EU enlargement

The European Union is founded upon the values of “respect for human
dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human
rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.” It also
stipulates that any European state that respects and is committed to
promoting these values may apply to become a member of the EU. EU
enlargement is therefore a powerful mechanism for helping to improve human
rights records in countries wishing to join the EU.

The Government is a strong supporter of EU enlargement, and is committed

to supporting the membership aspirations of any European country that meets
these criteria, and its right to progress towards membership on the basis of its
own merits. We will encourage the EU to conclude accession negotiations
only when we are confident that a candidate country is able to meet the
political, economic and legal obligations of membership. These include the
protection of human rights. Furthermore, we will be active in determining how
the membership criteria are met, for example, by setting benchmarks which
tackle important issues at an early stage in the process. We will also work
within the EU to influence the allocation of EU pre-accession assistance to
ensure that aspirant countries tackle effectively and at an early stage those
issues that matter most to us, including human rights violations.

In 2010 we provided technical support to human rights reform in candidate

and pre-candidate countries in order to help these countries meet EU
standards. We worked with the government of Croatia to improve court
administration by introducing modern case management techniques to reduce
the backlog of cases and improve the quality of court service. We also
supported the Croatian government’s introduction of a national probation
system to reduce prison populations and improve offender community
reintegration. We will undertake similar future projects under the auspices of
the EU twinning mechanism to introduce a probation service in Croatia and to
strengthen their capacity to manage a sexual offender database.
We lobbied hard to achieve comprehensive benchmarks under Chapter 23 of
Croatia’s accession negotiations dealing with the judiciary and fundamental
rights. As a result of this, Croatia is taking steps to ensure it has an
independent and efficient judicial system. For example, the government has
adopted new legislation that strengthens judicial independence and the case
backlog has been further reduced. Croatia is strengthening its fight against
corruption at all levels, as demonstrated by the indictment in December of
former Prime Minister Sanader on corruption charges. Croatia is improving
the handling of domestic war crimes trials, strengthening protection for
minorities, and settling outstanding refugee return issues. The revised
constitution now explicitly lists all 22 national minorities and the government’s
self-imposed 2008 benchmark for the provision of 1,400 accommodation units
for refugees under its housing care programme has been met. We also
helped to ensure that full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia is a requirement for closure of this chapter.

Although Croatia is making progress on human rights issues, work remains to

be done. The EU will continue to monitor these areas in 2011 and in March
will produce a report on Croatia’s progress under Chapter 23. We will
continue to support and monitor this progress and will ensure that Croatia is
upholding EU human rights standards and has met the requirements of the
chapter, before agreeing to its closure.

In Serbia, where minorities remain under-represented in public institutions

and public companies, we funded several election-related and capacity-
building projects to strengthen Bosniak and Albanian minority rights. Among
other achievements, these projects have led to the setting up of an Albanian
national minority council and a multi-ethnic local government in Bujanovac in
southern Serbia and more balanced representation of Albanians in state- and
local-level institutions. In 2011 we will continue to communicate the
achievements of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
of which many Serbs still have limited understanding; support the work of the
Regional Council for Reconciliation; and strengthen protection for LGBT and
ethnic minority rights.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina we promoted human rights in a range of areas,
including improving access to justice and reconciliation; helping ensure that
war crimes cases are dealt with impartially and effectively; improving prison
management in line with European best practice; supporting the identification
of missing persons; supporting the promotion of human rights; strengthening
civil society organisations and their role in policy dialogue; and strengthening
independent and investigative media. Specific projects included enhancing
the effectiveness of the State Prosecutor’s Office on Srebrenica-related war
crimes and supporting the International Commission on Missing Persons. We
worked closely with EU member states, including on implementing the EU’s
Human Rights Defenders Strategy and designing a local strategy to combat
violence against women.

