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| Buttiglione. Il dossier inviato da Ilga Europe al Parlamento europeo e che ha determinato la bocciatura del commissario designato |
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| Il testo completo in inglese preceduto da un riassunto in italiano. |
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| Lunedì 01 Novembre 2004 |
| di La redazione di Gaynews |
| in Focus |
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Il 9 luglio 2003 Ministro per le Politiche Comunitarie Rocco Buttiglione firma insieme ad altri ministri il decreto n. 216 di attuazione della direttiva 2000/78/CE per la parità di trattamento in materia di occupazione e di condizioni di lavoro (GU n. 187 del 13-8-2003) di cui è uno dei principali autori.
Il decreto, tra le sue disposizioni, introduce la possibilità di discriminare in base all’orientamento sessuale, infatti all’art. 3 comma 3 si legge
[…] caratteristiche connesse alla religione, alle convinzioni personali, all'handicap, all'età o all'orientamento sessuale di una persona […] non costituisce atto di discriminazione la valutazione delle caratteristiche suddette ove esse assumano rilevanza ai fini dell'idoneità allo svolgimento delle funzioni che le forze armate e i servizi di polizia, penitenziari o di soccorso possono essere chiamati ad esercitare.
Come si nota, mentre la direttiva prevede la possibilità di discriminare nelle forze armate in base ad “età ed handicap”, tale possibilità viene ampliata oltre il settore delle forze armate e viene introdotta la possibilità di discriminare anche in base alla religione, alle convinzioni personali ed all’orientamento sessuale.
L’europarlamentare Rocco Buttiglione ha presentato un emendamento alla Convenzione che ha redatto la Carta dei Diritti Fondamentali dell’Unione Europe che aveva l’effetto di rimuovere “orientamento sessuale” dai motivi di non-discriminazione dell’articolo sulla non discriminazione della Carta, come documentato in CHARTE 4360/00, pagina 32, (di seguito)
(3) Si propongono soppressioni :
. riprendere soltanto le discriminazioni di cui all'articolo 14 della CEDU
(emendamento 441 (Goldsmith))
. orientamento sessuale (emendamento 444 (Buttiglione))
Le ragioni addotte per tale proposta, come riportato in CHARTE 4332/00, pagina 548 dove si può leggere il testo complete dell’emendamento, sono:
Giustificazione:
Non cambia.
Ansa, Bruxelles 26 maggio 2000 da europarlamentare Buttiglione ha affermato, riferendosi al World Gay Pride “Si deve salvaguardare il diritto alle manifestazioni delle proprie idee ma allo stesso tempo impedire provocazioni contro i sentimenti non solo dei cattolici ma di tutti coloro che credono in una sessualità orientata all'amore”. Egli sostiene che la marcia progettata a Roma “non ha nulla a che fare con l'omosessualità come tale: la marcia difende la rivoluzione sessuale, le esposizioni provocatorie del corpo umano considerato come occasione di piacere, una visione del sesso del tutto separato dall'amore, dalla relazione stabile fra due persone umane”.
Giornale di Brescia, lunedì 10 luglio 2000, Buttiglione dichiara che quella di sabato è stata “una provocazione” e che si deve avere sì un “atteggiamento di compassione” per i gay, ma accompagnato dalla condanna per l’omosessualità, che resta un peccato.
Nel 2001 si registra la seguente affermazione di Buttiglione: “Se serve un intervento normativo sulle coppie gay, da parte nostra non ci sono discriminazioni né obiezioni purché non le si chiami ‘famiglie’…Esse non lo sono, per esempio, nessuno rinuncia ad un pezzo di carriera o sacrifica una parte del reddito per crescere i figli”.
da http://www.akab.it/news/interna/20010615154818-MAXTOR-0.html
Ansa, 5 maggio 2001, intervistato sulla manifestazione del pride di Milano, l’europarlamentare Rocco Bottiglione conferma la sua opposizione alla manifestazione programmata a Milano dichiarando: “Una cosa è tutelare il diritto civile di tutti a manifestare liberamente, altra cosa è promuovere cortei evidentemente provocatori”, ha inoltre dichiarato “Tutti sono liberi di chiamarmi bigotto e intollerante, ma io, altrettanto liberamente, posso definire il comportamento omosessuale tecnicamente indice di disordine morale”.
