REPORT on the EU Gender Action Plan III
11.2.2022 - (2021/2003(INI))
Committee on Development
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
Rapporteur: Chrysoula Zacharopoulou
MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION
on the EU Gender Action Plan III
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) of 18 December 1979, and to General recommendation No. 30 on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women of 18 October 2013,
– having regard to the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women, and to the outcomes of its review conferences,
– having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its entry into force in the EU on 21 January 2011 in accordance with Council Decision 2010/48/EC of 26 November 2009 concerning the conclusion, by the European Community, of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities[1],
– having regard to the Commission communication of 3 March 2021 entitled ‘Union of Equality: Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030’ (COM(2021)0101),
– having regard to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in September 2015, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) thereof, in particular goals 1, 4, 5, 8, 10 and 17,
– having regard to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Equal Remuneration Convention No. 100 of 1951,
– having regard to the ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention No. 111 of 1958,
– having regard to the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention No. 190 of 2019,
– having regard to the ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation No. 202 of 2012,
– having regard to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war of 12 August 1949,
– having regard to UN Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013), 2242 (2015), 2467 (2019) and 2493 (2019) on women, peace and security,
– having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) of 11 May 2011,
– having regard to the Council of Europe Conventions on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings of 16 May 2005 and on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of 25 October 2007,
– having regard to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in 1994 in Cairo, to its programme of action and the outcomes of its review conferences, and to the 2019 Nairobi Summit (ICPD+25) celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Cairo conference,
– having regard to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development of July 2015,
– having regard to the joint EU-UN Spotlight Initiative aimed at eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls,
– having regard to Articles 2 and 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and to Articles 8, 153(1) and 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),
– having regard to Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
– having regard to the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy of June 2016,
– having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security of 25 November 2020 entitled ‘EU Gender Action Plan (GAP) III – an ambitious agenda for gender equality and women’s empowerment in EU external action 2021-2025’ (JOIN(2020)0017), and to the accompanying Joint Staff Working Document entitled ‘Objectives and Indicators to frame the implementation of the Gender Action Plan III (2021-25)’ (SWD(2020)0284),
– having regard to the communication from the Commission of 11 December 2019 on the European Green Deal (COM(2019)0640),
– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/522 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 March 2021 establishing a Programme for the Union’s action in the field of health (‘EU4Health Programme’) for the period 2021-2027, and repealing Regulation (EU) No 282/2014[2],
– having regard to the UN Secretary-General’s policy brief entitled ‘The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’ of 9 April 2020,
– having regard to the UN Population Fund report entitled ‘Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Family Planning and Ending Gender-based Violence, Female Genital Mutilation and Child Marriage’, published on 27 April 2020,
– having regard to the World Health Organization (WHO) global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem launched in November 2020,
– having regard to the Commission communication of 5 March 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0152),
– having regard to the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders,
– having regard to the EU Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) 2019-2024 of 5 July 2019,
– having regard to the Generation Equality Forum held from 29 to 31 March 2021 in Mexico City and from 30 June to 2 July 2021 in Paris, and to the commitments announced to accelerate progress in the achievement of gender equality worldwide, as well as to the ‘Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality’ and the new ‘Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action’ launched as a result of the Forum,
– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/947 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 June 2021 establishing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe[3],
– having regard to its resolution of 31 May 2018 on the implementation of the Joint Staff Working Document (SWD(2015)0182) – Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations 2016-2020[4],
– having regard to its resolution of 12 February 2020 on an EU strategy to put an end to female genital mutilation around the world[5],
– having regard to its resolution of 13 February 2020 on the EU priorities for the 64th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women[6],
– having regard to its resolution of 23 October 2020 on Gender Equality in EU’s foreign and security policy[7],
– having regard to its resolution of 21 January 2021 on the gender perspective in the COVID-19 crisis and post-crisis period[8],
– having regard to its resolution of 21 January 2021 on closing the digital gender gap: women’s participation in the digital economy[9],
– having regard to its resolution of 24 June 2021 on the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) (Nairobi Summit)[10],
– having regard to its resolution of 24 June 2021 on the situation of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the EU, in the frame of women’s health[11],
– having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on International Trade and the Committee on Budgets,
– having regard to the joint report of the Committee on Development and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A9-0025/2022),
A. whereas gender equality is a value upheld by the European Union and a fundamental and universal human right;
B. whereas gender-based violence in all its forms, particularly femicide, is the most extreme form of gender inequality; whereas gender-based violence is to be understood as an extreme form of discrimination and a violation of human rights;
C. whereas it is necessary to uphold women’s rights and to take steps to combat all forms of exploitation, violence, oppression and inequality between women and men; whereas preventing gender-based violence requires challenging the gender norms that perpetuate inequalities and translating this into the adoption and implementation of effective legislative measures and reforms, among other measures;
D. whereas gender-based violence is both a cause and a consequence of structural inequalities and the lack of an equal distribution of power; whereas combating violence requires an understanding of its causes and contributing factors; whereas gender inequality is deeply engrained in societal values built upon gender stereotypes; whereas engaging men and boys for gender equality is both a goal and a prerequisite to achieving sustainable and effective equality;
E. whereas violence against women and girls manifests itself in different and not mutually exclusive forms, including cyberviolence; whereas according to estimates, more than half (58 %) of 14 000 women and girls in 31 countries have been harassed and abused online;
F. whereas women with intersecting identities and vulnerabilities face an increased risk of violence and harassment;
G. whereas the EU and the UN have launched the Spotlight Initiative with a view to combating violence, including sexual violence, against women and girls;
H. whereas prostitution is a serious form of violence and exploitation that mostly affects women and children; whereas the root causes of prostitution are bound up with socio-economic phenomena such as unemployment, economic hardship and poverty; whereas the Member States need to increase funding for social support and access to public services for victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation, with psychological and social support from specialists, and to introduce social and economic policies designed to help vulnerable women and girls to leave prostitution, in particular by securing them jobs that actually lead to their social inclusion;
I. whereas with regard to healthcare services and services relating to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), access must be universal; whereas health rights, in particular sexual and reproductive health rights, are fundamental women’s rights that should be strengthened and cannot in any way be watered down or withdrawn; whereas a certain discourse that threatens the upholding of sexual and reproductive rights both within and outside the EU is on the rise;
J. whereas women in all their diversity face intersecting structural discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion or belief, disability, health, socio-economic background, birth status, age, class, refugee or migration status and sexual orientation and gender identity, which needs to be acknowledged as a barrier to the full enjoyment of fundamental rights;
K. whereas it is essential to global knowledge and governance to collect disaggregated and quantifiable data on gender inequality, taking into account intersectional factors;
L. whereas women’s and girls’ rights are under threat and the space for civil society organisations (CSOs), especially those defending women rights, as well as feminist and grassroots organisations, is shrinking in many countries both within and outside the EU; whereas a worrying backlash against women’s and LGBTQI+ rights is being observed throughout the world and involves limiting SRHR and banning sexuality education and gender studies;
M. whereas empowering and providing adequate funding to CSOs defending the rights of women and girls in partner countries is vital to generate new societal attitudes and a consensus that facilitate gender equality; whereas the active involvement of women’s organisations on the ground is essential for the successful implementation of GAP III;
N. whereas women and girls are disproportionately affected by the increasing number of emergency situations such as those that result from armed conflicts, natural disasters and climate change;
O. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown measures have had a serious impact on women and girls and have exacerbated existing gender inequalities, particularly impacting access to education and healthcare, especially SRHR, as well as work-life balance; whereas this is resulting in an increase in gender-based violence and social and economic inequalities;
P. whereas the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women; whereas some 70 % of the social and health workers fighting COVID-19 on the front line, whether nurses, doctors or cleaners, are women; whereas women who are working from home, unemployed or working part-time have come under even greater pressure, as they have continued to perform the majority of household chores and family care tasks; whereas the available data suggests that the number of women victims of violence and/or harassment rose during the COVID-19 lockdown;
Q. whereas there is a lack of women students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields of study;
R. whereas equal representation, participation and influence of women and men in political life is a precondition for a truly democratic society; whereas the constructive participation of women and girls in conflict prevention, resolution and reconstruction makes for a more sustainable peace;
S. whereas measures to combat inequalities will be of fundamental importance to the post‑pandemic recovery; whereas girls’ and women’s participation, representation and leadership should be a priority when designing, implementing and evaluating such measures;
T. whereas achieving respect for human dignity and gender equality is still a challenge; whereas no country in the world will come close to achieving gender equality before 2030;
U. whereas GAP III should be the framework for an active contribution of EU external action in the fight against gender inequality; whereas GAP III should be fully implemented as a key instrument to deter discrimination and marginalisation, and to ensure women’s and girls’ rights and dignity, advocating the mainstreaming of gender issues in all international cooperation programmes and the integration of gender equality in national plans and strategies, in collaboration with local partners and CSOs;
V. whereas there should be a more strategic, coordinated and systematic approach to how the EU and the Member States work together on gender issues in partner countries; whereas EU missions and delegations are in the front line of efforts to implement GAP III, and the expertise of delegation and mission staff is a key element for its successful implementation; whereas the Commission should provide delegations with technical assistance in getting started with the country level implementation plans (CLIPs);
1. Welcomes the new EU Gender Action Plan III for 2021-2025 and its call for a gender‑equal world, as a continuation of, and building on, the work, the lessons learned and the achievements of GAP II; welcomes GAP III’s improvement, commitments and comprehensive objectives, in particular its upgrading from a working document to a joint communication, as Parliament called for in its resolution of 23 October 2020 on Gender Equality in EU’s foreign and security policy;
2. Welcomes the inclusive nature of the consultation process undertaken to inform the drafting of GAP III and the reflection therein of recommendations provided by Parliament, the Member States, EU gender focal points and, in particular, women’s rights civil society organisations (WCSOs);
3. Deplores the fact that the Council has failed to achieve unanimity on conclusions, owing to objections from four Member States to the word ‘gender’, thereby obstructing the formal endorsement of the Action Plan, and stresses that this shows clear signs of the backlash against gender equality and women’s rights; reiterates its call for the establishment of a new Council configuration on gender equality bringing together EU ministers and secretaries of state responsible for gender equality in order to facilitate gender mainstreaming across all EU policies, including foreign and security policy and development policy; calls for efforts to be made towards a joint EU position and for strong action to univocally denounce the backlash against gender equality;
4. Points out that the EU has an important role to play in achieving a gender‑equal world through supporting partner countries to address gender discrimination; calls for the EU to lead by example and urges the six Member States which still have not ratified and implemented the Istanbul Convention to do so in the shortest possible time frame; calls on the European External Action Service (EEAS) to promote the ratification of the Istanbul Convention within its political dialogue with Council of Europe partner countries;
5. Strongly condemns the withdrawal of Turkey from the Istanbul Convention; considers that the denunciation of the Istanbul Convention is another step that questions the status of Turkey as a candidate for membership of the EU;
More effective EU commitment and efficient implementation
