Human rights breaches in Brazil, Morocco and Nagorno-Karabakh

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament.

• Ex-president Bolsonaro’s supporters must accept the outcome of the elections; concern about rising transnational fascism, racism and extremism 
• Moroccan authorities must respect media freedom and stop harassing journalists 
• Azerbaijan must end the blockade of the Lachin corridor; need for comprehensive peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan 

On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted three resolutions on the respect for human rights in Brazil, Morocco and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The storming of the Brazilian democratic institutions

Parliament expresses solidarity with democratically elected President Lula Da Silva, his government and Brazilian institutions and condemns in the strongest terms the criminal actions perpetrated by supporters of ex-president Bolsonaro, urging them to accept the democratic outcome of the elections.

MEPs welcome the efforts to ensure a prompt and impartial investigation to identify and prosecute those involved, the instigators as well as state institutions that failed to act in order to prevent the attacks.

They highlight a recent decision taken by the Supreme Court to approve federal prosecutors’ request to investigate ex-President Bolsonaro as he ‘may have contributed, in a very relevant way, to the occurrence of criminal and terrorist acts’.

The events in Brasília, the storming of the US Capitol in January 2021 and the December 2022 arrests in Germany of 25 individuals who sought to re-establish the German Reich are connected to rising transnational fascism, racism and extremism, MEPs warn. They underline the importance of regulating social media platforms to prevent misinformation and hate speech.

The resolution was adopted by 319 votes in favour, 46 against with 74 abstentions. For more details, full text will be available here. (19.01.2023)

The situation of journalists in Morocco, notably the case of Omar Radi

Parliament urges the Moroccan authorities to respect freedom of expression and media freedom and to provide fair trials for imprisoned journalists, notably Omar Radi, Souleimen Raissouni and Taoufik Bouachrine. MEPs call for their immediate provisional release and demand an end to the harassment of all journalists in the country, as well as of their lawyers and families.

In addition, they strongly condemn the Moroccan authorities’ misuse of allegations of sexual assault as a way of deterring journalists from doing their job . They also urge the country to end its digital surveillance of journalists, including via the Pegasus spyware, and ask EU member states to stop exporting surveillance technology to Morocco, in line with the EU Dual-Use Regulation.

MEPs are deeply concerned about allegations that the Moroccan authorities have corrupted Members of the European Parliament and call for the application of the same measures as applied to representatives of Qatar. They commit to fully investigate and address cases of corruption involving non-EU countries seeking to buy influence in the European Parliament.

Finally, the resolution calls on the EU and its member states to continue to raise cases of detained journalists and political prisoners with the Moroccan authorities and to use their leverage to seek concrete improvements of the human rights situation in the country.

The resolution was adopted by 356 votes in favour, 32 against with 42 abstentions. The full version will be available here. (19.01.2023)

The humanitarian consequences of the blockade in Nagorno-Karabakh

Parliament deplores the severe humanitarian crisis caused by the current blockade of the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh by self-proclaimed environmentalists from Azerbaijan. With the corridor being the only road connecting the war-torn region with Armenia and the outside world, MEPs urge Azerbaijan to re-open it immediately, in order to enable freedom of movement and ensure access to essential goods and services for the most vulnerable.

The resolution underlines the need for a comprehensive peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan that guarantees the rights and security of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. It calls for international organisations to be granted access to the area, in order to provide necessary humanitarian assistance, as well as for a UN or OSCE fact-finding mission to travel to the Lachin corridor to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground.

In addition, MEPs condemn the inaction of Russian “peacekeepers” present in the area and consider that these should be replaced by OSCE international peacekeepers. They also encourage the EU to ensure that Nagorno-Karabakh’s inhabitants are no longer held hostage by Baku’s activism, Russia’s destructive role or the inactivity of the Minsk group.

The resolution was adopted by show of hands. It will be available in full here. (19.01.2023)