Il 18 aprile 2001, incontrando gli elettori di Cascina (PI), Buttiglione dichiara che nelle scelte politiche privilegia “i criteri indicati dai vescovi” e cioè “la difesa della vita, contro la clonazione e l'eutanasia, argomenti questi cari a chi era già per l'aborto”. Egli ha inoltre affermato che la famiglia è solo quella “in cui la donna sacrifica un pezzo della sua carriera professionale per i figli” e “due omosessuali che si mettono insieme non ne possono costituire una”. (registrazione disponibile su www.RadioRadicale.it)
Il 3 giugno 2002, da Ministro delle Politiche Comunitarie, Buttiglione è stato intervistato sul caso di una coppia di uomini gay italiani sposatisi in Olanda che cercavano il riconoscimento del loro matrimonio dalla Repubblica Italiana. Ha dichiarato “Non c'è nessun margine di successo. Questa è materia di competenza esclusiva delle legislazioni nazionali e tale deve rimanere. Quindi, quello che fanno in Olanda non ha influenza in Italia”. (registrazione disponibile su www.RadioRadicale.it)
Il 22 agosto 2001 il Ministro bottiglione lancia la sua proposta di riforma della legge 194 sull’aborto. Dichiara: ''In Italia abbiamo circa 138 mila aborti l'anno e quelli connessi a motivazioni economiche sono stimabili in circa 10 mila. Dare un sostegno economico a queste donne non risolve di per sé il problema, tuttavia un aiuto economico può servire a salvare molte vite nascenti e al tempo stesso, quindi, rendere di fatto la donna più libera di scegliere” (Adnkronos, 22 agosto 2001).
Repubblica il 23 agosto 2001 riporta che Buttiglione sostiene che la sua proposta è tesa a “liberare [la donna] dall'aborto” con un sostegno economico di 500euro al mese per un anno e aiuti psicologici.
Sulla Gazzetta di Parma del 23 agosto 2001 viene riportata la seguente dichiarazione del Ministro Buttiglione: “gli elettori ci hanno dato un mandato a riformare la 194, spostando l'attenzione sulla difesa del nascituro. Non tocchiamo la donna. Ma stabiliamo il principio che non puoi distruggere la vita di un bambino”. Egli ha aggiunto inoltre che peggio ancora dell'aborto è da considerarsi la clonazione terapeutica: "Non è l'unico modo per curare le malattie. Si vuole fare degli embrioni una produzione industriale."
Il 16 aprile 2002 nel suo discorso all’Università di Malta dal titolo “Future of Europe”, il ministro Rocco Bottiglione dichiara: “…Questo vuol dire che noi vogliamo che la sovranità Europea non distrugga la sovranità degli altri piccoli stati, ma nasce dal esercizio congiunto sulla sovranità. Allora, qualcuno dice eleggiamo direttamente dalla parte del popolo il capo dell’ Europa, il presidente del governo Europeo, il presidente della Commissione. A me, sembra un’ idea sbagliata perché non c’è nessun uomo in Europa che possa essere eletto a tale compito, che sia conosciuto, stimato in tutta Europa. O Dio, c’è una persona, ed è il Papa, ma ha altro da fare e sarebbe difficile per lui accettare una candidatura. E poi, non si potrebbero fare le elezioni con un solo candidato; almeno, ce ne vogliono due. Invece, io credo che l’organo di massima guida politica debba essere il Consiglio Europeo, in cui si siedono tutti i capi di stati del governo.”