6. Calls for full implementation and prioritisation of GAP III in every aspect of EU external action through a gender-transformative and intersectional approach, both in terms of GAP III’s geographical coverage and areas of action, as well as gender mainstreaming in all areas of external action, whether trade, development policy, humanitarian aid, security or sectors such as energy and agriculture; reiterates that actions to implement GAP III have to be guided by the need to address the root causes of gender inequalities, and allow for the meaningful participation and inclusion of men, women and disadvantaged groups, and that limited funding and understaffing are among the fundamental obstacles to implementing EU objectives on gender equality and gender mainstreaming; reiterates that any effort to achieve the goals of GAP III must take into account the diversity of women; recalls that GAP III should ensure Policy Coherence for Development through systematic gender impact assessments in order to avoid any negative impacts of EU policies on women’s and girls’ rights and gender equality; calls on the Commission to provide the necessary practical and political tools to ensure the smooth translation of GAP III’s principles into actions and practice; calls for the EU to be ambitious in promoting goals that bring about the observance of human rights and real gender equality among the external partners with which the EU seeks to work;
7. Calls for the establishment of an extensive and comprehensive training programme to underpin the implementation of GAP III, in particular on gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting and gender impact assessments, as well as on gender-based violence; stresses the need to invest in knowledge, resources and in-house expertise on gender equality in EU delegations in order for them to be able to implement GAP III adequately; calls for these training programmes to be tailored as much as possible to the local and national context in which GAP III is being implemented; calls for these training courses and related tools to be made freely and easily available to interested local partners;
8. Stresses the need for a regular, external and independent assessment of GAP III’s results, at every level and every stage, against the targeted and measurable objectives set and for the input of civil society, NGOs and other relevant stakeholders on the ground to be taken into account in a transparent and inclusive way; calls for the systematic implementation of rigorous gender analysis and the use of gender-sensitive and sex-disaggregated indicators and statistics; insists that the assessment of GAP III should evaluate the implementation of all EU policies relevant to EU external action; calls for GAP III to incorporate clear tools to track the total amount of gender equality spending and assess the qualitative impact of these initiatives in terms of promoting gender equality; expects the missing specific and measurable baselines, indicators, actions and targets to be added to the Working Document without further delay, together with the respective roadmaps and timelines for all objectives; stresses the importance of the Global Europe instrument’s programming exercise as a unique opportunity to operationalise GAP III’s targets;
9. Calls on the EU missions and delegations, the Member States, partner countries and local and regional governments to cooperate closely in the implementation of GAP III using all diplomatic and programmatic tools at their disposal, through proper guidance developed and shared through the delegations; recalls the key importance of the gender focal points and calls for their role and visibility to be strengthened; welcomes the introduction of the CLIPs and insists that all CLIPs be made public and translated in order to ensure accessibility for local civil society and grass roots organisations;
10. Calls on the Commission to strengthen synergies with the UN, partner countries and international stakeholders, to jointly advance and reach international targets related to gender equality in Agenda 2030 and its SDGs, in the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action, and in the Programme of Action of the ICPD and its review conferences;
11. Calls for close ties to be established with local CSOs, especially those working to defend the rights of women and girls, including those from vulnerable communities, and with ministries, regional and local governments in partner countries in order to enhance the effectiveness and country ownership of the implementation of GAP III and its CLIPs; calls, further, for an annual policy and political dialogue with the European Parliament regarding GAP III implementation, encompassing stakeholders and, in particular, local authorities, civil society and women’s organisations; reiterates its call on the EU missions and delegations to engage in a meaningful dialogue with CSOs and to provide and exchange information about the way their input was used and translated into gender policies;
12. Welcomes the focus of GAP III on young people as drivers of change; calls for the EU to ensure that women and girls, as well as women rights and grassroots organisations, particularly girl- and youth-led organisations and women-led frontline humanitarian responders, participate meaningfully and play a leading role in the implementation of GAP III in their countries, through funding and training; reiterates the importance and added value of the expertise of, and long-term engagement with, local activists, grassroots organisations and/or other experts and relevant stakeholders on gender issues, so that gender projects are adapted to the local socio-economic and cultural context;
13. Calls for stronger and systematic collaboration between the stakeholders involved in the implementation of GAP III, including between the Commission Directorates-General; strongly encourages the Member States and EU delegations to consider local and regional governments as key actors in development policy, as they are the democratic level closest to the citizens and are best placed to promote gender equality and sustainable development; stresses the need to work closely with rural communities and community leaders to foster the reach of gender equality programmes everywhere;
14. Calls for the inclusion of a specific target for funding women’s rights organisations and civil society; calls for multiannual, flexible, direct, adequate and sufficient funding for local CSOs and networks in all their diversity, especially those working to defend the rights of women, girls and other vulnerable communities, and human rights organisations working to improve the legal framework of countries; calls on the Commission to come forward with simplified funding mechanisms and practices to allow smaller, grassroots organisations to access EU funding for gender equality; condemns all moves to clamp down on women’s rights activists, including women human rights defenders, and urges all governments to protect, support and cooperate with civil society;
15. Stresses that women human rights defenders are in an extremely vulnerable position, especially in conflict areas and in conflict and post-conflict situations; welcomes the call to collaborate with and promote a safe environment for women human rights defenders and calls on the Commission to protect them through adequate actions and mechanisms, together with allocating dedicated resources to EU delegations;
16. Calls on EU delegations to strictly implement the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders in relation to activists defending the rights of women, especially regarding the duties to report on governmental bodies responsible for violations of human rights and to provide legal pathways to activists when and as needed; calls on the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) to report annually to Parliament on the implementation of the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders;
17. Underlines that sufficient funding through the EU programming process is needed for the effective implementation of GAP III; calls strongly for GAP III to be more closely coordinated with other initiatives, such as the Spotlight Initiative, whose budget should be increased, while its effectiveness needs to be improved in line with its recent mid-term assessment, and by drawing lessons from the new context created by the COVID-19 pandemic; welcomes the Spotlight Initiative and its aim of eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls; calls for the funds allocated to the Spotlight Initiative to be renewed after the current programme ends in 2022, and for the programme to be prolonged throughout the whole multiannual financing period and across sub-regions;
18. Underlines that SDG 5 is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, and that this goal must be mainstreamed into the various areas in which the EU is empowered to act; deplores the fact that SDG 5 is one of the three least well-funded SDGs; notes with appreciation that GAP III considers gender equality to be a cross-cutting priority of EU external action in its policy and programming work; reiterates the need for gender mainstreaming to be appropriately integrated across all sectors of EU external action, and that the priorities of Global Europe in partner countries, as well as Team Europe Initiatives, should be gender transformative, in accordance with GAP III, and especially in the case of humanitarian aid;
19. Welcomes the fact that 85 % of all new external actions will be required to incorporate gender as a significant or principal objective; welcomes the Commission’s aim of having gender equality as the main objective of 5 % of its new external action programmes; further welcomes the inclusion of at least one initiative per country with gender equality as its main objective; recalls that the 5 % target was already achieved in 2019 and calls for greater ambition, increased support and concrete earmarked funding for gender-targeted initiatives to be included in GAP III; calls for 20 % of official development aid (ODA) in each country to be allocated to programmes with gender equality as one of their principal objectives; calls for the establishment of a specific target of 85 % of the EU’s ODA funding being dedicated to programmes which have gender equality as a principal or significant objective; expects, and therefore calls for, the EU and the Member States to commit to no ODA being spent on projects that could reverse or harm gender equality achievements; stresses that the objectives set should also be quantified in terms of dedicated funding and not just as a percentage of the overall programmes;
20. Urges the Commission and the EEAS to lead by example and focus on their own internal structures; stresses the importance of gender-responsive leadership in achieving gender equality and the proper implementation of GAP III; welcomes the commitment to ensure gender-balanced management in the EEAS’s headquarters (HQ) and in external Commission services, EU delegations and common security and defence policy (CSDP) missions; regrets the fact, however, that the EEAS is far from achieving the target of 50 % women in management positions and calls on the current VP/HR to fully implement gender equality at all levels as planned; welcomes the commitment to introduce gender equality and GAP III training for all managers at HQ and EU delegations, and calls for this measure to be mandatory and extended to all staff working in EU external action;
21. Notes that the EEAS should take the lead in making gender a key component of external action, and that it should incentivise and politically back the EU delegations to do the same at partner country level; stresses the need for the mission letters and job descriptions of Heads of Delegation to include specific reference to gender equality, implementing GAP III, and the importance of EU delegations and Member States systematically working together and consulting each other in order to ensure the full integration of the GAP and its gender-transformative, human rights-based, intersectional approach into the planning of the multiannual indicative programmes; welcomes GAP III’s commitment to ensure that that all EU delegation and HQ external services have Gender Advisors / Gender Focal Persons/Points (GFP) but stresses the need for these positions to be full-time and to be equipped with sufficient resources to perform their tasks; calls once again for gender advisers also to be appointed in military CSDP missions;
22. Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to collect relevant human resources data, disaggregated by gender, to assess the numbers of nominations, shortlisted candidates, selections, contract extensions and length of deployment, among other criteria, and to track progress, as well as to conduct systematised interviews with women and people belonging to disadvantaged groups about their reasons for leaving posts;
23. Regrets the fact that the important issue of diversity has been grouped into the role of the EEAS Advisor on Gender and Diversity, and calls on the EEAS to accord the necessary importance to both gender equality and the WPS Agenda, as well as to diversity and inclusion, and to establish one role for each of these issues, and to strengthen these roles, their mandates, resources and powers; calls for the appointment of a dedicated gender adviser in each EEAS directorate, reporting directly to the EEAS Advisor on Gender and Diversity, and to encourage their staff to work closely with the European Institute for Gender Equality;
24. Stresses that gender equality is a human right, crucial to sustainable development and smart economies, benefiting both women and men, in all their diversity, including the LGBTQI+ community; notes that gender inequality is exacerbated by other forms of inequality; stresses that inequalities have far-reaching socio-economic consequences for societies as a whole and that this should be taken into account by change-resistant stakeholders; emphasises that all EU commitments will be more effective if EU action takes an intersectional approach to gender equality; reiterates the call for all EU action to take into account intersecting identities and to recognise that women and girls in all their diversity are not affected equally by gender inequalities;
25. Welcomes the inclusion of intersectionality as a core principle of GAP III, but regrets the lack of targets, indicators and specific actions in order to implement it; emphasises the commitment of the Commission and the EEAS to protect and enable LGBTQI+ people to assert their rights around the world;
26. Welcomes the reference made in GAP III to the potential of the EU accession process to promote gender equality in candidate and potential candidate countries; stresses the need for a strong policy dialogue and technical assistance to bring gender equality into the enlargement and neighbourhood policies; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to make further use of accession negotiations as leverage to make enlargement deliver for women;
27. Welcomes the fact that GAP III addresses the extreme vulnerability of migrant women and girls; calls for particular attention to be paid to the situation of women and girls on the move, on migration routes or in camps, and specifically calls for their access to water, sanitation and hygiene, SRHR and maternal healthcare to be guaranteed;
Seven areas of action
Eliminating all forms of gender-based violence
28. Welcomes the fact that the first area of engagement of GAP III focuses on eliminating all forms of gender-based violence; calls for enhanced, coordinated and holistic action to combat femicide, and all types of gender-based violence online and offline, to be stepped up, particularly in conflict and emergency situations where women and girls are in more vulnerable situations, and focusing on women and girls who are more likely to be victims of violence such as women and girls with disabilities; stresses the need to work with partner countries with a view to criminalising all forms of gender-based violence;
29. Calls for urgent action to address the root causes of violence against women and girls, with a gender-transformative and intersectional approach, especially considering the substantial increase in femicide and other forms of gender-based violence in the context of the pandemic; welcomes the Commission’s focus on promoting prevention by challenging harmful gender norms; stresses, in this regard, that it is essential to work with partner countries and CSOs to combat gender stereotypes in every aspect of social life; calls on EU delegations and Member States to deploy all possible diplomatic means to promote the adoption of legislation providing for structural gender equality in every aspect;
