It is important that France conducts “feminist diplomacy” to improve gender equality in Europe and elsewhere, Secretary of State for EU affairs Clément Beaune said at a conference on sexual and reproductive health and rights. EURACTIV France reports.
The event, hosted on Monday (28 February), organised under the French EU Council presidency, aimed to raise awareness of the persistent discrimination still existing within the EU regarding gender equality.
French lawmakers recently adopted a bill extending the time limit for abortions from 12 to 14 weeks. But issues persist across Europe: in October 2020, Poland rendered access to abortion almost impossible, and Hungary has institutionalised discrimination against people from the LGBTQI+ community.
“We must strengthen our financial commitments, beyond Europe, to associations that defend women’s rights, particularly in Africa. This is called feminist diplomacy,” Beaune said.
“Women’s, sexual and reproductive rights are always a barometer of the state of a country’s freedoms. This subject is at the heart of the EUFP [the French EU Council presidency],” he continued.
Beaune cited Poland as an example of an EU state where such rights aren’t yet acquired.
Poland’s almost total ban on abortion was introduced in an “undemocratic way by the current authoritarian government,” said Polish MP Wanda Nowicka, who chairs the parliamentary group on women’s rights.
“The Law and Justice party (PiS) wants to stay in power. To do so, it relies on a fundamentalist electorate and the Church”, the Polish MP continued.
The rule of law is a “cornerstone of the EU” and should be a “priority” for the French EU presidency, she said. Without it, the EU would be “an empty shell without substance” which could “lose its raison d’être”, she added.
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French lawmakers on Wednesday adopted a bill extending the time limit for abortions from 12 to 14 weeks, with 135 votes in favour and 47 against.
Green MP Albane Gaillot put forward the proposal. “I salute the commitment of parliamentarians, but …
Including abortion in the EU charter
Elsewhere in Europe, access to abortion is widely allowed, except in Malta where it is completely prohibited.
But even “in some countries where abortion is allowed, women still face obstacles”, warned Croatian MEP Predrag Fred Matić of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in a video message broadcast at the conference.
Matić was the rapporteur for a resolution on women’s rights, adopted in May 2021 by the European Parliament. For his work, he recalled receiving numerous threats and intimidation and even being associated with Adolf Hitler.
However, the MEP persists in his goal of gender equality: “the adoption of the resolution was only the beginning”, he said.
On 19 January, during his speech to MEPs in Strasbourg, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his desire to include the right to abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights defending the rule of law.
“The EUFP must have a broader discussion on the rule of law, it is a strong topic,” said Beaune, who will address the issue of women’s rights with his EU counterparts at a meeting scheduled for 4 March in Arles.
“Europe is capable of moving very quickly and very strongly. It will be built despite the pressure,” he concluded.
New contraception ranking shows differences between East and West
Western Europe performed well in the latest ranking on access to contraception and information about it. On the other end, Poland remained the laggard for the second year running, scoring lower than ever and underscoring the growing east-west divide.
Istanbul Convention
The panel of experts and politicians also addressed the issue of gender violence, mentioning, in particular, the Istanbul Convention, the world’s first binding treaty against violence against women and domestic violence that opened for signature in May 2011.
Although the EU signed this convention on 13 June 2017, some states, such as Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Slovakia and Lithuania, have not signed it.
According to Anna Matteoli, director of the Information Centre on Women’s and Families’ Rights in the Bas-Rhin region, the Istanbul Convention is not enough to fight against domestic violence and violence against women.
“The EU needs to develop its own legal framework and create a European directive on the establishment of a common legal framework with minimum standards. There is a need for a feminist approach to violence, to release budgets adapted to the issues at stake in co-construction with civil society,” she argued.
Beaune said he wanted to exert political pressure to get all member states to ratify the Istanbul Convention.
He also welcomed the European Commission’s proposal to extend the list of “EU criminal offences” to include hate speech and hate crimes, such as “gender-based violence”.
“Europe must act quickly, as inequalities in access to SRHR [sexual and reproductive health and rights] remain between member states,” said Camille Butin, advocacy expert for the European Network of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), warning of the “rise of anti-choice movements”.
According to Butin, EU countries must “include SRHR more in their policy on violence against women and support civil society organisations”. EU countries have, however, included SRHR in the EU gender equality strategy for 2020-2025, the expert noted.
At the time, rapporteur Maria Noichl of the S&D group said: “We say ‘yes’ to an equal society and ‘no’ to violence against women and girls of all backgrounds. If nothing changes in the EU, it will take more than 65 years to achieve gender equality.”
Butin, for her part, said “France must work in this direction during its [EU Council] presidency”, while French Gender Equality Minister Elisabeth Moreno concluded the conference by recalling that SRHR are “fundamental human rights”.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
EU parliament demands progress in ensuring women's sexual reproductive health
The European Parliament voted in favour of a resolution on sexual reproductive health and rights of women on Thursday (24 June), calling on member states to ensure access to abortion, contraception and sexuality education.
Source: euractiv.com
