News Art 13 ECT & Equality

Working Group Homepage: Art 13 ECT & Equality
Statements, including

Statements to Gender Equality Directive (2003-2004)

Statements to Recast Directive (2005)

News:

Brussels 25 April 2006: Roma women in the EU

Roma women are among the most threatened groups and individuals in the EU - particularly in the ten new Member States - and accession and candidate countries, according to the Women's Rights Committee. In a report adopted on Tuesday, the committee calls for measures to combat the extreme levels of multiple discrimination faced by these women on the grounds of both ethnicity and gender.

The report, drafted by Lívia Járóka (EPP-ED, HU), urges EU public authorities to "promptly investigate extreme human rights abuses against Roma women, to swiftly punish perpetrators, and to provide adequate compensation to victims". The committee calls on Member States to give the highest priority to measures to provide better protection for women's reproductive and sexual health, to prevent and outlaw coercive sterilisation, and provide redress for such abuse, and to promote family planning, alternative arrangements to early marriages, and sex education. It also calls for proactive measures to eliminate racially segregated maternity wards, to help victims of domestic violence and for particular vigilance regarding the trafficking of Roma women.

A number of other areas of concern are raised in the report. It urges Member States to ensure that all Roma women have access to health care, and not only, as often occurs, in the case of an extreme emergency or childbirth. Surveys show that the life expectancy of Roma women is, in some areas, shorter than that of others. Many Roma girls fail to complete primary education. Lívia Járóka says that since education "is one of the most important tools for escaping poverty, the dual discrimination faced by Romani women in the field of education means that they will have a particularly difficult time escaping poverty". The committee calls for measures at national level to ensure that women and girls have access on equal terms to quality education and for plans to end the separate, substandard education of Roma children. A further burning issue, calling for positive measures, is the very high unemployment rates among Roma women - in several places, many times higher than that of the rest of the adult female population. MEPs also urge the Member States to improve Roma housing by recognising in national law a right to adequate housing.

The situation of Roma women in candidate countries should, according to the committee, be a key criterion for evaluation states of readiness for accession to the EU. MEPs recommend that the future EU Institute for Gender Equality should have a unit dealing with Roma women in the EU and they encourage the gathering and publication of data set out by sex and ethnicity, on the situation of the Roma people, so progress can be measured.

French version will soon be available on:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/014-7554-115-04-17-902-20060424IPR07541-25-04-2006-2006-false/default_fr.htm

The report will soon be available on:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5270922"http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5270922

25/04/2006

Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
Chair : Anna ZÁBORSKÁ (EPP-ED, SK)
Procedure: Own-initiative
Plenary Debate: May II, Brussels

Strasbourg 15 March 2006: Initiatives to end sex trafficking

MEPs reaffirm their firm condemnation of trafficking in human beings, in particular of women and children for sexual purposes. In a resolution adopted today, following up last week's EP seminar on forced prostitution during sports events, MEPs propose strategies to combat this ghastly problem. The European Parliament calls for a European wide campaign to inform the general public and to reduce the demand. MEPs also propose an Anti-Trafficking Day to raise awareness on the issue of trafficking in all its aspects.
The European Parliament urges the European Commission and the Member States to launch a European-wide campaign to inform and educate the general public and particularly sports people, sports fans and supporters about the growing problem of forced prostitution during big sports events. The campaign should provide the necessary information, counselling, safe housing and legal aid to women and children and other victims forced into prostitution. MEPs agree that media and famous people from the sports world also have to be involved in the awareness raising campaign to positively influence the changes in public mentality and behaviour. They also appeal for a prevention campaign targeted at potential victims providing them with information as to their rights and where they can obtain assistance in countries of destination.
In light of the forthcoming World Football Cup, MEPs call on Member States to set up a multilingual telephone hotline and visible communication campaign to help women forced into prostitution and other victims who are isolated and unable to speak the language of the country of transit or destination. They also urge the International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA, the German Football Association and others as well as sportsmen to express support for the campaign launched by the German National Council of Women.
MEPs request the launch of an Anti-Trafficking Day starting from this year. Its aim would be to raise awareness on the issue of trafficking in all its aspects. They urge all Member States to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human beings which sets out minimum standards for the protection of the victims of trafficking in human beings for the purposes of sexual exploitation. The European Parliament also calls on the Member States which have not respected the deadline of 1 August 2004 for the implementation of Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA on combating trafficking in human beings to take immediate action. Furthermore, MEPs urge the Commission and the Council to urgently produce the assessment report as foreseen by the Framework Decision.

