42 Amendments of Jordi SOLÉ related to 2017/2012(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals states that gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world; whereas providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 a (new)
Citation 3 a (new)
- having regard to United Nations Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security 1325 (2000);1820 (2009);1888 (2009);1889 (2010);1960 (2011);2106 (2013);2122 (2013) and 2242 (2015),
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recalls that the role of the EU Delegations increased with the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty and that they now play a central role in implementing GAP II; notes that they are the first point of contact for coordination of EU efforts with international partners in the country in question, and highlights the requirement that they ensure the implementation of policies, including the mainstreaming, protection and promotion of gender equality; welcomes the appointment of gender focal points (GFP) in the Delegations but expresses concern about their workload and time constraints, since the tasks linked to the GFP are additional to their core or other responsibilities; notes that it is indispensable that the Delegations and the GFP develop a robust understanding of the gender context to inform country strategy objectives, programmes, projects, dialogue and their implementation; calls on the VP/HR and the EEAS to develop clear operational guidelines on the role of the focal points in Delegations so that they act as true human rights advisors and carry out their work effectively;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Deplores that according to the latest available EEAS statistics, only 20,6% of heads of EU delegations are women and that only one out of the seven EU Special Representatives is a woman, both statistics being below the 2014 baseline ratio of women as EU Heads of Missions; also deplores that women constitute only about 25 % of staff in CSDP civilian missions and that there are no comprehensive statistics available regarding the participation of women in CSDP military missions and operations; calls on the EEAS and the Council to lead by example and to take immediate corrective measures to improve the participation of women in external missions and to enhance their appointment to senior and high-profile positions within the EU and notably in EU Delegations;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Regrets that according to an EEAS report of November 2016, only a few EU CSDP missions have trainings on sexual or gender-based harassment and notes that in 2015 no cases of sexual or gender- based harassment, abuse or violence were reported by CSDP missions; stresses the importance of applying a zero-tolerance policy regarding cases of sexual or gender-based harassment and supporting institutional structures focused on preventing gender or sexual violence; calls on the EEAS and its Member States to support all efforts to combat sexual or gender-based violence in international peace-keeping operations and to ensure that whistle-blowers and victims are effectively protected;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Asks all institutions and political actors involved in the development of EU external action to prioritise compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, its Protocols and the relevant international treaties in order to guarantee special protection and care for children; calls on the EEAS and Member States to urge the USA, as the last UN Member State not to have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to accede urgently to this instrument, thereby making the CRC the first universally ratified UN human rights convention; asks that the empowerment and human rights of girls be promoted, in the knowledge that empowerment requires the active participation of girls in decision- making processes; underlines that these points should be considered essential elements in the implementation of GAP II;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the principle of equality between women and men is enshrined in the EU Treaty and gender mainstreaming shall be promoimplemented in all EU activities as enshrined in Article 8 TFEU so as to deliver equality in practice;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas it is difficult to determine the budget allocated to actions pursuing gender equality as gender mainstreaming is not yet internalised in all budget allocations and spending decisions as part of a gender budgeting methodology;whereas according to the Commission EU financial commitments to gender equality have increased but the Commission’s and the EEAS’s human resource capacity to manage this increasing volume of work did not;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
D b. whereas gender equality tends to be absent from programme and project monitoring systems and evaluation processes and whereas gender analysis is hardly used in order to inform country strategy objectives, programmes, projects and dialogue;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Regrets that in a global context of shrinking civil society space, Objective 18 focusing on women’s rights organisations and women’s human rights defenders is receiving insufficient attention; is concerned that the thematic priority on political and civil rights, specifically the enjoyment of women and girls of their political and civil rights, has been given limited priority in GAP II implementation;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the release in August 2017 of the first annual implementation report for the year 2016, which demonstrates a clearertain momentum towards the implementation of the GAP II;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that the Commission, in the Joint Staff Working Document on the 2016-2020 framework, recognised that the EU’s financial investment in gender equality has not been systematically measured; calls on the Commission to adopt a clear results-driven approach that sets high standards for reporting, evaluation and accountability mechanisms and to promote evidence- based decision making in order to use the financial resources more efficiently and effectively; requests a report to determine exactly how much funding has been specifically committed to gender mainstreaming and to identify the most noteworthy goals achieved;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Recalls the importance of sexual education and family