30. Recalls that mandatory training for all staff in the EEAS, the Commission, EU delegations and CSDP missions and operations should comprise comprehensive programmes for the identification of victims of conflict-related sexual and/or gender-based violence, as well as prevention programmes, in addition to training for all EU staff, including military and police staff; urges the EU to exercise all possible leverage to ensure that the perpetrators of mass rapes in warfare are reported, identified, prosecuted and punished in accordance with international criminal law; recalls that the Rome Statute provides a permanent legal framework to extensively address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) as a crime against humanity and calls, therefore, for the EU to actively support the independent and essential activity of the International Criminal Court both politically and financially; welcomes the inclusion of SGBV within the criteria for the imposition of sanctions in the framework of the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, and encourages Member States to make effective use of it;
31. Stresses that forced and child marriage is a human rights violation which makes girls particularly vulnerable to violence and abuse; points out that female genital mutilation (FGM) is internationally recognised as a human rights violation, with 200 million victims worldwide and 500 000 victims in the EU alone, and at least three million girls are at risk of genital mutilation every year; underlines that FGM and forced marriage are an affront to the dignity of women as persons; calls for integrated action to raise awareness of and prevent FGM and forced marriages, particularly in conflict and emergency contexts; calls on the Commission to ensure a coherent long-term approach to stopping FGM both within and outside the EU by improving synergies between internal and external EU programmes; reiterates its call to incorporate FGM prevention measures into all policy areas in its external action;
32. Points out that the victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation are mainly women and girls; calls for greater leadership and monitoring from the Commission and the Member States, and increased international cooperation to end the above-mentioned harmful practices resulting in such forms of enslavement; recalls that the vulnerability of women to trafficking and sexual exploitation is exacerbated during times of economic hardship, armed conflict and emergency situations; calls for further integration of the fight against trafficking of women and girls into the objectives of GAP III and for increased synergies with the EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings (2021-2025);
Ensuring access to healthcare for women and sexual and reproductive rights
33. Reiterates that SRHR are human rights and constitute fundamental elements of human dignity and women’s empowerment; expresses concern at the backlash against gender equality and women’s rights, and the rise of misogynistic conservative rhetoric and organised religious and other groupings, which is threatening to undermine, among other things, access to SRHR both inside and outside the European Union; stresses that legislative rollbacks on abortion undermine the protection of women’s health, rights and dignity, and put the most socially and economically vulnerable women at a greater risk; notes that the EU should be a leading example worldwide in terms of promoting SRHR, free from coercion, violence, discrimination and abuse; calls, therefore, on all Member States to ensure universal access to SRHR in their territories;
34. Deplores the fact that access to sexual and reproductive health, including safe and legal abortion, has been seriously curtailed and often criminalised in many regions worldwide; stresses that poor, rural and minority women are the main victims; underlines the need to focus on all age groups, including girls and younger women, and provide relevant information, education and access to SRHR, including pre-natal care, safe and legal abortion and contraception; stresses the importance of continuing to challenge the discriminatory norms that make it difficult for women, girls and LGBTQI+ people to enjoy their SRHR, as well as stereotypes that lead to discrimination against marginalised women during childbirth;
35. Stresses the importance of improving the availability of contraception methods in partner countries, especially for adolescent girls; affirms that all women and adolescent girls are entitled to make their own free and informed choices with regard to their SRHR; recalls that the quality of maternal healthcare is an important indicator of the development of a country; believes that the EU should help partner countries to uphold the right to health in the context of pregnancy and childbirth through the establishment of decent maternal health services that effectively decrease infant mortality and deaths related to complications during childbirth;
36. Calls for GAP III to give a high priority to gender equality and SRHR in the EU and Member States’ humanitarian aid response, as well as accountability and access to justice and redress for sexual and reproductive rights violations and gender-based violence, both in terms of providing training to humanitarian actors and of funding;
37. Calls for GAP III to attach greater importance to SRHR, given the serious repercussions the pandemic has had on women and girls in partner countries, and for adequate, flexible continuous and targeted funding to be coordinated and allocated to them when programming the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe; calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to consider SRHR as a priority in the EU’s external action programming process, including in joint programming; underlines the crucial role of non-governmental organisations as service providers and advocates for SRHR;
38. Stresses the importance of SRHR with regard to women’s and girls’ bodies and their autonomy, and urges that SRHR be treated as public health issues accessible to all without discrimination; calls for universal access to comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education (CSE), effective contraception, prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections, and safe and legal abortion; calls for CSE programmes to address interpersonal relationships, sexual orientation, gender equality, gender norms, the prevention of gender-based violence and consent, and to provide information about puberty, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and childbirth, contraception and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases;
39. Highlights the need to take age into account in SRHR-related actions, for example by ensuring accessible, youth-friendly information and services; stresses that the EU should promote partner countries including these issues in their national public health plans; calls for the EU and the Member States to commit to GAP III’s objectives on SRHR and to prepare ‘country-level implementation plans’ prioritising SRHR;
40. Stresses the need to encourage access to education at all levels and in all circumstances with a view to reducing early marriage, teenage pregnancy and economic dependency; calls for increased efforts to prevent absenteeism in order to enable girls who become mothers to return to school and complete their education and be included in the labour market;
41. Calls for measures to prevent girls from missing school during their periods by improving water sanitation, hygiene services and menstrual hygiene facilities on school premises and by tackling period poverty and combating stigmatisation in this area, including working with women, girls and men and boys; calls for greater synergies between programmes addressing health, SRHR and water, sanitation and hygiene services in schools and personal support for girls;
42. Draws attention to the intersectional inequalities and disparities between women and men regarding access to healthcare and the quality of the healthcare provided, taking into account the lack of gender-responsive healthcare and services; calls for universal access to facilities for information on, and to the prevention, diagnosis, care and treatment of, female diseases, such as endometriosis and cervical cancer, and sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV; calls for the European Union to support the implementation of the WHO’s global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer;
43. Calls on the partner countries to adequately fund and strengthen their public health systems and to carry out research into women’s health worldwide in order to advance knowledge of gender and sex-related issues in the areas of disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research; further calls for the public’s awareness of gender-related health issues to be raised;
44. Stresses the need for Member States to adopt a public health policy that places special emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention by guaranteeing universal and high-quality healthcare and ensuring the availability of the necessary resources to combat the main public health problems;
Promoting economic and social rights and equality, and ensuring the autonomy of women and girls
45. Reiterates that the crisis and the economic and social consequences resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic are disproportionally affecting women’s access to the labour market; stresses the importance and the need for the EU to support the development and inclusion of an intersectional gender dimension in all COVID-19 recovery plans in partner countries and Team Europe initiatives; emphasises the need for a gender-sensitive response to COVID-19 in the implementation of GAP III in order to take account of the unique circumstances of women and girls and to stimulate post-crisis opportunities; calls on the Commission to mainstream the gender dimension and include gender-transformative actions in all measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic in partner countries, including in recovery plans and measures, and to support projects, including financial projects, in such a way as to include gender equality; stresses that new forms of financing such as gender bonds could kick-start national economies while empowering women;
46. Takes the view that work is central to tackling inequality; supports collective bargaining as a means not only to enhance working conditions but also to tackle inequality between men and women;
47. Welcomes the fact that the Commission intends to require compliance with the relevant ILO and UN conventions regarding gender equality in its upcoming review of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Regulation; calls on the Commission to effectively include gender equality in all Trade and Sustainable Development chapters and to ensure that trade and investment do not exacerbate gender inequality; stresses that all impact assessments linked to trade should take into account CSOs’ views;
48. Stresses that financial support for women must be accompanied by training, access to information, upskilling and awareness-raising on their fundamental rights;
49. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to work with partner countries to prevent and tackle harassment of women at work, as well as to promote the ratification of the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention (No. 190);
50. Calls for GAP III to promote women’s economic activity and their access to the necessary economic and social tools, and resources and social protection, especially in emergency contexts; stresses the importance of women’s participation in the economy worldwide for sustainable development and sustained and inclusive economic growth, intrinsically linked to the global goal of eradicating poverty as outlined in the SDGs; calls on the Commission and the Member States to support and promote gender-responsive social protection mechanisms, including cash transfers, to enhance the capacity of partner countries in responding to crises and external shocks;
51. Calls for the EU and partner countries to adopt measures to help make women more employable and provide them with decent jobs, access to finance and business opportunities, including by supporting local women-led organisations, and encouraging their participation in trade and labour unions; highlights the importance of boosting access to, for example, micro credit with a view to facilitating and stimulating women’s creativity and entrepreneurship on a smaller scale;
52. Highlights the need to consider the complementarity of other actions to ensure their effectiveness, such as the freedom from gender-based violence, access to decent work and affordable child and elderly care; calls for the EU and its Member States to empower and protect mothers and fathers worldwide, and to work with partner countries to guarantee adequate maternity, paternity and parental leave, and to adopt practical measures to ensure that protection, alongside investment in childcare and education services;
53. Stresses that the EU should support the creation of a Binding Instrument on Business and Human Rights within the UN framework in order to fully guarantee the enjoyment of human rights and women’s rights;
54. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to work with partner countries to fund and promote measures that address the disproportionate burden of unpaid work that women have to bear, and to support actions helping women workers moving from the informal to the formal economy; underlines that women and men should equally share unpaid care and domestic responsibilities; calls for concrete steps to be taken towards recognising, reducing and redistributing unpaid care and domestic work;
55. Calls for the active promotion of women’s role and participation in the economy and society and recognition of their civil and legal rights, including the right to own property, access to bank loans and the right to participate in different economic sectors and in political life, most notably through the promotion of gender-responsive macroeconomic policies; regrets the fact that the right to equal pay for equal work of equal value is not a given in many circumstances, both inside and outside the EU, even when enshrined in law, and stresses that the root cause of this discrimination needs to be addressed;
56. Underlines that it is essential that the private sector get involved in achieving the objectives set out in GAP III and is held to account in the event of violations of women’s rights committed in the course of corporate activities; calls on the Commission to include the gender perspective in its upcoming legislative proposal on corporate due diligence;
57. Stresses that women’s economic and social autonomy is crucial for sustainable and inclusive growth; calls for a comprehensive effort to provide girls and women with access to high-quality education and quality training on skills, and effective tools contributing to their access to the labour market, particularly in emergency and displacement settings; strongly recommends that partner countries boost investment in quality and inclusive education, with support from the EU budget; underlines that EU budget support, which has proven its efficiency in the field of education, remains the favoured means to allow access to inclusive and quality education to all in developing countries; welcomes the intention to increase overall funding for education, with 10 % of the humanitarian aid budget to be devoted to funding for education in emergencies;
58. Stresses the need to support substantial investment in health and education services, affordable housing and safe, affordable and accessible public transport, both in rural and urban areas, with a view to meeting public needs and contributing to the independence, equality and emancipation of women; recalls that special attention must be paid to these issues in fragile and post-conflict states, where the EU will also implement development projects to help address the lack of housing, land and property rights for women;