Resolution will soon be available on:
http://www.europarl.eu.int/activities/expert.do?language=EN#

More information about the 8 March seminar:
http://www.europarl.eu.int/comparl/femm/womensday/2006/default_en.htm

For press enquiries please contact European Parliament Press Service

Martina IOVCHEVA +32 2 28 40764

or Lena KRAFT +32 2 28 32 590

e-mail: femm-press@europarl.eu.int

Women earn 15% less than men in the EU and are still finding work/ life balance difficult - Commission report http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/224&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN

News:
More news in the Newsletter of the EP Committee on Women' s Rights

Brussels, 26.10.2004 - Fourth Report on Citizenship of the Union COM(2004)695 final (1 May 2001 - 30 April 2004) - REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION Download here

This might be an interesting Manual for you: Interrights Strategic Litigation of Race Discrimination: www.interights.org

Stakeholders seek gender equity in health, www.euractiv.com

COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAMME TO COMBAT DISCRIMINATION (2001-2006): 2005 Plan of Work and Budget Breakdown

Recent publications of the German Women Lawyers‘ Accociation DJB / Die neuesten Veröffentlichungen des Deutschen Juristinnenbundes DJB:
- Das europäische Antidiskriminierungsrecht und seine Umsetzung in Deutschland

(The European Antidiscrimination Law and ist implementation in Germany)
- Stellungnahme zur Vereinheitlichung der "EU- Gender- Richtlinien" KOM (2004)279

(Statement concerning the unification of the Gender Directives KOM(2004)279)
- Und unter Mitwirkung des DJB (with participation of the DJB):
German NGO Report on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (Bejing+5)

UK accepts CEDAW Optional Protocol to CEDAW
As part of the UK government review of human rights treaties, for the first time, the UK will accept an individual petition mechanism under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This means that people in the UK will be able to take complaints about discrimination against women directly to the UN body that monitors the treaty.
Source: Department for Constitutional Affairs, UK boost for Human Rights’, 22 July 2004 at www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=124322 and Women´s Asylum news August 2004 www.asylumaid.org.uk

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) held its 31st session in July, to formulate its response to states’ submissions on their compliance with the anti-discrimination treaty. Country reports to be considered in the session were Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Latvia, Malta and Spain. Reports of the committee on previous country submissions, which provide information on the UN’s view of women’s rights in the country and recommendations for change, are available on the CEDAW website at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/31sess.htm
Source: and Women´s Asylum news August 2004 www.asylumaid.org.uk

(The European Antidiscrimination Law and ist transposition in Germany)
- Stellungnahme zur Vereinheitlichung der "EU- Gender- Richtlinien" KOM (2004)279

The Robert Schuman Foundation’s Newest Note (The 22nd)
“EUROPE, AN OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN”
By Pascale Joannin, director of the Robert Schuman Foundation
Sixty years ago, French women cast their first vote. Since that historic moment, women have continued to fight for their independence and for the goal which they most desire: equality, both in their public and professional lives.
What then, is the situation of women in Europe? Pascale Joannin, Director of the Robert Schuman Foundation, along with Elvire Fabry, Chief Project Manager, have undertaken a comparative study focusing on the place of women in the 25 member states of the newly expanded European Union. The title of this study, the 22nd note published the by the Robert Schuman Foundation, is, “Europe, an opportunity for women.”
Source: http://www.robert-schuman.org/notes/note22.pdf

EP Background Information: BREAKDOWN OF MEN AND WOMEN MEPs:
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+BR-20040720-S+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&L=EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=X&LSTDOC=N#SECTION15

