Abidjan, 8 October 2017 – Member of the European Parliament Željana Zovko participates in the New Windhoek Dialogue, the meeting of centre-right political parties from Africa and the European Union, held in Abidjan in the eve of the 5th EU-Africa Summit. She has participated today in the panel “Democracy, good governance and human rights”.
In her speech at the panel Zovko stressed that one of the key elements of democracy, good governance and human rights included improvement of cooperation between the partners in areas of good governance, observation of the election process, human rights protection and fight against impunity at national and international level, operationalisation of architecture of the African administration and coordination in UNHCR.
Zovko pointed out that in accordance with the mentioned objectives, the European Union allocated EUR 5 million for the support programme to national institutions for human rights and EUR 11 million for the joint UNFPA-UNICEF programme for fighting negative occurrences in Africa such as female genital mutilation.
She further pointed out that the main goal of the EU-Africa partnership was to achieve respect of human rights and adherence to the principles of good governance. She called for a continuous promotion of the implementation of reforms in key areas – rule of law and institutional and political reforms with the uttermost goal to create an environment based on the principles of transparency, democracy and responsibility.
Zovko mentioned that she had an opportunity to observe the election process in Africa as a member of the EU election observation mission.
“Free, transparent and credible elections are a foundation of democratic society and an instrument of democracy enhancement. By its election observation missions and provided technical support, the EU has been and will be helping Africa to run the election process transparently. Respect of human rights and rights of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in the society shows that the society has matured enough to take the responsibility for its embers and to become a constructive partner to the EU.“ – said Zovko.
