EU tolerated too many serious human rights abuses under President Duterte -- HRW
HRW Press Release: EU Reports Show Need to Fix GSP Trade Regulation // Despite Rights Conditionality, Abusive Governments Benefit from EU Trade Scheme
The EU GSP+ report on the Philippines shows that the bloc has tolerated too many serious human rights abuses under Duterte, sending a message of impunity that now risks echoing through the Marcos administration. Unless the EU sets clear rights benchmarks for compliance, Marcos’s government – and other governments in the region – will hardly take the GSP+ human rights conditionality seriously. Dropping charges against Ressa and releasing De Lima are positive, if long overdue, steps in the right direction; but impunity for the murderous war on drugs must be seriously addressed, and red tagging must stop. Progress in all aspects of bilateral relations between the EU and the Philippines and the continuation of the GSP+ should be linked to concrete human rights reforms and accountability.
Claudio Francavilla
Senior EU Advocate
Human Rights Watch
Background note:
On November 21, the EU Commission published an assessment report on the Philippines’ compliance with its human and labor rights obligations under the EU’s GSP+ scheme. The scheme grants the Philippines tariff-free access to the EU market, conditioned on compliance with core human and labor rights treaties. While welcoming some announcements made by the government, the report notes progress is needed on numerous issues – including, among many others, “adopting legislation establishing a national preventive mechanism on torture, prioritizing the passage of the bill for the protection of human rights defenders as well as on ensuring freedom of the media and of expression. Moreover, the Philippines should ensure the transparent and independent investigation and prosecution of extrajudicial killings including through cooperation with the International Criminal Court as well as providing remedies for victims and holding perpetrators accountable. The Philippines should adhere to the rules enshrined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which it was a party until 16 March 2019.” In an April visit to Manila, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, highlighted shortcomings in the Philippines’ compliance with its GSP+ human rights obligations and stressed that “doing business with the EU means addressing human rights issues.” The European Parliament has repeatedly denounced the Philippines government’s serious abuses and urged the EU Commission to consider withdrawing the GSP+ benefits. In July, however, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sent a different and contradictory message during a visit to Manila, claiming there was “much improvement” in the Philippines’ human rights record under Marcos, and announcing the resumption of bilateral negotiations for a free trade agreement which the EU had paused under Duterte over human rights concerns. Human Rights Watch believes serious abuses committed by some of the GSP beneficiaries, including the Philippines, despite the GSP’s human rights conditionality, highlight the need for a reform of the scheme to make it more transparent, predictable and impactful.
For further Human Rights Watch reporting on the Philippines: https://www.hrw.org/asia/philippines
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/21/eu-reports-show-need-fix-gsp-trade-regulation
EU Reports Show Need to Fix GSP Trade Regulation
Despite Rights Conditionality, Abusive Governments Benefit from EU Trade Scheme
(Brussels, November 22, 2023) – The European Commission’s assessment reports on the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) trade regulation, expose serious abuses by many beneficiary governments, Human Rights Watch said today.
The program grants developing countries tariff-free access to the EU market conditioned on their respect for certain human and labor rights obligations. But the reports, published on November 21, 2023, raise questions about how the European Commission handles the GSP’s human rights conditionality, and highlights the need for a reform to make the program more transparent and effective.
“The EU GSP reports show that some countries seem to be on notice that their trade benefits depend on their human rights record, while others fear no consequence for their abuses,” said Claudio Francavilla, senior EU advocate at Human Rights Watch. “Without clear, public benchmarks for compliance, the GSP rights conditions have little credibility, and a reform is patently needed.”
The GSP program includes three arrangements. GSP+ benefits are conditioned on a country ratifying and abiding by 27 international conventions, including core human and labor rights treaties. Standard GSP and Everything but Arms beneficiaries have no such obligation, but their benefits can be suspended in case of “serious and systematic violations of the principles” in core labor and human rights treaties.
Despite serious human and labor rights violations, countries like Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka continue to benefit from the GSP+ system. Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar also continue to benefit from the less stringent EBA arrangement, but are under “enhanced engagement” for their serious shortcomings.
Cambodia is the only current GSP beneficiary that has been stripped of part of its trade benefits. The decision followed the refusal by the government to backtrack on its political crackdown and on labor and land rights abuses, after years of “enhanced engagement” with the EU.