In 2011, we will focus on improving the ability of Bosnia and Herzegovina

institutions to implement legislation and tackle human rights violations more
effectively.  This includes implementation of the 2008 National War Crimes
Strategy and the State Law on Missing Persons, as well as building the
capacity of the Bosnia and Herzegovina justice and security institutions.  We
will support the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities’ work to ensure an
efficient and sustainable system for processing war crimes cases before the
State Court and State Prosecutor’s Office, particularly focusing on crimes
committed in Srebrenica area.

Despite the adoption of a human rights strategy and action plan in 2009,
Kosovo made limited overall progress during 2010. However, progress was
made on the return and re-integration of minority communities in Kosovo, a
subject on which we worked closely with the government of Kosovo. April
saw the completion of a UK-funded project, managed and implemented by the
UN Development Programme, which enabled nine Kosovo-Serb families to
return to the village of Softaj/Softovic. We also funded an income generation
project for returnees from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities and
supported the strengthening of the rule of law in Kosovo through the
secondment of expert staff to the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo
(EULEX), including two judges, three prosecutors and the head of the
organised crime unit.

In 2011 we will continue to support Kosovan efforts to improve the human

rights situation; for example, by working with the Kosovan Ministry of
Communities and Returns on a returns project in the historic town of Prizren.
This is the first urban returns project in Kosovo and it will reconstruct homes
for 10 returning Kosovo-Serb families and refurbish homes for up to a further
10 families.

In Macedonia in 2010 we addressed the lack of a legal and institutional

framework within the prison management system by supporting the
introduction of the UK’s Offender Assessment System to Macedonian prison
staff and a feasibility study on the applicability of a probation service in
Macedonia. Both initiatives were designed to reduce the load on
overcrowded prisons and improve prison management. We also worked with
the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association to strengthen judicial practice in
the fight against corruption and organised crime, through a project to enhance
the efficiency of the Macedonian judiciary that will ensure free and efficient
access to justice services.

We supported the multi-ethnic fabric of Macedonia through continued

insistence on the full implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement. We
encourage all political parties to adhere to its spirit, in particular in the areas
of: language, education, decentralisation of budgets, interethnic relations and
religion. The UK’s public administration effectiveness project enables more
transparent and effective management within the civil service, including on
recruitment of minorities under the provisions of the Framework Agreement.

Our work in Albania has focused on transparency, democracy and equality.

We have funded a high-level mentoring project which works closely with
judges to improve the efficiency and transparency of the Albanian Supreme
Court. We also pushed for a settlement to the long-standing political impasse
between the government and the opposition. In addition, we worked with the
British Council to promote diversity and equality in Albania. The London 2012
Diversity Champion David Morris visited Albania in 2010, and the Embassy
will again support the British Council’s “Inclusion Week” in April 2011. Our
support has helped the Inclusion Week to achieve a markedly higher profile
for disability issues in Albania, as demonstrated by an unprecedented public
rally of disabled people’s groups in Tirana as well as action from the Tirana
authorities to improve wheelchair access across the city.

We continued to support Turkey’s EU accession process and strongly

encouraged them to make progress with their reform agenda. The September
Constitutional Reform referendum was a positive step and demonstrated wide
support for judicial and military reform. We will continue to emphasise to the
Turkish government the importance of swift and effective implementation of
the reform package.

Turkey has made progress in certain areas of human rights, but there is more
work to be done before it meets EU standards, particularly on freedom of
expression and the rights of ethnic and religious minorities. We support
Turkey’s efforts to address these issues and in 2010 we agreed to fund the
largest ever number of human rights projects across the widest ever range of
issues in Turkey, including on LGBT, children, women and disability, and
helping refugees and asylum seekers better understand their rights and
access legal remedies. The year 2011 promises to be an important year for
Turkey. Several key pieces of legislation have been drafted and will pass
through the Turkish parliament, including on anti-discrimination, data
protection and human rights. There is a parliamentary election in June, and
should the current government retain power it has announced it will draft a
new constitution. This would give renewed impetus to Turkey’s reform
programme. We will continue to encourage the government of Turkey to
make progress towards EU standards.