Activities of Thierry CORNILLET related to 2017/2015(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on Gender Equality in EU Trade Agreements
Amendments (15)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls ishave been United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 since 2015; whereas trade and trade liberalisation have very different impacts on women and men, which can result in fundamental shifts in gender roles, relationships and inequalities;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. having regard to the shortcomings in international law regarding respect for gender equality;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas current EU trade policy lacks a gender equality perspective, as well as obligations to enforce women´s rights conventions; whereas including a gender perspective in trade and investment policies is an essential element of an integrated sustainable development policy framework that combines social and economic measures to ensure fairer and beneficial outcomes for all; Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) lays down that ‘in all its activities, the Union shall aim to eliminate inequalities, and to promote equality, between men and women’; whereas Articles 207 and 208 TFEU lay down that the Union’s common commercial policy and policy in the field of development cooperation 'shall be conducted in the context of the principles and objectives of the Union’s external action’, and whereas these principles as set out in Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union are: democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity, the principles of equality and solidarity, and respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Emphasises the need for gender analysis and perspectives to be integrated systematically into trade and investment policies, and into the trade-related capacity building programmes of international finance institutions, donors and intergovernmental organisations, through ex-ante analysis and monitoring, with a view to overcoming the potentially negative gender impacts of different trade measures and instrumentstaken into account more fully and more systematically, through ex-ante analysis and monitoring;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Emphasises the need for mandatory periodical assessments to be made of the progress and failures in gender equality both in the European Union and in developing countries;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses the paramount importance of respecting, in accordance with SDG target 17.15, partner countries’ democratic policy space to regulate and take suitable decisions for their own national context, respond to the demands of their populations, and fulfil their human rights obligations and other international commitments, including those on gender equality; underlines the need to ensure that neither the EU's trade and investment mechanisms nor European intellectual property rights endanger the capacity of individual governments of developing countries to change their laws to include measures to promote gender equality or stronger labour and consumer rights;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses the need to enhance the participation of women and gender expertsin decision- making at all levels, particularly in trade policy-making and negotiation processes at all levels, and the fact that multi-stakeholder mechanisms should be established to reorient the trade agenda in support of a pro-poor and, so as to ensure greater gender- aware development frameworkness;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas country-specific and sector-specific assessments are of great importance; whereas women tend to be more concentrated in low-wage or low- status forms of formal and informal employment than men, leading to gender segregation in types of occupations and activities and gender gaps in wages and working conditionimportant differences exist both between countries and within countries in terms of production structures, female labour force participation rates and welfare regimes, in particular in the garment and textile manufacturing, agriculture and fisheries sectors; whereas country-specific and sector-specific gender assessments therefore bring important added value when designing trade agreements;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Insists that all EU trade agreements should include binding clauses on women’s rights, gender equality and gender mainstreaming, with an appropriate body appointed, or an explicit mechanism established,in its foreign policy the Union should promote effective rules to promote and strengthen its principles, and should establish mechanisms to monitor compliance;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas women are often less able than men to take advantage of new opportunities due to the gender-specific constraints women face, such as limited access to and control over resources (land and other assets, credit, information, technology), limited access to markets, social responsibility for unpaid domestic work, legal discrimination and discriminatory cultural norms and values.
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Acknowledges that the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP), and in particular the GSP+ system, could be improved by linking economic incentives to the effective adoption and constant monitoring of the implementation of core human and labour rights conventions, in particular on gender-related issues;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines the urgent need to work with transnational companies (TNCs) and other companies to adopt gender-sensitive binding human rights regulations on an international level to regulate transnational companies (TNCs) and other companies; wWelcomes the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for binding measuresHighlights the importance to engage trading partners in dialogue on human rights, labour, social and environmental standards in order to combat exploitation and improve working conditions for women in the export- oriented industries, in particular the garment and textile manufacturing and agriculture sectors where trade liberalisation has contributed to precarious labour rights and gender wage gaps;; calls on the Commission and all international actors to adhere to the new OECD due diligence guidelines for responsible supply chains in the garment and footwear sector.
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Underlines that the impact ofe need to assist SMEs, including women-owned business, also in the agricultural sector, in order to allow them to benefit from the growing agricultural EU exports is generally less favourable to women than to men, as emand to compete in overseas markets; Stresses that women- owned businesses would benefit from lowerging trends indicate that small farmers, many of whom are womencultural barriers, increasing market access, facilitating access to finance, mare often not in a position to compete in overseas markets;keting formation and networks, and improving capacity building and training.