Next Monday the UK takes over for 6 months the chairmanship of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe which hosts the European Court of Human Rights. That Court applies the European Human Rights Convention (ECHR) in cases brought by citizens of the 47-country organisation.
Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman and London MEP Sarah Ludford commented:
"I fully share the government's top priority of reform of the European Court of Human Rights to make it more streamlined and efficient long championed by LibDems. The current huge backlog of cases bureaucratic delays and variable quality of judges obviously prejudice the Court's effectiveness."
Nov 9th is International Day against Anti-Semitism and Fascism marking the anniversary of the 'Kristallnacht' pogrom against Jews in 1938 which presaged the Holocaust.
One wag pointed out to me that today we had the eleventh second of the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day etc… More seriously, I will be attending on Sunday the Islington Remembrance Day service as I do every year, in honour of all those who have died in successive wars. Time fades memories, but Remembrance Day is a reminder of the need to teach the next generation about the horrors of war and the need to avoid conflict and human rights abuses, principally the Holocaust. I also hope to attend tomorrow the Richmond Synagogue Remembrance service.
Marking World Diabetes Day London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford co-chair of the European Parliament's EU Diabetes Working Group is urging the EU and member states to act with urgency before the alarming diabetes epidemic overwhelms our health services.
Sarah Ludford commented:
"30 million Europeans already suffer from diabetes and that is expected to rise to 50 million by 2025. This ticking time bomb will soon explode and impact hard on national healthcare systems. In the UK 3 million people already have the disease costing 10% of the NHS budget."
Commenting on the new report from the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee on air quality London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said:
"I have been campaigning for many years with Liberal Democrats across London against the dirty air in our city the worst in Europe. This report confirms the urgency: London may no longer have the peasoup fogs of the 1950s but invisible pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and lung-irritating diesel particles are lethally high."
"The report rightly condemns the woeful lack of UK action to meet EU clean air targets. The deadline for the limit on small particles came and went in June and now we have laughably inadequate stopgap measures like spraying roads with glue in hotspots ahead of the Olympics!"
The European Parliament will today vote on a report calling for more protection and support for the beekeeping community following an increase in bee mortality rates in recent years.
London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford is supporting this and commented:
"The beekeeping crisis may appear to be a rural issue and a million miles away from the concerns of London residents but keeping the bee community active and prosperous is extremely important to the maintenance of biodiversity and a stable eco system. The report points out that around 84% of plant species and 76% of food production in Europe are dependent on pollination by bees highlighting their economic value beyond honey production."
Sarah Ludford on behalf of the ALDE Group. - Madam President I am privileged to serve as vice-Chair of the Delegation for Relations with the US under the strong leadership of Elmar Brok. My own knowledge and expertise is principally in the area of justice human rights and security. Naturally therefore I put a great deal of emphasis on the parts of our resolution which stress the shared transatlantic values of liberty democracy human rights and the rule of law and also the cooperation we are pursuing to guarantee liberty and security.
