Verbatim report of proceedings

Thursday, 16 March 2023 - Strasbourg

The EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders (A9-0034/2023 - Hannah Neumann)

  Mick Wallace (The Left). – Mr President, first of all, thank you very much for your kindness and generosity for the time of the year that’s in it. Let me actually confirm that technologically, I am absolutely a disaster. I can barely turn the computer on.

But anyway, I voted for this human rights issue because I think it is really important. But I also think it is really important that we have a balanced approach to it. During the debate yesterday, as my colleague said, there was an awful lot of focus on Iran. Listen, if I was in Iran today, I too would be on the streets protesting, looking for separation of church and State. But I would also be on the streets of Iran protesting about foreign interference.

I mean, the Iranians, there is a huge issue over this poisoning thing. And this is a very serious issue. But I mean, from what we can see, the authorities are dealing with it in a professional manner and they are concerned about the human rights of their own citizens, too. And definitely, if we were more concerned about the human rights of the Iranians, we would stop sanctioning them because we are killing women and children with our sanctions in Iran. And the human rights of the Iranians should count for more to us.