59. Expresses its concerns about the increase in the digital gender gap in many countries, which impedes equal access to information and digital services; stresses the importance of promoting digital literacy, as well as access to and the affordability of digital tools and in accessing the labour market; calls for increased and targeted funding and scholarships to enable women and girls to access higher education and vocational training, in particular with a view to promoting the digital and technological education of girls, and women’s participation in STEM fields, and to support female-led projects; welcomes GAP III’s determination to bridge the digital gender gap in order to drive a truly inclusive digital transformation;
60. Recalls that women, specifically those facing intersectional discrimination, may face difficulties in accessing digital services and related infrastructure; calls for women and girls, especially those living in rural and remote areas, to be given better, universal, safe and secure access to digital tools and training in the use thereof;
61. Stresses the need to support the provision of public and private services through gender-responsive digital channels, technologies and services (for example, e-government, digital financial services) that will enhance women’s and girls’ inclusion and participation in society; calls on the Member States to tackle the digital exclusion of all vulnerable groups in society and to make education in information and communications technology accessible to them, while taking into account the different factors determining women’s access to education, as well as by creating free-of-charge digital access points;
62. Calls for EU support for the modernisation and digitalisation of administrative procedures in partner countries, in particular to ensure that all these countries have reliable civil registers that record every birth;
63. Acknowledges that emergencies, such as armed conflict and economic crises, and displacement settings, put women’s and girls’ education and training at risk; reiterates that women’s access to livelihoods and labour opportunities is seriously affected during emergencies and stresses, therefore, the importance of the necessary funds being allocated in such cases, especially to local women-led organisations and to existing structures, in order to improve the structures that ensure the right development of their education, skills and access to jobs in the long term;
64. Notes that food insecurity affects women asymmetrically, and that they own disproportionately less land, livestock and other assets; calls on the Commission and the Member States to support the aim of achieving gender equality in the food and agriculture sector, financial opportunities and access to training in order to empower women in agriculture; notes the importance of supporting the efforts of partner countries in legal, policy and institutional reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, particularly access to and control over land and other forms of property;
65. Calls for the EU to promote economic and trade policies consistent with the SDGs and the objectives of GAP III; recalls its previous position on trade and gender as outlined in its resolution of 13 March 2018 on gender equality in EU trade agreements[12]; calls for the EU to continue to support and introduce trade policies that reduce socio-economic gaps and ensure a high level of protection and respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights, including gender equality;
66. Welcomes the fact that GAP III calls for the promotion of gender equality through the EU’s trade policy; calls on the Commission, the Council and the EEAS to promote and support the inclusion of a specific gender chapter in all EU trade and investment agreements, including commitments to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment; calls on the Commission to include the gender impact of EU trade policy and agreements in ex ante and ex post impact assessments;
67. Stresses its previous position calling for a specific chapter on trade and gender equality and women’s empowerment in the upcoming modernisation of the EU-Chile Association Agreement; observes with interest the progress made on a trade and gender chapter in the negotiations;
68. Recalls its resolution of 25 November 2010 on human rights and social and environmental standards in international trade agreements[13];
69. Notes that trade policy is not gender neutral and that better collection of gender-disaggregated data, together with clear indicators, is needed to adequately assess the different impacts of trade policy on women and men; reiterates its call for the EU and its Member States to draw inspiration from the toolkit developed by the UN Conference on Trade and Development and to include in ex ante impact assessments and in ex post evaluations the country-specific and sector-specific gender impact of EU trade policy and agreements; calls on the Commission to work together with international partners, such as the WTO, and local authorities and organisations to collect data, analyse the impact of trade on women and translate data into concrete proposals to improve women’s role in the international trade system and promote inclusive economic growth; stresses that intensified cooperation between international organisations such as the WTO, the International Trade Centre and the UN, and the creation of networks involving academia, CSOs and parliaments can lead to better sharing of best practices and methods for collecting data, and to the inclusion of a gender perspective in trade; insists that gender issues should not be limited to the Trade and Sustainable Development chapter;
70. Calls for the Commission to engage actively in the recently established WTO Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender to work towards a strong Ministerial Declaration in the 12th Ministerial Conference that could serve as a roadmap for the implementation of the 2017 Buenos Aires Declaration; underlines that the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender is a first step towards a more permanent platform in the WTO to discuss issues related to trade and gender; calls on the Commission to continue to proactively engage with other WTO members to contribute to the work of the Informal Working Group, and to explore the possibility of establishing a permanent working group;
71. Recalls its demand to the Commission that the composition of the Domestic Advisory Groups be gender-balanced, that their monitoring role be further extended, and that a Trade and Gender Committee be established under each Free Trade Agreement to identify shortcomings;
72. Calls on the Commission to carefully evaluate the impact of trade agreements on sectors with a high percentage of women workers, such as the garment sector and small-scale agriculture; recalls that the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 has strongly affected these sectors and exacerbated the risk of increasing inequality, discrimination against and the exploitation of female workers;
73. Calls on the Commission to ensure that sufficient resources are available, and to disclose the resources allocated, to promote the core value of gender equality in its trade and investment policies and to ensure that the secretariats of the EU institutions responsible for trade policy and negotiations have the knowledge and technical capacity to incorporate the gender perspective into the entire process of trade negotiations and policy formulation, by appointing gender focal points in the EU institutions and delegations;
74. Calls for the inclusion of enforceable provisions in all Trade and Sustainable Development chapters based on respecting the ILO core labour standards and relevant conventions, in particular Convention No. 189 on Domestic Workers, Convention No. 156 on Workers with Family Responsibilities, CEDAW, Convention No. 111 concerning Discrimination (Employment and Occupation), Convention No. 100 on Equal Remuneration and Convention No. 190 on Violence and Harassment, and for these conventions to be included in the list of conventions in the GSP+ review;
75. Welcomes the International Organization for Standardization International Workshop Agreement (ISO/IWA 34) on global definitions related to women’s entrepreneurship, which aims to facilitate policymaking, data collection and access to capacity building, finance and markets for women’s economic empowerment;
76. Welcomes the accomplishments made so far on gender in the lending policies of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and calls on the EIB to scale up its efforts and, in particular, to take into account to the maximum extent possible the policy goals of GAP III in its external lending mandate;
77. Stresses that the EIB and other relevant European development financial institutions should be fully aligned with GAP III; calls on the EIB to take into account the objectives of GAP III when providing support to undertakings in partner countries through impact assessments that should be carried out for every project funded by the EIB, and calls for the continuous monitoring of operations on the ground;
Encouraging participation and leadership by women, girls and young women
78. Stresses the importance of women’s and girls’ leadership and participation at all levels of decision-making and that the equal participation of women, in public and political life is essential to good governance and policy-making; underlines the importance of having women represented on both sides of the negotiating table at all levels of external action; reiterates that when women and girls lead equally, entire communities benefit from better and more durable solutions; notes that women are under-represented at every level of political and public life and that progress is slow;
79. Calls for programme funding to promote the training, civic engagement and participation of women, including supporting community-level participatory approaches and specific educational activities for girls and young women, since they are among the most affected by discrimination; calls for the inclusion of women at all levels of decision-making, government, leadership and positions of power, via public administration reforms, programmes and activities such as networking, exchanges, mentoring and sponsorship, and advocates the inclusion of local women’s rights organisations and women-led front line humanitarian responders in humanitarian coordination and decision-making structures;
Involving women in peacebuilding and security initiatives
80. Stresses the importance of the contribution made by women and civil society to promoting dialogue, forging coalitions and mediating for peace, and bringing different perspectives on what peace and security mean, in particular in conflict prevention, resolution and post-conflict reconstruction; calls for the EU to promote greater participation by women in peacekeeping and further peacebuilding, and to support and recognise women, young women, girls and women human rights defenders as key drivers of change, and to support and protect them; stresses that respect for, and the full realisation of, the human rights of women are the foundations of a democratic and inclusive society;
81. Welcomes the integration of the EU Action Plan on WPS into GAP III and calls for its effective implementation; highlights the important role played by existing and successful local peacebuilding initiatives led by women and women human rights defenders, and calls for the EU to support, enhance and systematically include these initiatives in peacebuilding consultations, coordination and decision-making;
82. Calls on the EEAS to undertake systematic conflict analysis with an integrated gender perspective based on gender analysis and gender-inclusive conflict analysis, in particular with regard to CSDP missions and operations and activities under the European Peace Facility; stresses the need for sufficient resources to build and strengthen EU expertise and capacity to conduct risk and conflict analyses with an integrated gender perspective, which should involve paying specific attention to gender equality and ensuring the meaningful participation of women and disadvantaged groups;
83. Points out the importance of linking the concept of human security and the gender approach; calls for the EU to use the concept of human security as set out in UN General Assembly Resolution 66/290 and in its WPS agenda; insists that security must focus on human lives and their protection from threats such as violence, lack of education, healthcare, food or economic independence; calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to develop and promote the UN disarmament agenda; insists on having a feminist foreign policy on disarmament and non-proliferation;
84. Points out that women are disproportionately affected by conflict-related sexual violence and other human rights violations perpetrated with impunity, including a higher risk of trafficking in human beings; stresses the need to ensure that women and girls who have suffered sexual violence in conflict zones and countries receive appropriate and holistic care and treatment, and effective and prompt reparations; notes that this system is already working where it is has been put in place and that it also helps to reintegrate these victims into society; recalls the importance of combating the stigmatisation of victims; calls for the continuity of support for measures providing women in conflict and emergency contexts with SRHR care packages, by funding and supporting front line organisations and women-led organisations;
85. Recalls that women and girls are disproportionally affected by armed conflict; deplores the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and insists on the urgent need to combat it, as well as to combat impunity, by bringing perpetrators to justice; further stresses that women are often the first victims of displacement in conflict areas, and are frequently deprived of their economic autonomy and of access to education and reliable sexual and reproductive health services; highlights the need to ensure access to education and jobs for those displaced by conflict or natural disasters; calls on the Commission and the Member States to work with partner countries and their armed forces to ensure proper enforcement of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the protection of persons in time of war, with a specific focus on preventing and punishing sexual violence;
86. Regrets the lack of consideration in GAP III of cultural heritage across countries and women’s role in its protection and development; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to develop programmes aimed at protecting and recognising the cultural heritage and traditions developed by women, which frequently go unnoticed, especially throughout the whole conflict cycle;
Ensuring gender-responsive humanitarian action
87. Regrets that the recent Commission communication on the EU’s humanitarian action: new challenges, same principles (COM(2021)0110), does not sufficiently address the gender perspective in humanitarian settings; calls on the Commission to provide more concrete proposals on specific expenditure, programmes, tracking and assessment of gender-related activities in humanitarian settings, and to elaborate measures to further develop adapted and efficient gender-responsive EU humanitarian action, given the opportunity presented by the humanitarian-development-peace triple nexus approach to protect women’s and girls’ rights and promote gender equality in all contexts;
Building a green and digital society
88. Welcomes the inclusion in GAP III of the priority area on climate change, given that climate change is not gender neutral, as it acts as an amplifier of existing gender inequalities, especially for the poor, young people and indigenous people, and especially in fragile environments; appreciates the EU’s determination to address gender issues in the context of the green transition, given the intersectional and disproportionate impact of climate change on women and girls, particularly in developing countries; stresses the necessity of including, listening to and empowering women and girls in the design and implementation of effective approaches to climate mitigation and adaptation in partner countries, thereby ensuring effective gender-transformative climate action; calls for the EU to lead by example by including, without delay, a gender perspective and targets on gender equality in the European Green Deal and related initiatives;
