Activities of Silvia COSTA related to 2012/2102(INI)
Reports (1)
REPORT on the situation of women in North Africa PDF (238 KB) DOC (146 KB)
Amendments (35)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
- having regard to the United Nations Female Genital Mutilation resolution of 20 December 2012,
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas several common gender issues, such as girls and women's rights as integral part of human rights, equal rights and compliance with international conventions are at the heart of the constitutional debates;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas at the moment the EU specific support to gender issues for the region accounts to 92 million Euros; out of which 77 million are implemented at bilateral level and 15 million at regional level;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G b (new)
Recital G b (new)
Gb. whereas among the EU bilateral programmes the most relevant is to be implemented in Morocco, with a budget of 45 millions of euros on "Promotion of equality between men and women", and that in Egypt a project of 4 million Euros is to be implemented by UN Women, while in Tunisia and Libya UN Women is implementing bilateral programmes to women in preparation of elections;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the socio-economic situation, especially the high level of youth and female unemployment, was one of the leading causes of the upheavals in the region, together with the aspiration for rights and democracy;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas many acts of sexual violence were committed on women and girls during and after the uprisings across the region, including rape and virginity tests used as a means of political pressure against women, inter alia by security forces; whereas gender-based intimidation is increasingly being used by extremist movements;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the situation of migrant women and children is even more critical due to the insecurity in some parts of the region and economic crisis;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas one fundamental issue in the constitutional debates is whether Islam should be defined in the constitution as the religion of the people or of the state, as for instance in Tunisia and in Egypt;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)
Recital L a (new)
La. whereas the December 2012 Egyptian constitutional referendum failed to secure the necessary degree of popular participation or a consensus across the board, with the result that questions have remained unanswered and there is still some latitude of interpretation regarding major constitutional issues, including women’s rights;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the authorities of the countries concerned to enshrine in their constitution the principle of equality between men and women and the prohibition of all forms of discrimination against women, the possibility of affirmative actions, and the entrenchment of women's political, economic and social rights, and to reform all existing laws that discriminate against women, including in the area of marriage, divorce, child custody, parental rights, nationality, inheritance, legal capacity, salary payment, etc., in line with international and regional instruments; and to entrench the existence of domestic mechanisms for the protection of women's rights;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the national authorities to guarantee equality between women and men in the penal codes and social security system;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recalls the importance to guarantee freedom of expression and of religion and pluralism also through the promotion of mutual respect and of inter-religious dialogue, in particular among women;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the North African countries to adopt laws and concrete measures prohibiting all forms of violence against women, including domestic and sexual violence and sexual harassment; stresses the importance of the protection of victims and of the provision of specific services; welcome the recent campaign against domestic violence launched by the Tunisian Minister for Women and Family Affairs;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses the importance of fighting impunity with respect to all violence against women, by ensuring that such crimes are effectively investigated, prosecuted and punished and that all women have full access to justice with no religion and/or ethnic based discriminations; recalls also that all those forming part of the judicial system should receive adequate training in existing legislation and the treatment of victims of such crimes;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Condemns the use of sexual violence before, during and after the uprisings and its continuous use as a form of political pressure, calls on national justice systems to persecute these crimes with adequate measures, and stresses that the International Criminal Court could intervene if no judicial action is possible at national level;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Underline the importance of a gender sensitive transitional justice system and of specific gender based trainings for justice operators and security forces;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Condemns the practice of Female Genital Mutilation that, in particular in some areas of Egypt, is still in use and calls on the national authorities to reinforce the implementation of the ban and to the Commission to provide programmes aiming to the rooting out also through the involvement of NGOs and through health education;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Commends those states where the legal age of marriage for girls has been raised over the past decades (16 in Egypt, 18 in Morocco and 20 in Tunisia and Libya) and condemns any attempt to lower it again as early marriages are not only detrimental to girls' rights, health and education but also perpetuate poverty, negatively affecting economic growth;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines the need to strengthen access to health and social protection and services for women and girls, particularly with regard to maternal and reproductive health;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Emphasises that women's active participation in public life, as protesters, voters, candidates and elected representatives, shows their willingness to obtainexercise full citizenship; calls, therefore, for the adoption of all the necessary measures, including quotas, to ensure women's participation in decision-making at all levels of government (from local to national, from executive to legislative powers);
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Stresses the importance of bringing more women into peace negotiation, mediation, internal reconciliation and peace building processes;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Commends those countries, like Tunisia, where efforts in favour of girls' education have been stepped up; reaffirms, nevertheless, that better access to education, and especially to higher education and remedial-catch up education, should be provided for women and girls; points out that some efforts remain to be done to eradicate women's illiteracy, in Morocco for example, and that emphasis should be placed on vocational training including courses to promote women's digital literacy; recommends the inclusion of gender equality in the education curricula;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Highlights that much more should be done to ensure women's economic independence and encourage their participation in economic affairs, including in the agricultural and service sector; considers that exchanges of best practice should be fostered at regional level between entrepreneurs, trade unions and civil society, in particular to support those women who are most vulnerable in rural and poor urban areas;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Recommends that steps be taken to monitor the process of women's empowerment, including with regard to respect for their rights as workers, in particular in industrial and service sectors, in rural and industrial urban areas, and to promote female entrepreneurship and equal pay;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Believes that micro-finance is a very useful tool to empower women and young women, and recalls that investing in women often means investing in families and in communities and helps to eradicate poverty; recalls that micro-finance goes beyond credit and also implies management, financial and commercial advise and saving schemes;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Underlines the importance to address the programmes and the actions for women empowerment in this region along three levels of interventions: the first one at institutional level pushing for gender equality through reforms in the legal framework and new pieces of legislation, providing also technical support, the second one supporting civil society organisations that can advocate in favour of women's rights and increase their participation in the decision making process and the third one working directly at local communities level, especially in rural areas, aiming at changing social behaviours and traditions and opening spaces for women in the social, economic and political life in their communities;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls on the Commission to continue and to strengthen the mainstreaming of gender issues in the various EU interventions regardless their core topic and encourage the Commission to continue the cooperation with international organisations as implementers, such as with UN Women;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Calls on the HR/VP to deepen the dialogue with Arab regional institutions to ensure they play a leading role in mainstreaming women's rights and related policies across the region;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 c (new)
Paragraph 16 c (new)
16c. Calls on the HR/VP and the Commission to implement the joint work programme on cooperation signed with the League of Arab Sates, in particular regarding women empowerment and human rights;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 d (new)
Paragraph 16 d (new)
16d. Calls on the Commission to reinforce the financial envelope dedicated to provide support to women in the region. This support should continue to take into account both the specificities of each country and the common problems affecting them at regional level, as political and economic ones, looking for complementarities of regional programmes with bilateral ones;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Considers that women's rights and gender equality should be assessed in the commitments made by partners in accordance with the ‘more for more’ principle of the renewed Neighbourhood Policy, and clear criteria should be developed to guarantee and monitor the progresses;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Calls on the EU Special Representative for Human Rights to pay special attention to women's rights in North Africa, in line with the reviewed EU Human Rights Strategy;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Calls on the HR/VP and the Commission to address discrimination of women workers' rights in the labour law when holding political and policy dialogue with North African countries;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls on the HR/VP and the Commission to guarantee an enabling environment for civil society to freely operate and participate in democratic changes when holding political and policy dialogue with North African countries;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Calls on the Commission to ensure full transparency in trade negotiations, including on all background information, based on which trade agreements are proposed; stresses that women's groups and civil society organisations should be actively engaged all along the process;