European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights

Description

The Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) is a subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament. It monitors and promotes respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the European Union’s external policies and relations with third countries.

DROI examines human-rights situations around the world, holds hearings and exchanges of views with human-rights defenders, civil-society organisations and government representatives, and follows the implementation of EU human-rights sanctions. It contributes to Parliament’s reports, resolutions and urgency debates on breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

The subcommittee can send delegations to third countries to assess human-rights conditions and meet officials, opposition groups and civil society, feeding its findings into parliamentary reports and recommendations. It also monitors human-rights clauses in EU agreements and supports Parliament’s work on the Sakharov Prize.

It maintains regular contact with the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, the United Nations and the Council of Europe. The modern subcommittee was established in 2004, succeeding earlier parliamentary structures on human rights and external affairs.