89. Reiterates that gender equality is a prerequisite for sustainable development and in order to achieve a fair and just transition which leaves no one behind; reiterates, therefore, its call for the Green Deal for Europe to be swiftly followed by ‘Green Deal Diplomacy’ that systematically includes a gender and intersectional perspective, and involves women and girls, including indigenous women, in strategic decision-making on climate change adaptation;
90. Points out that women and women’s organisations are at the forefront when it comes to finding solutions and providing expertise in the fields of agriculture, climate, energy and preserving biodiversity, and are on the front line in combating climate change; calls for them to be given support in the form of adequate and flexible funding, legislative framework provisions and access to land and resources, and cooperation with the private and financial sectors; reiterates the role of gender-responsive adaptation, including climate-smart agriculture, disaster risk reduction, the circular economy and the sustainable management of natural resources;
91. Calls for women and girls to be given better access to digital tools and training in the use thereof and for measures to be taken to promote their advancement in the STEM professions;
92. Stresses that social networks are a source of gender-based discrimination and harassment; stresses the need for governments to step up efforts to better regulate these networks, together with digital platforms in order to combat gender-based online violence and cyberbullying; recognises that this is a major barrier for women’s and girls’ access to digital spaces and their participation online and severely hinders girls’ and women’s political participation, especially for women and girls with intersectional identities, who report higher rates of online harassment; calls for targeted protection mechanisms for women online and for a greater involvement of women in the design, manufacture and development of artificial intelligence applications in order to combat the perpetuation of gender stereotyping and prejudices; calls for the enforcement of proper criminal law provisions to counter online abuse, threatening messages, sexual harassment and the sharing of private images without consent;
93. Notes that e-commerce has the potential to connect more female entrepreneurs with international markets; calls, however, for the Commission to support women in adopting new technologies such as blockchain that, owing to its peer-to-peer nature, anonymity and efficiency, can help certain women to overcome some discriminatory legal and cultural barriers to trade, improve their access to finance and help them to integrate into global value chains;
Creating a true Generation Equality
94. Reiterates the need for the EU to play a leading role at multilateral level in promoting feminist diplomacy in order to implement international agreements pertaining to the rights and empowerment of women and girls; calls for the EU, its Member States, the Commission and the EEAS to commit to advance towards a feminist foreign, security and development policy that entails a gender-transformative vision and to make gender equality a core part of their external actions and priorities;
95. Welcomes the EUR 33 billion pledged by governments around the world, the private sector and civil society at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris; calls for an international and efficient accountability system, and calls for the Commission to monitor its agreed commitments and their implementation in practice annually;
96. Recalls the Commission’s commitment to earmark EUR 4 billion from the external budget for women and girls and to increase funding for women’s organisations; calls for these commitments to be clarified, adequately monitored and translated into practice, and for the establishment of a clear baseline and targets;
97. Points out once again that intergenerational dialogue and the inclusion of, as well as the commitment on the part of men and boys to advance gender equality are crucial to bringing about societal change and creating a true Generation Equality;
98. Welcomes GAP III’s recognition of the importance of actively engaging men and boys to promote change in social attitudes and, as a result, broader structural change; emphasises the importance of creating practical ways to involve men and boys as agents of change through setting additional indicators and targets related to the engagement of men and boys and ensuring that GAP III yields positive results for them too;
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99. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
There is still a long way to go until gender equality is achieved. Millions of women and girls still face barriers to their empowerment, with discrimination and, in many cases, violence and exploitation being their daily lot.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been exacerbating gender inequalities throughout the world. The result has been not only spiralling domestic violence during the successive lockdowns but also 1.4 million unwanted pregnancies that had to be carried to term. Some 47 million women and girls have been tipped into extreme poverty. Ultraconservative and fundamentalist circles have taken advantage of the situation to tighten their control over women’s bodies and further restrict their autonomy, including by limiting access to elective abortion facilities. It is clear from the crisis and its multiple consequences that the attainment of rights for women and girls is a never-ending endeavour.
However, it is impossible for any society to grow or recover from a crisis by neglecting or actively oppressing half of its population. Societal well-being and economic prosperity are greatly enhanced by the empowerment of women, who, globally, spend 90% of their income on their families, for example.
Age-old inequalities, such as access to education, employment, resources and funding, are being compounded by more recent disparities, such as discrimination in the field of digital technology and greater vulnerability to climate change.
The post-COVID recovery period provides an opportunity for a fresh start focused on human development. We now need to build a fairer and more inclusive society in which women can fully assume their rightful place.
The European Union, through its external action, must be the one to speak out in favour of a more equal world. Moreover, we now have a powerful instrument to aid us in this endeavour: the Gender Action Plan (GAP III).
This programme is a major policy instrument and should not be regarded as being of a purely technical nature. It will enable us to bring feminist diplomacy to the forefront by promoting the values of gender equality.
To this end, the rapporteur has consulted those on the ground as widely as possible. She has met with committed key players and experts, both men and women, from the European Union, Thailand, Mexico, Rwanda, India, El Salvador, Mozambique, Senegal, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her interlocutors come from civil society, academia, international organisations and political circles and include two Nobel Peace Prize laureates: Dr Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad.
This wide range of contacts is representative of societies worldwide, with needs and challenges varying between countries, regions, communities and cultures. It is necessary to focus on emergencies faced by women and girls in any specific context and arising from any specific problems affecting them.
1) A planned response to challenges aggravated by the health crisis
Violence against women and girls
Violence against women in any of its guises is the most extreme manifestation of gender inequality. Violence within the couple or the family, sexual abuse, harassment, rape and genital mutilation all have a dramatic and lasting impact on women’s physical and mental health. An uncompromising war against such evils must be conducted by every government and by all those involved within society.
Violence is not a private domestic issue. It concerns not only individual rights and health but also safety and has a major impact on public life and the workplace. It is therefore necessary to alter our perspective on gender-based violence. No society can thrive when half of the population is at risk of physical and/or psychological violence.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights
Women and girls in the world will never be empowered until they have the universal fundamental right to freedom of decision over their own bodies.
Universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare is not a religious, political or ideological issue but a public health concern, as it helps to reduce the number of early pregnancies and maternal and infant mortality, combat HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and prevent easily curable cancers such as cervical cancer.
A number of governments in Europe and elsewhere have sought to capitalise on the COVID-19 crisis to restrict access to safe and legal abortion, contraception and sex education. It is therefore essential to continue funding for NGOs fighting for the right of individuals to freedom of decision regarding their own bodies.
Education and economic empowerment
Access to healthcare is one of the pillars of human development, the other being access to education. Here again, however, girls are suffering discrimination, which is manifested in the priority given to education for boys, in forced marriages, in the taboos surrounding menstruation and in the limited access to water and to adequate hygiene and sanitation facilities and sanitary products.
As a result of the pandemic, 11 million girls may not return to class, thereby swelling the ranks of the 130 million girls already being deprived of a school education. At the same time, each additional year spent in education means a 10% reduction in pregnancy rates and a possible 10-20% increase in a woman’s earnings.
Thus, investing in the education and training of girls and women and providing them with adequate financial support contributes to their empowerment, with beneficial effects on the economy and the labour market.
The post-COVID world needs a feminist economic resurgence driven by women with intelligence, ideas and leadership qualities.
2) A programme for mobilising governments and civil society in favour of peace and equality
Implementation, assessment and funding
The new GAP III objectives reflect a willingness to incorporate gender issues in most EU external action programmes. While 85% of new programmes will henceforth be required to have gender equality as a significant objective, it is the principal objective for 5% of them. At the same time, GAP III provides a further guarantee, making gender equality the principal objective of at least one initiative in each partner country. Although it could be more ambitious in scope, this addition at least has the merit of ensuring that gender issues will be a concern for all partner countries. Greater account must also be taken of the impact of different social variables (intersectionality) on women and minority communities in order to meet their needs.
It is essential to ensure regular monitoring of compliance with these measures and provide generous funding for these quantitative targets. The key role played by NGOs in GAP III programming, implementation and monitoring must be emphasised. The programmes must be based on feedback from all over the world and adjusted accordingly.
Women, Peace and Security
In times of conflict, girls and women are more exposed to sexual violence, which is used as a weapon of war and strategy of terror. However, such acts of violence are still rarely considered war crimes and crimes against humanity. National strategies designed to achieve peace and justice must incorporate a gender perspective and strive to end such practices by depriving the perpetrators of immunity. This is an indispensable prerequisite for reconciliation and a return to peace.
Furthermore, the situation of women and girls in refugee camps and among displaced populations is all the more alarming as it often means that they forfeit access to education, training and employment.
Women are also conspicuous by their absence from security councils and peace processes in general. They should receive the same training as men in mediation and conflict resolution, as well as the management of population flows and problems facing civilians. By raising awareness about the fate of civilians, especially women and children, they are able to engage in a different form of peacebuilding through the use of soft power.
3) Something to which future generations can aspire
The transitions to which our societies have committed themselves cannot succeed without women.
Green and digital transitions
Environmental degradation and climate change, which manifest themselves as a number of forms of pollution, and as droughts, fires and floods, disproportionally affect women and girls. For example, they are required to shoulder the lion’s share of the burden when it comes to fetching and carrying. Their experience and their specific needs must therefore be taken into account when it comes to the management of natural resources and disaster prevention and response procedures.
Moreover, if they are to help ensure an economically and environmentally sustainable agricultural transition, women must be given the same rights as men.
Finally, women cannot be empowered without taking into account the challenges posed by the move towards a digital economy and an automated society. It is necessary to increase the percentage of women in the STEM professions, providing them with training in new technologies and artificial intelligence, in order to ensure them a leading role in the societies of the future.
Gender-based online violence, in particular cyberbullying, is another factor making it harder for women and girls to gain access to digital spaces, including social networks, and to participate fully. Major platforms and governments have a key responsibility for tackling this problem together. It is necessary to provide appropriate training from an early age for girls and boys in the use of social networks and the Internet, alerting them to the attendant risks. This particular task could be assumed by older students selected to act as digital ‘champions’.
Towards Generation Equality
Thanks to the efforts of all those involved in promoting this initiative among young people, the Generation Equality Forum in Paris held in June 2021 succeeded in raising over EUR 33 billion from governments, civil society and the private sector. The European Commission has pledged a minimum of EUR 4 billion in EU external budget appropriations for women and girls, as well as an increase in funding for women’s organisations around the world.
It is essential to monitor commitments made by all stakeholders on an annual basis over the next five years. In addition to financial commitments, targeted and measurable initiatives designed to achieve tangible results should also be encouraged and supported.
Conclusion
The European Union must support women and girls seeking to make their voices heard and control their own destiny, regardless of the region of the world in which they live. If women are to be involved in this change, structural adjustments will be necessary. The European Union has a duty to pursue this feminist diplomacy. At the same time, if it is to enjoy any credibility in the eyes of the world, it must also take care to uphold the rights and dignity of women within its own borders.
It is our duty to seize the opportunity offered by this crisis to bring about Generation Equality, in which girls and women receive access to education and healthcare and freedom of decision regarding their own bodies. In addition, they must be fully involved in the economic recovery and given a leading role in efforts to secure peace, security and stability.
