III European Communities
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419000800408 |
| Date | 01 December 1990 |
| Published date | 01 December 1990 |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Human Rights News |
Human
Rights
News
that court severed the proceedings against one of the applicant's co-
accused from those against the applicant and another co-accused and,
at the request of
one
of the co-accused in which the applicant joined,
postponed the latter proceedings to a later session. The proceedings
against the applicant on the main charge have thus
been
in progress for
more than seven years. In his application to the Commission the
applicant alleged that the length of the criminal proceedings against him
had exceeded the "reasonable time" referred to in Article 6(1) of the
Convention. In its report of 3 July 1990, the Commission expressed the
unanimous opinion that there had been abreach of this provision.
III
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES·
AHuman Rights and the Fourth ACP·EEC Convention (Lome IV)
In his reaction to a report on the fourth Lome-Convention, drafted for the
ACP-EEC Parliamentary Assembly (the Perschau report), the EC
Commissioner responsible for development policy, Manuel Marin,
welcomed the "positive link" which was established in the report between
development and human rights. According to Mr Marin it goes without
saying that ACP-EEC cooperation is impossible in case of "flagrant human
rights abuses". Mr Marin did not specify these remarks
but
indicated that
the Commission services are currently preparing a communication
containing "key guidelines" for the relation between human rights,
democracy and EC development
policy.
It
should be recalled that the
fourth Lome Convention, covering the period 1990-2000, contains some
important new provisions regarding the protection of human rights and the
relation between human rights and development (see Human Rights News,
European
Communities,
NQHR
8(3), pp. 292-295).
In November, the EC Council of Ministers decided to cancel the debts
of the ACP-States towards the EC. The decision was taken in response to
arequest by the ACP-States to find a solution to their
debt
problems. The
decision of the Council has only limited effect, since only the debts towards
the EC as such, incurred in the context of the Lome Conventions,
(approximately 1,5 billion ECD) are cancelled, leaving the (bilateral) debts
•Joost Korte
429
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