Just three of the twenty EP's top committee jobs go to women
MEPs elected the chairpersons of the twenty committees in which they will sit on 22-23 July. Only three women have made it to the Parliament's top jobs:
- Pervench Bérès (PES, France) at the head of the influential Economic and Monetary Affairs committee
- Luisa Morgantini (GUE/NGL, Italy) will chair the debates in the Development Committee
and Anna Zaborska (EPP-ED, Slovakia) at the helm of the women's rights and gender equality committee
- French MEP Héléne Flautre (Green/EFA) has also been appointed President of the Foreign Affairs subcommitte on Human Rights.
The European Parliament is expected to be the stage for hot debates on women's rights. Proponents of women's rights in Europe are up in arms after Godfrey Bloom, an MEP from the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP), said women belong in the kitchen where they "ought to clean behind the fridge properly". He went on adding that "no self respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place will ever appoint a woman while she is still of child bearing age". Bloom, who made himself available as a member of the Parliament's committee for women's rights, said he realised that his statements were not politically correct, "but this is reality".
On average, women represent about one third of the elected MEPs. Apart from Cyprus and Malta, who have not sent a single woman to the Parliament, Poland has the worst record with only 7 female MEPs out of a total of 54 MEPs (12.96 percent). Unsurprisingly, Nordic countries have sent the most women to the Parliament and Sweden is the only country whose country representatives are mostly female (57.89 %).
(See more figures, tables and links to this issue here:) Source: EurActiv Date: 23/07/2004 12:30 http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/1?204&OIDN=1508069&-tt=

New ILO report on Reconciling family and job
The year 2004 marks the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family. The ILO has taken this opportunity to highlight the problems faced by individuals with family commitments when they wish to start and hold on to a job or earn a decent living. To this end, the ILO has compiled a new report entitled How are workers with family responsibilities faring in the workplace? The report highlights the changes that have taken place during the 20th century which have led to problems in terms of care for children left at home alone, the increasing number of women in paid employment, and the rural exodus (and the resulting loss of direct contact with the extended family). Workers in sixcountries were interviewed (Botswana, the United States, Honduras, Mexico, Russia and Vietnam) and their comments help to illustrate the importance of the ILO Convention (no. 156) on workers with family responsibilities, which was adopted in 1981 but has, to date, been ratified by only 36 countries.
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtrav/pdf/wf-jh-04.pdf

Sex discrimination website goes live - Justice Minister launches new service for legal advisers
Wednesday 30 June 2004
Legal advisers in Scotland will now have on-line access to the essential information on sex discrimination and equal pay that they need to conduct a claim as Equal Opportunities Commission Scotland launches a new tailor made website.
The website, able to go live in Scotland thanks to funding from the Scottish Executive Justice Department, will give practical guidance on preparing a claim in the five areas which constitute the most widespread problems of sex discrimination; sexual harassment, equal pay, recruitment & selection, maternity and parental rights and family friendly working hours.
http://www.eoc-law-scotland.org.uk
Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Legislative Support Unit Legislative Database (Legislationline.org) Al. Ujazdowskie 19, 00-557 Warsaw legislationline@odihr.pl
www.legislationline.org

21 Jun : President of Russian Federation Ratifies Bill on CEDAW Protocol
On 21 June, it was reported that President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a federal bill on the ratification of the protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The State Duma adopted the bill on 2 June, and the Federation Council approved it on 9 June. The federal law proclaims that the CEDAW protocol signed on behalf of the Russian Federation on May 8, 2001 has been ratified. The protocol entrusts the CEDAW Committee with powers to accept and consider statements from an individual or a group of individuals on violations of their rights by a member country if national legal instruments prove to be inefficient in their cases. The protocol was submitted for ratification by President Putin. (Interfax)
Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Legislative Support Unit Legislative Database (Legislationline.org) Al. Ujazdowskie 19, 00-557 Warsaw legislationline@odihr.pl
www.legislationline.org

Following the meeting of the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities of the European Parliament I would like to inform you of the reports adopted.
-The most important report by Christa Prets (PES,A) on the proposal for a Council directive implementing the principle of equal treatment between women and men in the access to and supply of goods and services ( or directive on discrimination outside the workplace) has been adopted. A press release on the subject will be available on the website of the EP this afternoon in English (see link below). After the vote in plenary session, that will take place during the Mars II session (29.03-1.04.2004) a longer press release will be send to you. http://www.europarl.eu.int/press/index_en.htm
- The report by Rodi KRATSA (EPP,GR) on the action programme to promote organisations at European level in the field of equality between women and men has been adopted and will be voted during the plenary session March II , 29.03-1.04.2004 (a press release on the subject will be available after the vote in plenary session)
- The report by Olga ZRIHEN (PES,B) on development co-operation: promoting gender equality has been adopted (see the attachment for a press release on the subject) The debate and vote will take place during the pleanry session in March II (29.03-1.04.2004)
-The own initiative report by Marianne ERIKSSON (GUE, SV) on the impact of sex industry in the EU has been postponed and will be discussed during a special meeting of the Committee on Women's Rights on the 30th March ( I will keep you informed)
-The own initiative report by Anna Karamanou (PES,GR) on Women's in south-eastern Europe has been adopted and will be voted during the plenary session in April I (If you need a copy of the report I can send it to you)
For further information: Katarzyna Prandota tel.: 00322 28 31 0 51 E-mail: femm-press@europarl.eu.int