If we are to reinvent the world, we need everyone behind us. Women alone cannot bring about a lasting transformation of the patriarchal societies from which they have so long been excluded.
The active support of men and boys is essential to this endeavour.
In the words of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, ‘Power is very rarely given. You have to take it’. Our ambition in presenting this report is to help empower women and girls in order to usher in a fair, balanced and humanistic world.
OPINION OF THE COMMISSION ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS (9.9.2021)
for the Committee on Development and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
on the EU Gender Action Plan III
Rapporteur for opinion: Hannah Neumann
SUGGESTIONS
The Committee on Foreign Affairs calls on the Committee on Development and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, as the committees responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into their motion for a resolution:
1. Welcomes the EU Gender Action Plan III (GAP III) and its ambitious and comprehensive objectives, and insists on its full implementation, policy coherence and institutional capacity across all areas of EU external action and the institutional structures of the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS), including EU Delegations and common security and defence policy (CSDP) missions; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to put proper measures in place for continuous monitoring of progress or lack thereof, accountability and transparency in implementing GAP III, and reporting and communicating on achievements and gaps;
2. Welcomes the inclusive nature of the consultation process undertaken to inform the drafting of the EU GAP III and the reflection therein of recommendations provided by Parliament, the Member States, EU gender focal points and especially women’s rights civil society organisations (WCSOs);
3. Welcomes GAP III as an important contribution to the EU’s efforts towards a gender-equal world and to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 5, and supports its upgrade from a working document to a joint communication;
4. Supports the ambition stated in GAP III of making gender equality a key priority of all EU external policies and actions; expects the Commission, the Member States and the EEAS to systematically integrate GAP III in all their external action, at all levels of engagement and in all relevant activities and concepts, including in policy and programming frameworks, strategies, and the Strategic Compass, as well as in their engagement at multilateral, regional and country levels in close cooperation with partner governments, civil society, the private sector and other key stakeholders; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to strengthen synergies with partners to jointly advance and successfully reach international targets related to gender equality; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to share best practices from GAP III with interested partners and thereby to provide EU expertise in the field;
5. Calls on the EEAS, the Commission and the Member States to use GAP III as a blueprint to enhance gender equality and gender mainstreaming in their external action and to put its gender-transformative, human rights-based, intersectional approach into practice; calls on them to adopt and implement a feminist foreign policy;
6. Stresses the need to put the experiences of women and girls facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and marginalisation at the heart of policymaking, to support the full enjoyment of human rights by all girls and women, to strengthen their emancipation and self-determination across the globe and to increase the involvement of women in needs assessments, planning, decision-making and implementation processes, as well as to support gender equality in third countries; welcomes the highlighting in GAP III of the work of equality ministries to achieve the eradication of gender-based violence and gender inequalities;
7. Urges the Commission and the EEAS to lead by example and focus on their own internal structures, starting with significantly improving the representation of women and disadvantaged groups at all levels with the goal of achieving gender parity in leadership and management positions (notably in the EEAS headquarters and among Heads of EU Delegations and EU Special Representatives) as soon as possible, establishing the requirements of a gender-responsive leadership for all EU leaders and managers, and rolling out gender sensitive recruitment processes where internal recruitment policies are adjusted through a review of job descriptions (e.g. years of experience), gender sensitive job evaluation, talent spotting, networking, facilitation of work-life balance, training and coaching for women in management and pre-management positions, and a possible mentoring programme for people transitioning into new jobs in order to attract more women; welcomes the very recent nomination of three female EU special representatives and encourages the EEAS to keep going in this direction; points out that the fact that no woman applied for the position of Secretary-General of the EEAS shows the extent to which the EU needs to improve its actions to promote gender equality; considers that 100 % of new EU external actions should have gender equality and the emancipation of women and girls as an objective by 2025; calls on all Member States to nominate more women and candidates from disadvantaged groups to seconded positions in the EEAS and to CSDP missions and operations and to promote the role of women in diplomacy; calls on the EEAS also to aim for gender balance at all levels of CSDP missions and operations;
8. Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to collect relevant human resources data, disaggregated by gender, to assess numbers of nominations, short-listed candidates, selections, contract extensions and length of deployment, among other criteria, and track progress, as well as to conduct systematised interviews with women and people belonging to disadvantaged groups about their reasons for leaving posts;
9. Regrets that the important issue of diversity is grouped into the role of the EEAS Advisor on Gender and Diversity, and calls on the EEAS to accord the necessary importance to both gender equality and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, as well as diversity and inclusion, and to establish one role for each of these topics and to strengthen these roles, their mandates, resources and powers; calls for the appointment of a dedicated gender adviser in each EEAS directorate, reporting directly to the EEAS Advisor on Gender and Diversity, and to encourage their staff to work closely with the European Institute for Gender Equality;
10. Calls on the EEAS and the Commission to make mandatory the GAP III commitment to placing one dedicated gender focal point in each EU Delegation and one gender adviser in all civilian and military CSDP missions, and to provide them with adequate time and resources and ensure that they report directly to the senior leadership of the EU Delegations or missions/operations respectively, and provide training to Member State embassies and EU Delegations on GAP III;
11. Stresses the importance of ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) around the globe and welcomes the strong GAP III commitment to this aim; underlines the need to focus on all age groups, including girls and younger women, and provide relevant information, education and access to SRHR, including pre-natal care, safe and legal abortion and contraception; highlights the need to take age into account in SRHR-related actions in line with an intersectional approach, by ensuring accessible, youth-friendly information and services;
12. Recognises the fact that humanitarian crises intensify SRHR-related challenges and recalls that in crisis zones, women and girls are particularly exposed to sexual violence, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual exploitation and unwanted pregnancies; considers that SRHR should be a priority in the EU’s development policy;
13. Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to address the problem of structural inequalities across the globe that still inhibit the development and participation of women and disadvantaged groups, which needs to be the basis for effectively implementing GAP III;
14. Emphasises the need for a truly gender-transformative approach across all EU external action; affirms that a foreign and security policy that does not address current injustices further reinforces imbalances; considers that to put an end to these injustices, the unequal balance of power between the genders must be recognised; insists on the need to identify and tackle the structural root causes of inequalities in order to overcome them and allow for meaningful participation and inclusion of men, women, and disadvantaged groups; calls for efforts to increase understanding of how inequality is rooted in a specific context and the means by which it is sustained, including through cooperating with different stakeholders;
15. Welcomes the focus of GAP III on young people as drivers of change and calls for the meaningful involvement of young people, women and men, in the conception and implementation of actions; welcomes GAP III’s recognition of the importance of actively engaging men and boys to promote change in social attitudes and, as a result, broader structural change; emphasises the importance of creating practical ways to involve men and boys as agents of change and to support healthy and positive attitudes and behaviours regarding discriminatory social norms, gender stereotypes and gender-drivers of conflict in the implementation of GAP III through setting additional indicators and targets related to engagement of men and boys and ensuring that the GAP III yields positive results for them too;
16. Calls for efforts towards a joint EU position and for strong action to univocally denounce the backlash against gender equality, LGBTIQ+ rights and measures undermining women’s rights, autonomy and emancipation in every field; recalls that an important way to combat this backlash is by proactively advancing rights-based gender equality and mainstreaming gender overall; calls on the Commission, the Member States, the EEAS and the EU Delegations to publicly condemn and take measures against the widespread occurrence of gender-based hate speech, and online and offline harassment of women and girls within and outside the EU;
17. Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to prevent and counteract any forms of discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, class, religion, belief, economic background, disability or age as part of EU external action, and to strengthen awareness-raising in non-EU countries; welcomes the intersectional perspective in GAP III and the definition of inequalities as structural, social and cultural; calls on the EEAS, the Commission and the Member States to pursue intersectional gender equality as a guiding principle of the EU’s external action;
18. Expects systematic gender mainstreaming in all EU external action to remain at the top of the EU’s political agenda, also beyond the lifetime of GAP III; emphasises the commitment of the Commission and the EEAS to protect disadvantaged groups and enable them to assert their rights around the world; stresses the need for the EU to lead by example when it comes to the rights of women, LGBTIQ+ persons and groups discriminated against on the grounds of their ethnic or racial origin; calls on the Commission and the EEAS, therefore, to strengthen synergies with the EU Strategic Approach to Women, Peace and Security and its Action Plan for 2019-2024, the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025, the EU Anti-racism Action Plan 2020-2025, the EU Roma Strategic Framework for equality, inclusion and participation and the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024;
19. Stresses that the EU should support the creation of the Binding Instrument on Business and Human Rights within the UN framework in order to fully guarantee the enjoyment of human rights and women’s rights;
20. Calls for the implementation of rigorous gender analysis, gender-disaggregated data collection and gender budgeting, combined with an appropriate and uniform system for tracking, monitoring and evaluating EU expenditure related to gender equality across the EU’s foreign and security policy, and gender impact assessments to inform the design of all external financing of the EU and the Member States, as well as their engagement in policy dialogues; calls on the Commission to systematically assess the impact of programmes financed by the EU budget and to report back to Parliament; notes that the use of gender analysis in the formulation of EU external actions is increasing, but encourages earmarking of resources to conduct sector-specific gender analyses where they are lacking, in line with GAP III;
21. Welcomes the specifications for mandatory training for all EU personnel at EEAS headquarters, in EU Delegations, in Member States’ embassies or deployed on CSDP missions and operations, on gender equality, including pre-deployment and pre-posting training; stresses the need to invest in knowledge, resources and in-house expertise on gender equality in EU Delegations to be able to implement GAP III adequately; calls for special attention to be given to training of middle and upper management and to training on harassment; calls for a zero tolerance policy with regard to sexual and gender-based violence; recalls that this commitment is included in GAP III and that a commitment to establish an EU-wide policy on sexual harassment has already been made in the WPS Action Plan;
22. Welcomes the strong focus of GAP III on combating all forms of gender-based violence, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic; calls for the eradication of female genital mutilation, obstetric violence and gender selection, as well as child, early and forced marriage and for all gender-based violence to be systematically addressed in EU political dialogues with third countries; encourages Member States to increase their actions in the fight against gender-based violence through, inter alia, the establishment of focal points for gender-based violence within their consular services; reiterates its support for the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative; urges all EU Member States to ratify and implement the Istanbul Convention; calls on the EEAS to promote the ratification of the Istanbul Convention within its political dialogue with Council of Europe partner countries; encourages other countries to accede to it;
23. Underlines that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a weapon of war and that women are disproportionately affected by conflict-related sexual violence and other human rights violations which are often carried out with impunity, including facing a higher risk of trafficking; emphasises that the EU should lead the way among the international community in stepping up efforts to eradicate the use of SGBV as a weapon in armed conflict and therefore calls for a comprehensive action plan to prevent and combat all forms of SGBV, including rape, domestic violence, verbal, psychological and physical aggression, and online harassment;
