Cooperation with Guinea

Question for written answer  E-002058/2021
to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Rule 138
Sylvie Guillaume (S&D), Eric Andrieu (S&D), Aurore Lalucq (S&D), Pierre Larrouturou (S&D), Nora Mebarek (S&D), Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D), Maria Arena (S&D)

In Guinea, hundreds of protestors have been killed or injured during demonstrations against the 2020 constitutional referendum and the outcome of the presidential election.

The lives of activists, supporters of civic movements or opposition political parties and journalists who are being held in Conakry’s central prison are at stake.

The EU Delegation to Guinea has confirmed that the Guinean research and intervention brigade engages in operations targeting political opponents. The EU previously supported this brigade as part of the Programme to Support Security Sector Reform (PARSS), before deciding to suspend all the cooperation activities involved.

Given that security cooperation with Guinea may lead to further human rights violations, could the VP/HR provide information on:

the current status of the security cooperation measures agreed between the EU and Guinea,

the stage reached in and scale of the proposed cooperation projects,

whether steps have been taken to ensure that these cooperation projects do not simply give rise to new methods of suppressing opponents, or, failing that, to suspend cooperation altogether.