Il 13 settembre 2000 il cardinale di Bologna Giacomo Biffi ha espresso il suo pensiero sul fatto che, ai fini dell’immigrazione in Italia, i migranti cattolici dovessero essere preferiti a quelli musulmani per salvare “l’identità della Nazione”. L’europarlamentare Rocco Buttiglione è intervenuto nel dibattito suscitato da tali affermazioni dichiarando: “Sono grande amico di Biffi ma vorrei spiegare meglio la sua teoria. Se nel decidere le quote di lavoratori che vengono in Italia si tenesse conto dei livelli di criminalità che diversi gruppi nazionali esprimono, si scoprirebbe che alcuni hanno un alto tasso di criminalità mentre altri ne hanno uno bassissimo ed hanno capacità di integrarsi. Questi ultimi sono quelli cattolici e cristiani, che hanno una cultura più simile alla nostra” (Adnkronos).
Questions for the Commissioner Designate Prof. Buttiglione
(Justice, Freedom and Security)
In his political activity Prof Rocco Buttiglione has been a strict follower of the official Catholic Church doctrine on such issues as those relating to sexual orientation, abortion, cloning, women’s rights and others. Some of the positions he has expressed (see annex 2) are worrying particularly when put forward by a high government official, mandated to act in the best interest of the whole population. Giving his record, it is legitimate to wonder how he could protect the treaties of the Union when he maintains in his work moral reserves on the very values enshrined in those treaties. ILGA-Europe is very concerned about his nomination as Vice President, Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security and call on members of the LIBE Committee to ask the following questions to Prof Buttiglione at the hearing by the LIBE Committee on the 5th October 2004. There are several areas where we feel questions need to be asked: fundamental rights and the development of the human rights agency, the mutual recognition of same-sex marriage and partnership and the need to initiate legislation on combating homophobic violence.
A. Fundamental rights
1. In your written answer you said that you will “continue to promote the Charter of Fundamental rights”. However, in the past you wanted to remove sexual orientation from the list of grounds in the anti-discrimination clause. How are you planning to protect the fundamental rights enshrined in it including the principle of non-discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation?
B. Human Rights Agency
2. In your written response you said that the Human Rights Agency must be independent from the institutions of the Union, from member states and from NGOs. Whilst independence from the two first actors is required since the Human Rights Agency is the watchdog of human rights in the EU institutions and in EU member states, the success of the Human Rights Agency will depend on its faculty to collaborate with other human rights organisations. How will the agency involve representatives of civil society and in particular human rights NGOs in its work?
3. In your written answer you said that the collection of accurate and comparable data is key to the institution. Will the monitoring work of the human rights agency focus on gathering data for groups which are particularly vulnerable and for whom there is little data available like gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people?
C. Mutual recognition
4. The EU Commission has presented a document on future directions on justice and home affairs. In this document the principle of mutual recognition will cover family and civil the principle of mutual recognition will cover family and civil relations and civil status. It is important that the mutual recognition covers diverse forms of families including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. How will you ensure that the principle of mutual recognition covering family, civil relations and civil status is a priority in your work and that it is fully inclusive for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people?
D. Combat homophobic and transphobic violence
5. In several member states of the EU, lesbian, gay bisexual and trans gender people are the target of violence and harassment. Will the Commission address the issue of violence targeted at LGBT people by initiating a directive on combating homophobic and transphobic violence when considering a single overall framework to protect public order, public security and the fight against crime?
Annex 1: Background information for each question
A. Fundamental rights
ILGA-Europe is concerned that the Commissioner responsible for the promotion of the Charter of Fundamental rights has tried in the past to delete sexual orientation from the list of the prohibited grounds in the non-discrimination clause in the Charter. (see index 2 point 1.2.)
1. In your written answer you said that you will “continue to promote the Charter of Fundamental rights”. However, in the past you wanted to remove sexual orientation from the list of grounds in the anti-discrimination clause. How are you planning to protect the fundamental rights enshrined in it including the principle of non-discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation?
B. Human Rights Agency
ILGA-Europe sees the mission of the Human Rights Agency as a watchdog to ensure that the EU institutions take a human rights approach to all its policies in order to better meet the EU’s commitments to human rights. There is indeed a need for a body, which would monitor systematically EU legislation and policies – externally and internally - for conformity with human rights standards and mainstream human rights in the EU institutions. This can be done for example through the development of human rights-proofing tools and regular reports on mainstreaming human rights in the institutions.
