Activities of Angelika MLINAR related to 2018/2684(RSP)
Plenary speeches (1)
Experiencing backlash in women’s rights and gender equality in the EU (debate)
Amendments (26)
Amendment 3 #
Citation 3 a (new)
- having regard to Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU);
Amendment 5 #
Citation 3 b (new)
- having regard to Articles 6, 8, 9, 153 and 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU);
Amendment 7 #
Citation 3 c (new)
- having regard to Articles 21, 23 and 35 of the Charter on Fundamental Rights;
Amendment 8 #
Citation 3 d (new)
- having regard to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of September 1995, and the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action(Cairo Conference) of September 1994, as well as the outcomes of their review conferences;
Amendment 15 #
Recital A
A. whereas backlash can be defined as resistance to progressive social change, regression on acquired rights or seeking to maintainand whereas the backlash against women’s rights and gender inequalitiesy is particularly worrying ; whereas thissuch resistance can be both formal and informal and can involve passive or active strategies to counter further progress such as trying to impose non-evidence- based beliefs on the public via strategies aiming to change policies and legislations which could ultimately affect citizens across EU countries by limiting and regressing their acquired rights;
Amendment 49 #
Recital E
E. whereas the main targets of this backlash appear to be common across countries and include the key areas of the institutional and policy framework for gender equality, such as gender mainstreaming, social and labour protection, education, sexual and reproductive health and rights, preventing and combating violence against women, and working space for women’s organisations and movements; whereas anti-human rights campaigners and anti- human rights organisations are strategizing goals by seeking a legal right to derogate from equality legislation and to roll back human rights for sexual and reproductive health in Europe and seek to overturn existing laws on basic human rights related to sexuality and reproduction, such as the right to divorce; for a woman to access modern contraception, assisted reproduction technologies or have an abortion; equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or inter sex (LGBTI) persons; stem-cell research, or the right to change one’s gender or sex without fear of legal consequences; whereas these anti-human rights campaigners and anti-human rights organisations increasingly use a more secular rhetoric which resembles classical human rights language, using sophisticated technical evidence and strategic interpretations of internationalhuman rights standards in order to communicate positions which roll back human rights;
Amendment 72 #
Recital H
H. whereas in 2017, the Council of Europe warned that women’s sexual and reproductive rights were under threat as several members sought to restrict legislation on access to abortion and contraception; whereas in a similar vein, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) issued a joint statement in August 2018 emphasising that access to safe and legal abortion, as well as to related services and information, were essential aspects of women’s reproductive health, while urging countries to stop regressing on the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls; which threaten women and girl’s health and lives;
Amendment 80 #
Recital I
I. whereas sexuality and relationships education and gender equality education is not provided in many Member States or replaced by sexuality education based on individual beliefs rather than evidence based information and education and is falling short of international requirements, including the World Health Organisation Standards for Sexuality Education; and the World Health Organisation Action Plan on Sexual and Reproductive Health;
Amendment 84 #
Recital I a (new)
I a. Whereas advancing gender equality and investing in women pays off for the whole of society since women who have the economic resources and leadership opportunities will invest in the health, nutrition, education, and well- being of their children and families;
Amendment 87 #
Paragraph 1
1. Urges the Commission and the Member States to remaintain a strongly commitmentted to gender equality and women’s rights and to denounce coercive discourse and measures undermining women’s autonomy in every field; and to further improve policies and legislation in this area;
Amendment 104 #
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that enshrining women’s rights in law is not sufficient to achieve gender equality; ; calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen public awareness about the importance and benefits of women’s rights and gender equality for society and to ; further support the development and dissemination of evidence-based research and information in this area;
Amendment 114 #
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on all Member States to assume and abide by the international commitments and ensure respect for the principles enshrined in their fundamental laws as regards fundamental and women’s rights; including sexual and reproductive health and rights;
Amendment 116 #
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Encourages Member States to organise public awareness campaigns on gender-based and domestic violence and to ensure that women’s shelters are adequately funded, staffed and supported;
Amendment 123 #
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises that preventing and combating violence against women is more important than ever, as in addition to persistent problems in state responses, new forms of violence have spread, such as sexist hate speech, misogyny and online violence including harassment and stalking;
Amendment 137 #
Paragraph 6
6. Considers it striking that the backlash is built on a convention that targets violence against women, a policy area on which there is a strong consensus to combat all forms of violence; is therefore worried that the rejection of the norm of zero tolerance of violence against women indicates that the very essence of the principles of human rights, equality, autonomy and dignity is being questioned; calls on the Council to conclude the accessEU ratification and full implementation of the Istanbul Convention by the EU and to advocate its ratification by theall Member States;
Amendment 139 #
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Notes that domestic violence is considered the most widespread form of violence in some Member States and expresses concern overt he increasing number of women who experience domestic violence;
Amendment 140 #
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Notes that victims of gender based violence including domestic violence often have limited access to justice and proper protection despite legislation on combating all forms of violence, and that the laws are poorly implemented and enforced; calls on the Member States to ensure that all victims of gender based and domestic violence receive gender- sensitive legal and assistance in order to avoid re-victimisation and impunity and to improve the reporting incidence of such crimes;
Amendment 146 #
Paragraph 7
7. Expresses its strong support for the wide spread initiatives, including grassroots initiatives, demanding gender equality for women and men promoted by women’s organisations¸ and movements;
Amendment 151 #
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Member States to review their criteria for awarding funding to civil society organisations in order to ensure that they are bias free and support a strong and diverse civil sociepolitically and financially support independent civil society organisations and individuals defending and promoting EU fundamental values: human rights, democracy, the rule of law and gender equality;
Amendment 155 #
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that their mechanisms for the distribution, monitoring and evaluation of funding are gender sensitive and responsiveadapted to the problems that specific organisations face at the time of backlash,especially small and medium sized, face at the time of backlash; calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase funding for the protection and promotion of women’s rights and gender equality, incl. for sexual and reproductive health and rights in the EU and in the world;
Amendment 162 #
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Calls on the EC to include the promotion and improvement of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the next Public Health Strategy;
Amendment 165 #
Paragraph 10
10. Points outo the disastrous long-term impact of austerity measurbudgetary cuts in some Member States on women’s economic empowerment and on gender equality, with rising unemployment and cuts in public services and benefits resulting in a care crisis that further disempowers women;
Amendment 168 #
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Stresses that gender disaggregated data collection needs to be further improved in are as such as informal employment, entrepreneurship and access to financing, access to health care services, violence against women, and unpaid work; collecting and using quality data and evidence is needed for informed and evidence-based policymaking;
Amendment 170 #
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10 b. Urges the Council to unblock the Directive on gender balance among non- executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges (the so-called Women on Boards directive) to address the considerable imbalance between women and men in economic decision-making at the highest level;
Amendment 172 #
Paragraph 10 d (new)
10 d. Reiterates its calls on the Commission to revise the recast Directive 2006/54/EC and urges an adequate legislative follow up based on the 2014 Commission's Recommendation on pay transparency with a view to eliminating the persistent gender pay gap;
Amendment 185 #
Paragraph 12
12. Expresses concern that the opponents of reproductive rights and autonomy havein some Member States hadve a significant influence on national law and policy, seeking to impose further restrictions on women’s health and reproductive rights;