planning as tools among others to foster women's empowerment and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases; regrets that the persistence of unequal gender roles in society and the existence of a total or qualified ban on abortion poses a threat to the rights of women, especially to those from underdeveloped, rural areas; strongly condemns the reinstatement and expansion of the Global Gag Rule and its impact on women’s and girls’ global health care and rights; reiterates its call on the EU, together with its Member States, to fill the financing gap left by the USA in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights, using EU development funding;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Notes that the concept of gender mainstreaming is still often poorly understood and that qualitative reporting which would allow an evaluation of the implementation of the Gender Action Plan into existing policies and projects is lacking;welcomes the efforts made in providing training to some implementing actors;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Strongly regrets that, as per the European Parliament's study on the implementation of the GAP II, current programming appears to side-line the gender dimension in situations of crisis or difficult conflicts and that, among other outcomes, this has meant that many girls and women victims of rape in the context of war do not have access to non- discriminatory care, specifically comprehensive medical care, including abortion, despite the aim of GAP II to empower women to have control over their sexual and reproductive life;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Stresses the importance of continued implementation of the EU’s commitment to enhance girls and women’s physical and psychological integrity as one of the four pivotal areas of action, notably in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights; in this context, calls on the EEAS and the Commission to prioritize their efforts towards third countries which continue to outlaw abortion under any circumstances, namely the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Vatican City;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Calls on the Commission to systematically implement the GAP II, including in humanitarian settings where it must provide non-discriminatory access to medical services, in line with international humanitarian law; calls once again on the Commission to actively inform its humanitarian partners that the Commission's policy foresees that, in cases where the pregnancy threatens a woman’s or a girl’s life or causes unbearable suffering, international humanitarian law and/or international human rights law may justify offering a safe abortion rather than perpetuating what amounts to inhumane treatment;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8d. Recalls the obligation of the EU and the Member States to respect the rights of girls and women as migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, when implementing and developing the EU’s migration policy; in this context, calls for the reassessment of the engagement of the EUNAVFORMED Operation Sophia with the Libyan coast guards in light of the reports of systematic sexual violence against women in the detention centres on Libyan soil;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the expansion of the gender action plan to all EU external services and to the member states and notes the impoa certaint progress in shifting EU institutional cultureachieved at headquarters and delegation levels; reiterates however the need for continued improvements in coherence and coordination among EU institutions and member states while using the existing structures and budget;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Positively notes the practical steps towards culture change: placing the overall responsibility for reporting on the GAP lying with the head of delegation, an increased number of high level staff involved in the implementation of the GAP II and the appointment of an increasing number of gender champions and gender focal points in EU delegations; regrets however that only 20% of the gender focal point positions are covered and that no gender champions have been reported from fragile and conflict states; calls for more management level time to be dedicated to gender and for the remaining delegations to appoint their gender focal points. All gender focal points should be given sufficient time and capacity to carry out their tasks;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Notes that only a few recurrent components of gender equality are applied in programming and project selection;calls on implementing actors to use the whole scope of gender equality;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Strongly regrets that, as per the European Parliament's study assessment on the implementation of the GAP II, current programming appears to side-line the gender dimension in situations of crisis or difficult conflicts;and that, among other outcomes, this has meant that girls and women victims of war rape do not have access to non-discriminatory care, specifically comprehensive medical care, including abortion, despite the GAP II aiming to empower women to have control over their sexual and reproductive life;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8 c. Regrets that in a context of shrinking civil society space Objective 18 focusing on women’s rights organisations and women’s human rights defenders is receiving little attention;is concerned that the thematic priority on political and civil rights, specifically the participation of women and girls in political and civil rights, has been given little priority in GAP II implementation;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls for strengthening human resource capacity dedicated to gender mainstreaming within the Commission services through tailored training and, rearrangement of the existing structures and additional staff; suggests that increased staff training as well as a gender focal point per unit and a gender coordination group across units in DG DEVCO, DG NEAR, DGECHO and the EEAS would better help to mainstream gender across the external policy units;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Welcomes the guidance note of 8 March 2016 that outlines the resources and tools for the implementation of GAP II that applies to DG DEVCO and EEAS and calls for the implementation of a guidance note for all the