Chères lectrices, chers lecteurs,
Suite à la réunion de la Commission des Droits de la Femme et de l'égalité des chances du Parlement européen je me permets de vous informer brièvement sur les rapports qui ont été adoptées.
- Le plus important rapport est celui de Mme Christa Prets (PSE,A) sur l'Égalité homme-femme, discrimination sur le sexe: accès aux biens et services et fourniture de biens et services. Ce projet de nouvelle directive contre la discrimination en dehors du lieu de travail a été approuvé par la
Commission des Droits des femmes et le texte sera voté durant la session plénière de mars II ( 29.03-1.04). Ci joint veuillez trouver un communiqué de presse bref à ce sujet, une analyse plus exhaustive sera disponible après le vote en plénière.
- Le rapport de Mme Rodi KRATSA (PPE, GR) sur l' Égalité entre les femmes et les hommes: soutien aux organisations actives au niveau européen a été adopté et un communiqué de presse a ce sujet sera publié après le vote en plénière (session mars II 29.03-1.04.2004)
- La recommandation de Mme Olga ZRIHEN ZAARI (PSE,B) sur la coopération au développement: promotion de l'égalité des sexes a été adopté. Ci joint veuillez trouvez un communiqué de presse bref à ce sujet. Le vote en plénière est prévu pour la session de mars II 29.03-1.04.2004)
- Le rapport d'initiative de Mme Anna KARAMANOU (PSE,GR) sur Les femmes dans le sud-est de l'Europe a été adopté (au besoin je vous enverrai une copie de ce rapport). Il sera voté en plénière en avril I Le rapport d'initiative de Mme Marianne ERIKSSON (GUE/NGL, SV) sur L'impact de l'industrie du sexe dans l'Union européenne a été reporté à une session extraordinaire de la Commission des Droits de la femme, qui aura lieu le 30 mars ( je vous tiendrai au courant)
Pour plus d'information: Katarzyna Prandota tel.: 00322 28 31 0 51 E-mail: femm-press@europarl.eu.int

The latest statement of the German Women Lawyers Association (DJB) on the Proposal for a Gender Equality Directive concerning the Access to and Supply of Goods ans Services (in German): www.djb.de

Country reports examined by the CEDAW Committee in 2004:
- Report of Germany
- Shadow report of the NGOs
- Report of Spain

EP Reports:
- Report on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in the European Union - Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities
Report A5-0481

News from Britain: Press release: Sex and power: who runs Britain? Monday, 5 January 2004, more

EP Report:
Report on the proposal for a European Parliament and Council regulation on promoting gender equality in development co-operation (Enhanced cooperation between committees - Rule 162a) -
Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities
Report A5-0447/2003 12/12/2003

Report of Expert Meeting 10-12 October 2003 on Article 4 CEDAW Convention:
- The report
- Further information

Documents of latest NCEO meeting organised by the Italian Senate in Rome, available here

Reports from the Second European Social Forum13-16 November 2003 in Paris:
- Gender Equality and EU Accession: The Situation in the Czech Republic, WIDE
- Gender Equality and EU Accession: The Situation in Bulgaria, WIDE
- Gender Equality and EU Accession: The Situation in Poland, WIDE

Commission proposes to advance the principle of gender neutrality in the supply of goods and services more

News & Info >> General News >> (Member) Countries >> Brussels Lobby Group >> Art 13 ECT & Equality >> Asylum & Immigration & Refugee Law >> Business Law >> Criminal Law >> Family Law >> European Constitution >> Health Law & Reproductive Rights >> Gender Violence >> Trafficking >> Education on Equal Rights >> Judicial Cooperation >> News & Info