SESSION OF WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2001

΄Time for Questions (Council)

Karamanou (PSE). I would like to thank the presiding officer for her response, which satisfied me to a great extent. After all, we know that the European Union is very sensitive to issues of respect for human rights, and this sensitivity is expressed through the Treaties and the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, Madam Chair, when reading the recent report from Amnesty International about the torture that thousands of people around the world endure due to their sexual orientation, one feels that what we are doing in the European Union is not enough. Recently, an initiative was taken by the UN Human Rights Committee to encourage reports of torture and human rights violations based on sexual identity. Do you also intend to undertake a similar initiative at the level of the European Union?