, violence, lack of social protection, solitude and digital exclusion, among others; calls on non-EU countries to adopt policies facilitating access to quality, accessible and affordable healthcare, social and legal services to elderly people, with special attention to combating the risk of poverty for older women in particular, owing to the gender pay gap in the course of their working lives; stresses that their participation in public affairs in an autonomous way should be guaranteed and that they should be able to fully enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms with dignity;

Right to food, water and sanitation

66. Recalls that the right to food, to safe drinking water and to sanitation, including having physical and economic access to safe and adequate food, water and hygienic systems, is an internationally recognised human right; is extremely concerned about the challenges to the right to food worldwide, especially in situations of war and conflicts, as well as natural disasters and extreme weather conditions owing to climate change; calls for the EU and its Member States to promote mandatory guidelines on the right to food within the UN system; calls for the adoption of public policies to fight hunger, especially among children, including by enhancing international cooperation to respond to global food insecurity and providing urgent aid to populations at risk of famine and malnutrition;