Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, to the House. The Labour Party is grateful to the Leader of the House for allowing a debate on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is a key aspect of the reform treaty. It is a simple and eloquent document containing just seven titles and 54 articles. These detail an inventory of fundamental rights granted to every citizen of the European Union.

The preamble to the charter states that "Conscious of its spiritual and moral heritage, the Union is founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity". All of the Union's activities must ensure those basic functions. My colleagues have spoken eloquently about many of the articles in the treaty, but I wish to focus on four particular areas of the charter: human trafficking, privacy and the protection of personal data, workers' rights, and rights to non-discrimination.

Article 5 of the charter prohibits human trafficking in addition to ensuring the dignity of human beings by protecting citizens from forced or compulsory labour. It is estimated that over 100,000 people are trafficked through European countries every year, the overwhelming majority being women, many of them very young. An estimated 78% of those women originate in eastern European countries. With its established agreements in cross-border policing, the Lisbon treaty will go a long way to combat this horrific problem.

Article 8.2 protects the personal data of citizens. The charter states that "Everyone has the right of access to data which has been collected concerning him or her, and the right to have it rectified". We are now living through an information revolution whereby data is readily available and more accessible than ever before. Personal or private information is no exception to this reality. European governments are becoming increasingly concerned with the private information of citizens and residents, so people must be entitled to access, inspect and even correct all that information if it is recorded incorrectly. The charter guarantees that right. In an age where various details of a person can end up being filed or even published, citizens must be able to protect their privacy.

Title 4 of the charter is of great importance. It consists of a number of articles that ensure modern, just and varied rights for workers throughout the Union. For instance, the right to negotiate and establish collective agreements is enshrined in article 28, which gives workers in every corner of the Union the right to organise and deal collectively. Crucially, it recognises the right to strike. Protection against unfair dismissal is listed in article 30. This protection for every worker in the Union is bolstered by articles against discrimination that I will refer to in due course.

Article 34, which has become known as the social clause, is one of the most imaginative and bold aspects of an already comprehensive charter. It sets out objectives of the Union — including the promotion of full employment, social protection and a commitment to fight social exclusion — which will become central points around which all European polices must exist. An employed Europe is a prosperous Europe, but the charter recognises that when harder times arrive — as they can in an economic cycle — every citizen is fully entitled to social protection from his or her government.

Article 21.1 of the charter, which is a non-discrimination clause, protects the rights of every European citizen. No person or group of people can associate themselves with anything that makes them unique or special under the law. Most importantly, no person or group of people can be discriminated against for similar reasons. The article is even broader in its protection against discrimination than the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. It lists 15 separate categories that go to make up the broadest set of protections against discrimination that can be seen anywhere.

Article 21.1 states that "Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited". That is just one article within the charter, which is one of the most important parts of the Lisbon reform treaty. It will establish a standard of European equality, including rights that can be fought for at European level if any country does not recognised them in domestic legislation. The charter is one of the most positive developments to have emanated from the EU and we welcome its attachment to the treaty.