The United Nations Paris Principles concerning the functions of the national human rights institutions should be considered in determining the functions and powers of the EU Human Rights Agency. If properly resourced, this agency can serve several functions: monitoring human rights, education and awareness raising, litigation and research. Further, transparency and independence are particularly important in the context of a human rights body. It is therefore crucial that the nomination to the board of the agency is independent from EU Member States or the EU institutions but reflects civil society.
In the written questions, Prof Buttiglione has expressed his commitment to the new Human Rights Agency. He also agreed that independence and proper resources in term of budget and people employed are key to the good functioning of the Agency.
2. In your written response you said that the Human Rights Agency must be independent from the institutions of the Union, from member states and from NGOs. Whilst independence from the two first actors is required since the Human Rights Agency is the watchdog of human rights in the EU institutions and in EU member states, the success of the Human Rights Agency will depend on its faculty to collaborate with other human rights organisations. How will the agency involve representative of civil society and in particular human rights NGOs in its work?
The issue of collection of human rights data and analysis is very important to ILGA-Europe, in particular concerning data on groups, which are likely to be exposed to various human rights violation (for instance LGBT people, women, ethnic minority). Given the relatively low numbers of statistical data and analysis on LGBT issues, it is vital that they are given proper consideration in the definition of the aims and objectives of the new Human Rights Agency.
In his written answer, Prof. Buttiglione has said that the collection of accurate and comparable data is key to the institution. It is important to ILGA-Europe that data on human rights violation related to sexual orientation or gender identity are gathered.
3. In your written answer you said that the collection of accurate and comparable data is key to the institution. Will the monitoring work of the human rights agency focus on gathering data for groups which are particularly vulnerable and for whom there is little data available like gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people?
C. Mutual recognition
The principle of mutual recognition applied to family law would ensure that each receiving state would be obliged to admit any partnership or marriage legally recognised according to the laws of the country of origin. At the same time this principle ensures that specific arrangements in national law remain at the discretion of each individual member state (thus respecting the principle of subsidiarity). So far, the principle of mutual recognition has not been applied to same-sex relationships and families and the matter is ruled by private international law, which varies from country to country. This has particularly negative consequences on EU citizens who are married or in partnerships with third countries citizens of the same-sex. Third country citizens have no automatic right to follow their partners or spouses and to enter a country that does not recognise same-sex partnership. This in turn affects the right to freedom of movement of EU citizens in the European Union.
Current developments in the EU institutions
The Consultation by the Commission on the future of Tampere proposes to extend mutual recognition in new fields in particular linked with civil status of individuals (this would be a positive step for transgender people) and family and civil relations (which should include adoption). ILGA-Europe welcomes this proposal as it could improve the freedom of movement of LGBT families.
4. The EU Commission has presented a document on future directions on justice and home affairs. In this document the principle of mutual recognition will cover family and civil relations and civil status. It is important that the mutual recognition include diverse forms of families including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. How will you ensure that the principle of mutual recognition covering family, civil relations and civil status is a priority in your work and that it is fully inclusive for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people?
D. Combat homophobic and transphobic violence
When considering a single overall framework to protect public order, public security and the fight against crime, the issue of criminalisation of homophobic and transphobic hate crime should be considered. Violence motivated by racism and xenophobia have already been condemned at the EU level. Similar measure is needed to protect LGBT people who are exposed to crimes motivated by hatred. Recently, examples of violence targeted at LGBT people occurred for example in Poland , France and Turkey . Research in the Member States, which joined the Union on 1 May 2004, shows that LGBT people are exposed to harassment and violence and this violence is recurrent. This deeply affects the human rights and dignity of LGBT people.
5. In several member states of the EU, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are the target of violence and harassment. Will the Commission address the issue of violence targeted at LGBT people by initiating a directive on combating homophobic and transphobic violence when considering a single overall framework to protect public order, public security and the fight against crime?
Annex 2: Quotes from Prof Buttiglione
The following are extracts of public statements made by Prof. Buttiglione. These show a reluctance to recognise the rights of LGBT people and a position which is largely determined by his religious beliefs.
