´The EU and Human Rights in a Post-Western World´, ECFR

Dear Friends,

The European Council on Foreign Relations is delighted to announce the publication of two new policy briefs: "The EU and Human Rights at the UN: 2010 Review" and "Towards an EU Human Rights Strategy for a Post-Western World".

 

Europe has lost influence to rising powers that emphasise sovereignty over human rights. Both of our two new policy briefs show just how far Europe has slipped in this harsher international environment, and offer a way to restore the relevance and pull of Europe´s values.

The policy brief  "The EU and Human Rights at the UN: 2010" offers an analysis of all votes on human rights issues at the UN in the past year and is co-authored by ECFR Senior Policy Fellow Richard Gowan and Franziska Brantner, Member of the European Parliament. They show that 127 out of 192 members of the UN typically vote against EU human rights positions - up from 117 since last year´s update of our 2008 report on the EU and human rights at the UN. It also illustrates that only half of full, non-EU democracies vote with the EU most of the time and that the EU has lost focus, unity and resolve on issues ranging from Sudan to Gaza, leaving it struggling to make an impact. According to Richard Gowan and Franziska Brantner it is now clear that the EU can no longer blame Bush for this situation, and Obama´s human rights engagement has additionally been offset by deepening divisions and the defection of former allies like Brazil. Finally, the authors argue that technical reforms are unlikely to succeed in reversing these trends, but that a European drive for broader UN reforms, such as expansion of the Security Council, could persuade rising powers to rethink their positions on human rights.

In the policy brief "Towards an EU Human Rights Strategy for a Post-Western World" its authors, ECFR Senior Policy Fellow Anthony Dworkin and ECFR Policy Fellow Susi Dennison, argue that with authoritarian capitalism offering another route to prosperity, the EU´s credibility and soft power have fallen. Developing countries are today faced with a greater choice of trade and aid partners, such as China whose influence has grown tremendously thanks to its deep pockets and less conditionality. In light of this new global environment, the authors call for the development of a ´post-Western strategy´ to counter a collapse of the EU´s soft power and to allow the EU to create stable and willing partners in areas like trade, climate change, energy and immigration. In order to achieve this, Anthony Dworkin and Susi Dennison argue that Europe needs to re-engage in a battle of ideas over its values and to seek achievable goals that are sensitive to local contexts. The authors stress that it is in Europe´s strategic interest to remain associated with human rights values, as weakness on these issues will affect the EU´s global standing.

We hope you find the briefs stimulating and interesting. Comments can be addressed to the authors directly by email:

Richard Gowan: richard.gowan@ecfr.eu

Anthony Dworkin: anthony.dworkin@ecfr.eu

Susi Dennison: susi.dennison@ecfr.eu