The revision in 1995 of the Lome Convention, the EU's special development aid treaty, introduced a penalty clause in the case of human rights violations. The absence of such a penalty clause had not prevented the EU from suspending a number of development co-operation programmes for human rights violations from 1990 onwards. Indeed, sanctions were imposed on Uganda between 1976 and 1979. Development aid under Lome was also suspended with some dozen countries between 1990 and 1996, including Togo, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan and Nigeria. Lome V, due to begin in the year 2002, contains more specific provisions on human rights and on the suspension of aid agreements.
The Lome Convention, which was first signed in 1975, covers development co-operation agreements between the EU and 69 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Human rights clauses were included in economic and co-operation agreements with third countries for the first time under Lome IV in 1989. A further step was taken in 1991 when the Maastricht Treaty confirmed that promoting and respecting human rights were among the general objectives in the field of development co-operation and EU foreign policy. Since 1992 respect for human rights and democratic principles has been an integral part of all new agreements with third countries with provision for the suspension of aid in cases of human rights abuses. The Lome Convention has over the years broken new ground. It was the first external agreement with specific human rights commitments. The revised version is the first to envisage a detailed procedure for responses to serious human rights violations. These innovations have paved the way for similar provisions in the EU's external agreements generally.
The EU has for some time put great emphasis on the close links between development, democracy and human rights. It is no coincidence that many of the countries which made greatest progress in Africa, for example, are those which have maintained or restored stable democratic governments.
The European Parliament has played an important role in encouraging parliamentary democracy in developing countries. The Lome Convention also has a parliamentary dimension. The ACP-EU Joint Assembly meets for a week-long session twice a year, and is composed of a representative of each of the ACP states and an equal number of MEPs. The assembly provides an opportunity for discussions between EU and ACP parliamentarians on the full range of development issues, and the most lively debates have often been those concerning human rights. It is a measure of the progress of democratisation that the number of ACP states represented at the Joint Assembly by parliamentarians rather than officials has increased significantly. Certain Non-Governmental Organisations are now entitled to address the assembly, and this reflects the members' conviction that the development of civil society is a crucial element of democratisation.
The most recent Joint Assembly last October in Togo also witnessed heated exchanges on human rights subjects. The Co-President of the Assembly, Lord Plumb (UK, EPP) affirmed the European Parliament's commitment to greater funding for development assistance, while recalling the firm commitment to human rights contained in the Lome Convention. Glenys Kinnock (UK, PES), pointed out that it was difficult to win support for funding increases when some ACP countries - albeit a small minority - flouted democratic principles and international standards of human rights.