1. Examples of refusal to protect LGBT rights
1.1. Implementation of the Framework Directive
On the 9th of July 2003, the Minister of EU Affaire signed, together with other ministers, decree number 216 to implement the directive 2000/78/CE establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (GU n. 187 of 13-8-2003). He is one of the main author of this decree that, among its provisions, introduces the possibility to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in the Italian legal system, in fact art. 3 section 3 reads
“[…] characters connected to the religion, to the personal convictions, to the disability, to the age or to the sexual orientation of a person […] the evaluation of the above mentioned characters does not constitute an act of discrimination in the case in which they assume a relevance for the suitability to perform the functions that the armed forces and the police, prison and rescue services may be required to execute.”
Whilst the directive includes the possibility to derogate to the ban on discrimination in the armed forces on the basis of “age and disability”, such a possibility is enlarged beyond the sector of the armed forces and includes the possibility to discriminate also on the basis of religion, personal convictions and sexual orientation.
1.2. Charter of fundamental rights
MEP Rocco Buttiglione submitted an amendment to the Convention that wrote the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to the effect of removing “sexual orientation” from the grounds of non-discrimination of the article on non-discrimination of the Charter, as reported in CHARTE 4360/00, page 32, (below)
“(3) Deletions have been proposed:
• Include only the forms of discrimination mentioned in Article 14 of the ECHR
(Amendment 441 (Goldsmith))
• Sexual orientation (Amendment 444 (Buttiglione))”
The reasons given for such proposal, as reported in CHARTE 4332/00, page 548 where one can read the full text of the amendment, were:
“Reasons: No change.”
2. Statement of a homophobic nature
2.1. Gay pride
Bruxelles 26th of May 2000, as an MEP Mr. Buttiglione stated referring to the World Gay Pride “The right to express everybody’s ideas must be protected, but at the same time provocations must be prevented against the feelings not only of the Catholics but also of all those who believe in a sexuality oriented toward love”. The march planned in Rome he believes “has nothing to do with homosexuality as such: the march defends the sexual revolution, the provocative exhibitions of the human body that considered as an occasion for pleasure, a vision of sex as completely separated from love and from a stable relationship between two human persons”.
Giornale di Brescia, Monday 10th of July 2000, Mr. Buttiglione stated that the World Pride march that had taken place on Sunday was “a provocation” and that one has to have a “compassionate attitude” toward gays, but that this must be accompanied by the condemnation of homosexuality that remains a sin.
On the 5th of March 2001, interviewed about the Pride march in Milan, MEP Rocco Buttiglione confirmed his opposition to the planned march in Milan stating: “One thing is to protect the civil right of everybody to freely demonstrate, a different thing is to promote a procession that is obviously a provocation”, he also said “Everybody is free to call me a bigot and an intolerant, but I, with the very same freedom, can define the homosexual behaviour as technically an index of moral disorder”.
2.2. Family
In 2001 Mr. Buttiglione is reported to have stated: “If there is a need to intervene with rules on gay couples, there are no discriminations nor objections on our side as long as those are not called “family”… Those are not family, for instance, nobody gives up a piece of his career or sacrifice a part of his income to raise children”.
(from http://www.akab.it/news/interna/20010615154818-MAXTOR-0.html)
On the 18th of April 2001, meeting the electors of Cascina (PI), Mr. Buttiglione stated that in his political choices he privileges “the criteria indicated by the bishops”, that is “the protection of life, against cloning and euthanasia, which are subjects dear to those who favour abortion”. He also stated that the only family is that “in which a woman sacrifices a piece of her professional career for the children” and that “two homosexuals that stay together cannot constitute one”. (registration available from www.RadioRadicale.it)
2.3. Partnership
On the 3rd of June 2002, as Minister of EU Affairs, Mr. Buttiglione was interviewed on the case of two Italian gay men married in the Netherlands who were seeking recognition of their marriage by the Italian Republic. He stated: “There is no margin for succeeding. This is a matter of exclusive competence of the national legislation. Hence, what they do in the Netherlands does not have any influence in Italy”. (registration available from www.RadioRadicale.it)
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