European services involved in the implementation of GAP II;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10 b. Calls on the Commission to systematically implement the GAP II, including in humanitarian settings where it must provide non-discriminatory access to medical services, in line with international humanitarian law;calls once again on the Commission to actively inform its humanitarian partners that the Commission's policy foresees that, in cases where the pregnancy threatens a woman’s or a girl’s life or causes unbearable suffering, international humanitarian law and/or international human rights law may justify offering a safe abortion rather than perpetuating what amounts to inhumane treatment;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Notes that the link between trade and gender is not sufficiently addressed in the GAP II; recalls in this respect that negotiation of trade agreements could be used as an effective tool for advancing equality between women and men and calls for all EU trade agreements to include referenclabour rights chapters and specific clauses ton women’s rights and gender equality;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Calls on the EEAS to promote the role of women as peace-builders, to encourage women’s participation in leadership and decision-making process, and to place these tasks at the core of the EU Global Strategy and Political Dialogues, particularly when it comes to conflict prevention and promoting human rights and democratic reform in post- conflict reconstruction;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11 b. Welcomes the thematic priority on economic and social Empowerment and the analysis of barriers in accessing productive resources including land and the corresponding activities;reiterates that while the EU has committed to investing in gender equality in agriculture, women farmers are not primary targets of agricultural ODA and calls on the EU and its Member States to allocate more resources to women farmers, in line with Objective 5 of the GAP II;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Strongly encourages the institutions to substantially improve the ratio of women Heads of Delegations, which is now 28 women out of 138 EU delegations, and the ratio of women Heads of Missions, which is now 5 out of 17;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Calls for the establishment of a sanction system for EU delegations lacking commitment in the GAP implementation;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13 b. Notes that adequate funding on gender equality in external relations will be necessary to sustain political commitment to this goal;stresses that current funding for gender equality and women’s empowerment actions remain inadequate and urges to reverse this situation in the next MFF;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)
Paragraph 13 c (new)
13 c. Strongly condemns the reinstatement and expansion of the Global Gag Rule and its impact on women’s and girls’ global health care and rights;reiterates its call on the EU, together with its Member States, to fill the financing gap left by the US in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights, using EU development funding;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Recalls the importance of using gender mainstreaming inobligation under the treaties to apply gender mainstreaming in all EU activities, including political dialogues and across sectorial policy dialogues;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Notes that gender mainstreaming training is taking place only in some delegations and that large parts of the staff trained had contractual status with temporary assignments;calls on the EU delegations to fix this situation;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Underlines the importance of conducting systematic gender analysis, using sex-disaggregated data, with the participation of local CSOs and women’s groups; welcomes that 42 country gender analyses have been completed and encourages rapid completion for all other countries; encourages the EU to explore possibilities for sharing and managing gender analysis in a more systematic manner to help improve coordination and a far higher use of gender equality criteria in programme and project monitoring systems and evaluation processes and for gender analysis to play a role in defining country strategy objectives, programmes, projects and dialogue; encourages the EU to explore possibilities for sharing and managing gender analysis in a more systematic manner to help improve coordination and not to limit gender analysis to obvious policy fields like education and maternal health, but to consider as well policy fields, which are currently wrongly considered to be gender neutral notably agriculture, climate or energy;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Encourages European Parliament delegations in their work with their partner countries to enquire systematically about gender programming and work on promoting gender equality as well as women’s empowerment and to include meetings with women organisations (women business organisations, organisations representing female workers, organisations defending human and women rights, etc.) in the mission programmes;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Calls on the European Parliament to ensure a better gender-balanced composition of members taking part in its delegations;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20 a. Calls on the Commission to collect gender-disaggregated data in the implementation of EU financed programmes on women’s empowerment;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20 b. Recalls, however, that engendering data is more than collecting gender- disaggregated data and calls for the improvement of data collection in order to be able to make a qualitative analysis of women’s situation, for example, regarding working conditions;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 c (new)
Paragraph 20 c (new)
20 c. Stresses the need to improve the reliability of the gender analysis by harmonising the data collected by EU delegations in a manner to make it comparable;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21 a. Points that international and national partners, academia, think tanks, and women’s organisations should not only be consulted but their input and expertise should also feed into the monitoring of EU financed activities and programmes on gender equality;