Sri Lanka lost its GSP+ benefits in 2010, but they were reinstated in 2017 amid promises of human rights reform that are yet to materialize. However, the EU has repeatedly and publicly raised specific concerns both on individual cases and on ongoing legislative processes, such as the need to reform Sri Lanka’s notorious and abusive Prevention of Terrorism Act, and has made it clear that concrete progress is expected for Sri Lanka to retain its GSP+ status.
With Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan, the EU has instead been more reluctant to insist on abiding by GSP+ obligations to encourage human rights progress and reforms.
Over the last two years alone, Kyrgyz authorities initiated a series of measures to crack down on independent media, civil society and the political opposition. These include a law against foreign-funded groups, a Russian-style anti-LGBT law, and a blanket protest ban in the capital, Bishkek.
Uzbekistan was granted GSP+ in 2021 after promises by the government to strengthen civil society and human rights. Two years on, the country no longer appears to be pursuing that agenda, with a sharp increase in spurious criminal and civil cases against bloggers and journalists, and a violent crackdown on peaceful protests in an autonomous region of the country.
Pakistan is by far the main GSP+ beneficiary, but the government is yet to consider reforming its highly abusive Blasphemy Law and Prevention of Cybercrimes Act, and political repression has intensified in the country over the past months.
Remarkably, the Philippines retained GSP+ benefits even at the peak of the murderous “war on drugs,” which may amount to crimes against humanity and continues in near total impunity. Instead of threatening the suspension of the Philippines’ GSP+ benefits, the EU supported a short-lived and long-overdue UN investigation, and froze negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement.
The European Parliament and the EU Special Representative for Human Rights urged the Philippines to halt abuses and impunity in compliance with its GSP+ obligations. But in a July trip to Manila, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen partly frustrated those efforts, announcing the reopening of trade negotiations, and dispensing exaggerated praise on the Philippines’ new government for its limited human rights progress.
The EU’s engagement with Bangladesh has contributed to the public adoption of a series of reform commitments by the government, especially on labor rights. The EU has kept a critical approach, albeit focusing too narrowly on labor rights while the authorities commit grave abuses including enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
While progress has remained slow and egregious abuses persist, EU and European Parliament pressure has contributed to the release on bail of leading human rights defenders. However, Bangladesh’s intensifying repression ahead of the January 2024 elections further puts into question its eligibility for the EBA benefits.
Myanmar also retains its EBA benefits despite the military junta’s atrocities, although the EU deserves praise for using other approaches, including leadership, to set up a UN mechanism to advance accountability and the adoption of targeted sanctions against the junta.
These and other examples expose the extent of the EU Commission’s flexibility underthe current GSP regulation. The Commission can determine whether serious human and labor rights abuses occurred, whether those abuses qualify as grave breaches of the GSP obligations, and whether to suspend the benefits accordingly. Nongovernmental groups and practitioners have long criticized these aspects of the regulation, calling for greater transparency in the monitoring process and predictability on the possible suspension of benefits.
A legislative reform of the GSP under consideration would introduce several improvements. Those include enhanced cooperation with local and international civil society groups in the monitoring process, and a requirement for all GSP+ beneficiaries to produce a public “plan of action” laying out concrete and timebound commitments for the implementation of their human and labor rights obligations.
But the reform has long been stalled in the negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council, which represents the EU governments. The Council wants to introduce a rule that would allow suspending a country’s GSP benefits if it refuses to cooperate on readmissions and returns of its nationals deemed to be in the EU illegally. Parliament rightly opposes those efforts, which stem from the EU governments’ reckless determination to curb migration at any cost.
Beside being likely incompatible with World Trade Organisation rules, the Council’s position overlooks that, by promoting rights reforms, economic growth, and environmental protection, a well-functioning GSP system could contribute to addressing some of the root-causes of forced migration. EU governments also seem to neglect that, for a large number of GSP beneficiary countries – especially EBA beneficiaries – the volume of GSP-related exports represents only a tiny fraction of their total exports to the EU. That implies that the EU has only limited leverage with some countries on migration.
With the current GSP regulation set to expire on December 31, Parliament and Council agreed to extend it as is for another 4 years as an interim measure, while negotiations for a reform continue. But an agreement is unlikely unless EU member states reconsider their position, halt their efforts to condition GSP benefits on migration cooperation, or at the very least open up to a compromise to significantly limit the ill-conceived migration conditionality.
“The EU Council and Commission should realize that the idea of turning the GSP into a tool to blackmail developing countries for migration purposes is as despicable as it is foolish.” Francavilla said. “EU governments should see beyond their migration obsession, and focus on a reform to make the GSP scheme more effective in promoting human and labor rights progress.”