24. Recalls that mandatory training for all staff in the EEAS, the Commission, EU Delegations and CSDP missions and operations should comprise comprehensive programmes for the identification of victims of conflict-related sexual and/or gender-based violence as well as prevention programmes, in addition to training for all EU staff, including military and police staff; urges the EU to exercise all possible leverage to ensure that the perpetrators of mass rapes in warfare are reported, identified, prosecuted and punished in accordance with international criminal law; recalls that the Rome Statute provides a permanent legal framework to extensively address SGBV as a crime against humanity and therefore calls on the EU to actively support the independent and essential activity of the International Criminal Court both politically and financially; welcomes the inclusion of sexual and gender-based violence within the criteria for the imposition of sanctions in the framework of the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, and encourages Member States to make effective use of it;
25. Regrets that GAP III barely mentions trafficking and makes no reference to sexual exploitation, sex tourism or inherent discrimination and sexual violence against women; stresses the enormous gender dimension of the crime of trafficking; considers international cooperation to be a fundamental condition for the success of any response to human trafficking; calls for further integration of the fight against trafficking of women and girls into the objectives of GAP III and for increased synergies with the EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings (2021-2025); calls on the Commission to deepen partnerships with non-EU countries and regional and international organisations in order to step up cooperation and enhance criminal intelligence and information sharing and facilitate international judicial cooperation; calls on the EEAS to combat trafficking of women and children through political dialogue and by making full use of its external tools, encouraging, at the same time, cooperation with non-governmental organisations and civil society;
26. Highlights the need to tackle the shrinking space for civil society and the criminalisation and persecution of defenders of women’s rights, LGBTIQ+ rights and human rights, to support and strengthen the capacity-building of WCSOs, women human rights defenders and peace builders through EU external action and to consult closely with organisations fighting, in particular, for the rights of women, girls and disadvantaged groups, including girl- and youth-led feminist organisations, groups and movements, women’s rights defenders, human rights defenders, and religious and faith-based organisations; encourages their inclusion in the programming, implementation and reporting process, as well as in regular, structural exchanges, and calls for sustainable funding for civil society, as one of the main groups of actors holding the EU to account for the implementation of GAP III and a key driver of transformational and sustainable change towards gender equality; underlines that, while funding larger or well-established organisations can make a significant impact, ensuring access to funding for new, local and smaller organisations is crucial in bringing innovative, novel and grassroots approaches; highlights the worrying development that highly organised and well-funded movements and organisations work to weaken women’s rights, LGBTIQ+ rights and civil society participation to undermine the rule of law and reinforce or increase their own power;
27. Calls for an end to impunity for perpetrators of and investigations into attacks against women human rights defenders (WHRDs), including women environmental defenders, women peacebuilders and others working for gender equality and the rights of women and disadvantaged groups; calls for resources, including funding, to be allocated to their security and safety in order to ensure that they are able to carry out their activities;
28. Welcomes the integration of the Women, Peace and Security framework in GAP III; insists on the meaningful inclusion and more balanced representation of women, girls and disadvantaged groups from the grassroots level in conflict prevention, mediation and resolution, political processes and peace negotiations, across all tracks, and calls on the Commission and the EEAS to develop specific internal strategies to this end; welcomes the emphasis on gender inequality as a root cause and driver of conflict and fragility; calls for the incorporation of the gender perspective in CSDP missions’ design and planning, which should take into account the recommendations made by local women’s organisations; regrets the lack of consideration of women in mediation processes and encourages the EU and its Member States to make substantial political and financial support for peace processes conditional on the meaningful participation of women as negotiators and mediators, as well as on the inclusion of women’s and girls’ rights; urges the Member States and the Commission to closely monitor the situation of women’s rights in post-conflict areas and to further support the emancipation of women as an important condition for continuing financial assistance;
29. Calls on the EEAS to undertake systematic conflict analysis with an integrated gender perspective based on gender analysis and gender-inclusive conflict analysis, in particular with regard to CSDP missions and operations and activities under the European Peace Facility; stresses the need for sufficient resources to build and strengthen EU expertise and capacity to conduct risk and conflict analyses with an integrated gender perspective, which should involve paying specific attention to gender equality and ensuring the meaningful participation of women and disadvantaged groups;
30. Welcomes the introduction of country-level implementation plans (CLIPs) and the improvement of the reporting process for EU Delegations; insists that all CLIPs be made public and translated into local languages to ensure more effective monitoring of progress or lack thereof; stresses that CLIPs should focus more closely on girls and young women; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to take full ownership of gender-sensitive country reporting and gender mainstreaming at all programme and policy levels, including by using gender analysis to inform the planned CLIPs and by requiring delegations to set clear indicators and targets within CLIPs, avoid outsourcing the work on gender equality to third parties and instead establish the necessary expertise and capacity within their services, and ensure that the multilateral EU Delegations also present their own plans for GAP III implementation;
31. Calls on the EU Delegations in relevant countries to involve other EU and Member State actors in drafting and implementing CLIPs and to build local action coalitions to proactively foster the implementation of GAP III and make it a ‘Team Europe’ exercise;
32. Expects specific and measurable baselines, indicators, actions and targets to be added to the joint staff working document of 25 November 2020 on the objectives and indicators to frame the implementation of the Gender Action Plan III (SWD(2020)0284), as well as road maps and timelines for all objectives, and effective consequences in case of non-fulfilment; calls for the inclusion in GAP III of additional measures and diversity indicators and targets to ensure the implementation of the intersectional principle; calls for all GAP III indicators to be disaggregated by gender and age; stresses the need for greater coordination between the European institutions, the EEAS and the Member States in reporting on the implementation of GAP III; notes that indicators based on the percentage of staff trained on GAP III, WPS, sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment are not sufficient to determine whether targets in this area are being achieved; calls for the number of complaints on sexual abuse and harassment to be taken into account in the evaluation of compliance and reiterates the need to strengthen complaint mechanisms and to further protect victims and whistleblowers; calls on the EEAS and the Commission to establish gender-specific indicators to be applied in the project selection, monitoring and evaluation phases of EU foreign and security policy actions that receive funding from the EU budget;
33. Calls for a focus on results and for accountability towards EU citizens to be strengthened through public reporting on the qualitative and quantitative results of GAP III and assessments of its impact at country, regional and international level, the development of an approach to monitoring which allows it not just to track deliverables but also social dynamics and how they may have changed as a result of the programmes implemented under GAP III; calls for an independent evaluation, possibly conducted by civil society; welcomes the commitment to a mid-term evaluation of GAP III and calls on the Commission and the EEAS to engage in an annual debate with Parliament to take stock of advancements or lack thereof; requests that the EEAS include a specific update on gender mainstreaming actions in the country chapters of its Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy;
34. Stresses the important role of parliamentary diplomacy in advancing gender equality, promoting women’s political participation and emancipation and breaking gender stereotypes; encourages Parliament to actively contribute to GAP III through its parliamentary diplomacy and delegations and to develop a strategy and concrete guidelines toward this end; calls for the EU and its Member States to further involve the European Parliament and national parliaments in their gender strategies in external action; calls for recognition of the constructive contribution women leaders make to decision-making, supporting women political candidates and women in political institutions in partner countries, and establishing dialogue with national and local authorities of non-EU countries in order to promote women in official representation and leadership positions;
35. Underlines the need to ensure gender mainstreaming in all external policy fields, notably the common foreign and security policy, EU trade policy, enlargement policy, neighbourhood policy, development policy and humanitarian aid and CSDP; welcomes the inclusion of the principle of gender equality among the objectives of the Neighbourhood, Development and Cooperation Instrument - Global Europe and the Pre-Accession Assistance Instrument III, and underlines the need to ensure that EU external financial instruments contribute to the objectives of GAP III;
36. Welcomes the reference made in GAP III to the potential of the EU accession process to promote gender equality in candidate and potential candidate countries; stresses the need for a strong policy dialogue and technical assistance to bring gender equality into the enlargement and neighbourhood policies; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to make further use of accession negotiations as a leverage to make enlargement deliver for women;
37. Points out the importance of linking the concept of human security and the gender approach; calls for the EU to use the concept of human security as set out in UN General Assembly Resolution 66/290 and in its Women, Peace and Security agenda; insists that security must focus on human lives and their protection from threats such as violence, lack of education, healthcare, food or economic independence; calls on the Commission, the EEAS and the Member States to develop and promote the UN disarmament agenda; insists on having a feminist foreign policy on disarmament and non-proliferation;
38. Welcomes the GAP III objective of supporting gender equality through EU trade policy; calls on the Commission, the Council and the EEAS to promote and support the inclusion of a specific gender chapter in all EU trade and investment agreements, and to ensure that it specifically provides for a commitment to promote gender equality and women’s emancipation; calls on the Commission to include the gender impact of EU trade policy and agreements in ex-ante and ex-post impact assessments and to ensure that trade agreements do not exacerbate existing inequalities or create new ones;
39. Welcomes the GAP III objective of working towards securing the emancipation of girls and women, their education and their economic and social rights, which are particularly under threat as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; stresses that education is a key factor in achieving gender equality and in combating stereotypes and intersectional and gender-based discrimination; recalls that education strategies should be oriented both to girls and women; considers that access to public, high-quality, and inclusive education at all levels is the basis for achieving gender equality and economic emancipation; recalls that access to education is limited by various factors, not only those linked with unsafe learning environments and a lack of appropriate sanitation facilities but also those that feature on a non-exhaustive list established by UNESCO, such as child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, discriminatory gender norms in society, child labour and a lack of easy and safe access to schools near where they live;
40. Regrets the weakness of GAP III in terms of women’s access to the use and enjoyment of natural resources; points out the fact that, despite women carrying the greatest burden of care work on land and family farms, most have little ownership of land or economic emancipation; stresses that in the context of climate emergency, food insecurity and malnutrition in much of the world, the role and emancipation of women is critical to addressing these challenges;
41. Welcomes the fact that GAP III emphasises the gender dimension of environmental degradation and climate change and reiterates the EU’s commitment to act on it; recalls that women and girls are disproportionately affected by conflict and climate change due to cultural and structural gender inequalities, and recalls that climate change and conflicts act to compound gendered risks; calls on the EU to recognise women’s leadership in the fight against climate change and to promote their participation both at European level and in international forums, while increasing synergies with the external dimension of the EU Green Deal; encourages the EEAS and the Commission to ensure that a gender perspective is included in political dialogues and partnerships with third countries on disaster risk reduction, natural resource management and climate adaptation and mitigation, including by appointing national gender focal points for climate negotiations and monitoring the interplay of gender equality and climate change;
42. Regrets the lack of consideration in GAP III of cultural heritage across countries and women’s role in its protection and development; calls on the Commission and the EEAS to develop programmes aiming at protecting and recognising the cultural heritage and traditions developed by women, which frequently go unnoticed, especially throughout the whole conflict cycle;
43. Welcomes the fact that GAP III addresses the extreme vulnerability of migrant women and girls; in this regard, calls on the Commission to incorporate the gender and intersectional approach in immigration policies; calls for particular attention to be paid to the situation of women and girls on the move, on migration routes or in camps, and specifically calls for their access to water, sanitation and hygiene, SRHR and maternal healthcare to be guaranteed; stresses the importance of gender-sensitive reintegration programmes for internally displaced people and refugees after their return to their home and gender-sensitive work with traumatised girls and women.
INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION
Date adopted |
1.9.2021 |
|
|
|
Result of final vote |
+: –: 0: |
49 11 10 |
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Members present for the final vote |
Alviina Alametsä, Alexander Alexandrov Yordanov, Maria Arena, Petras Auštrevičius, Traian Băsescu, Anna Bonfrisco, Reinhard Bütikofer, Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Susanna Ceccardi, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Katalin Cseh, Tanja Fajon, Anna Fotyga, Michael Gahler, Sunčana Glavak, Raphaël Glucksmann, Klemen Grošelj, Bernard Guetta, Márton Gyöngyösi, Andrzej Halicki, Sandra Kalniete, Maximilian Krah, Andrius Kubilius, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, David Lega, Miriam Lexmann, Nathalie Loiseau, Antonio López-Istúriz White, Jaak Madison, Claudiu Manda, Lukas Mandl, Thierry Mariani, David McAllister, Vangelis Meimarakis, Sven Mikser, Francisco José Millán Mon, Javier Nart, Gheorghe-Vlad Nistor, Urmas Paet, Demetris Papadakis, Kostas Papadakis, Tonino Picula, Manu Pineda, Thijs Reuten, Jérôme Rivière, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Nacho Sánchez Amor, Isabel Santos, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Andreas Schieder, Radosław Sikorski, Jordi Solé, Sergei Stanishev, Tineke Strik, Hermann Tertsch, Harald Vilimsky, Idoia Villanueva Ruiz, Viola Von Cramon-Taubadel, Witold Jan Waszczykowski, Charlie Weimers, Isabel Wiseler-Lima, Salima Yenbou, Željana Zovko |
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Substitutes present for the final vote |
Robert Biedroń, Vladimír Bilčík, Andrea Cozzolino, Özlem Demirel, Assita Kanko, Hannah Neumann, Mick Wallace |
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FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION
49 |
+ |
ID |
Anna Bonfrisco |
NI |
Fabio Massimo Castaldo |
PPE |
Vladimír Bilčík, Traian Băsescu, Michael Gahler, Sunčana Glavak, Andrzej Halicki, Sandra Kalniete, Andrius Kubilius, Lukas Mandl, David McAllister, Vangelis Meimarakis, Gheorghe‑Vlad Nistor, Radosław Sikorski, Isabel Wiseler‑Lima |
RENEW |
Petras Auštrevičius, Katalin Cseh, Klemen Grošelj, Bernard Guetta, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Nathalie Loiseau, Javier Nart, Urmas Paet, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos |
S&D |
Maria Arena, Robert Biedroń, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Andrea Cozzolino, Tanja Fajon, Raphaël Glucksmann, Claudiu Manda, Sven Mikser, Demetris Papadakis, Tonino Picula, Thijs Reuten, Isabel Santos, Andreas Schieder, Sergei Stanishev, Nacho Sánchez Amor |
THE LEFT |
Özlem Demirel, Manu Pineda, Idoia Villanueva Ruiz |
VERTS/ALE |
Alviina Alametsä, Reinhard Bütikofer, Hannah Neumann, Jordi Solé, Tineke Strik, Viola Von Cramon‑Taubadel, Salima Yenbou |
11 |
- |
ECR |
Anna Fotyga, Jacek Saryusz‑Wolski, Hermann Tertsch, Witold Jan Waszczykowski, Charlie Weimers |
ID |
Maximilian Krah, Jaak Madison, Thierry Mariani, Jérôme Rivière, Harald Vilimsky |
PPE |
Miriam Lexmann |
10 |
0 |
ECR |
Assita Kanko |
ID |
Susanna Ceccardi |
NI |
Márton Gyöngyösi, Kostas Papadakis |
PPE |
Alexander Alexandrov Yordanov, David Lega, Antonio López‑Istúriz White, Francisco José Millán Mon, Željana Zovko |
THE LEFT |
Mick Wallace |
Key to symbols:
+ : in favour
- : against
0 : abstention
OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE (13.7.2021)
for the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and the Committee on Development
on the EU Gender Action Plan III
Rapporteur for opinion: Inma Rodríguez‑Piñero
SUGGESTIONS
The Committee on International Trade calls on the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and the Committee on Development, as the joint committees responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into their motion for a resolution:
1. Recalls its previous position on trade and gender as outlined in its resolution of 13 March 2018 on gender equality in EU trade agreements[14]; highlights that trade policy can contribute to the development and wealth of women, the reduction of socio-economic gaps between women and men and the realisation of women’s rights by ensuring decent work conditions for women and by contributing to sustainable and equitable economic development while expanding opportunities for women entrepreneurship and access to apprenticeships, work and employment; notes that the living and working conditions of women impact on the likelihood of child labour and, in turn, on the overall outlook of poorer countries;
2. Highlights that trade policy has the potential to promote the relevant international standards and legal instruments on gender equality, such as the Beijing Platform for Action and the Sustainable Development Goals;
3. Calls for the EU to support and introduce trade policies that reduce socio-economic gaps and ensure a high level of protection and respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights, including gender equality; calls for the EU to ensure that gender equality is a core concept in all EU trade policies;
4. Welcomes the fact that the new EU Gender Action Plan 2021-2025 (GAP III) calls for the promotion of gender equality through the EU’s trade policy; welcomes the Commission and the Council’s introduction of instruments such as gender chapters and gender mainstreaming into the EU’s trade and investment agreements, as well as in all aspects of EU trade policy; asks the Commission and the Council to adopt horizontal guidelines for that purpose; underlines that including specific trade and gender actions can lead to more visibility of the problems women face, which can contribute to resolving barriers to trade faced by women;
5. Stresses its previous position calling for a specific chapter on trade and gender equality and women’s empowerment in the upcoming modernisation of the EU-Chile Association Agreement; observes with interest the progress made on a trade and gender chapter in the negotiations;
6. Recalls its resolution of 25 November 2010 on human rights and social and environmental standards in international trade agreements[15];
7. Notes that trade policy is not gender neutral and that better collection of gender-disaggregated data, together with clear indicators, is needed to adequately assess the different impacts of trade policy on women and men; reiterates its call for the EU and its Member States to draw inspiration from the toolkit developed by UNCTAD and to include in ex ante impact assessments and in ex post evaluations the country-specific and sector-specific gender impact of EU trade policy and agreements; calls on the Commission to work together with international partners, such as the WTO, and local authorities and organisations to collect data, analyse the impact of trade on women and translate data into concrete proposals to improve women’s role in the international trade system and promote inclusive economic growth; stresses that intensified cooperation between international organisations such as the WTO, the ITC and the UN and the creation of networks involving academia, CSOs and parliaments can lead to better sharing of best practices and methods for collecting data, and to the inclusion of a gender perspective in trade; insists that gender issues should not be limited to the TSD chapter;
8. Calls for the Commission to engage actively in the recently established WTO Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender to work towards a strong Ministerial Declaration in the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) that could serve as a roadmap for the implementation of the 2017 Buenos Aires Declaration; underlines that the Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender is a first step towards a more permanent platform in the WTO to discuss issues related to trade and gender; calls on the Commission to continue to proactively engage with other WTO members to contribute to the work of the Informal Working Group, and to explore the possibility of establishing a permanent working group;
9. Recalls its demand to the Commission that the composition of the Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) be gender-balanced, that their monitoring role be further extended, and that a Trade and Gender Committee be established under each FTA to identify shortcomings;
10. Recognises the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the participation in trade of female entrepreneurs and women; underlines that women are adversely affected as entrepreneurs, employees, and often as the main caregiver in their family; calls for COVID-19 recovery strategies to pay special attention to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which are often run by women, and to sectors with higher female participation (care economy, agriculture, tourism, garment and retail);
11. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to table binding measures on pay transparency, which can be a useful tool to detect gaps and discrimination within the same sector and bridge the gender pay gap; regrets, nonetheless, the delay in publishing this proposal and asks the Commission to put it forward as soon as possible, building on examples such as the one on Switzerland with public procurement policy;
12. Calls on the Commission to carefully evaluate the impact of trade agreements on sectors with a high percentage of women workers, such as the garment sector and small-scale agriculture; recalls that the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 has strongly affected these sectors and exacerbated the risk of increasing inequality, discrimination and exploitation of female workers;
13. Notes with concern the persistent gender gap in digital access and digital skills; notes that women have less access to skills development compared with their male counterparts, preventing them from developing their businesses or their possibilities as employees; calls for the Commission and the Member States to support female entrepreneurs, traders, workers and employees in acquiring the necessary skills through trade policy, such as the Generalised Scheme of Preferences, Economic Partnership Agreements, development cooperation and Aid for Trade;
14. Expresses its concerns about the possibility of an increase in the digital gender gap in developing countries and regions in the current COVID-19 crisis; stresses the importance of promoting digital proficiency, digital accessibility and digital affordability for women and girls as instruments to obtain gender equality in development strategies; stresses the need to channel development funds into the promotion of the digital education of women and girls, and to support female-led projects in the digital sector, especially those with a social impact;
15. Notes that e-commerce has the potential to connect more female entrepreneurs with international markets; calls, however, for the Commission to support women in adopting new technologies such as blockchain that, due to its peer-to-peer nature, anonymity and efficiency, can help certain women to overcome some discriminatory legal and cultural barriers to trade, improve their access to finance and help them to integrate into global value chains;
16. Recalls that women with disabilities, women who are members of ethnic and minority groups, women from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, older women and women in rural areas, as well as refugee and migrant women, may face difficulties in accessing digital services and related infrastructure; stresses the importance of an intersectional approach to all gender mainstreaming initiatives as regards increasing women’s access to and use of digital services, and to education and employment in the digital economy and society; calls on the Member States to tackle the digital exclusion of all vulnerable groups in society and to make ICT education accessible to them by adapting teaching methods and timetables to take account of the different factors determining women’s access to education;
17. Calls on the Commission to ensure that sufficient resources are available, and to disclose the resources allocated, to promote the core value of gender equality in its trade and investment policies and to ensure that the secretariats of the EU institutions responsible for trade policy and negotiations have the knowledge and technical capacity to incorporate the gender perspective into the entire process of trade negotiations and policy formulation, by appointing gender focal points in the EU institutions and delegations;
18. Calls for the inclusion of enforceable provisions in all TSD chapters based on the respect of ILO core labour standards and relevant conventions, in particular Convention No 189 concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers, Convention No 156 on Workers with Family Responsibilities, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 1979 (CEDAW), Convention No 111 concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation, Convention No 100 concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value and Convention No 190 on Violence and Harassment, and for these conventions to be included in the list of conventions in the GSP+ review;
19. Recalls that access to finance is essential in order to take advantage of new export opportunities; underlines that women often lack access to finance compared with their male counterparts, which negatively affects women entrepreneurs and women-led businesses; calls on the Commission to address the gender gap in access to finance of women entrepreneurs and women-led businesses;
20. Welcomes the ISO International Workshop Agreement (ISO/IWA 34) on global definitions related to women’s entrepreneurship, which aims to facilitate policymaking, data collection and access to capacity building, finance and markets for women’s economic empowerment.
INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION
Date adopted |
13.7.2021 |
|
|
|
Result of final vote |
+: –: 0: |
33 2 7 |
||
Members present for the final vote |
Barry Andrews, Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou, Tiziana Beghin, Geert Bourgeois, Saskia Bricmont, Jordi Cañas, Miroslav Číž, Arnaud Danjean, Paolo De Castro, Raphaël Glucksmann, Markéta Gregorová, Christophe Hansen, Danuta Maria Hübner, Herve Juvin, Karin Karlsbro, Maximilian Krah, Danilo Oscar Lancini, Bernd Lange, Margarida Marques, Gabriel Mato, Sara Matthieu, Emmanuel Maurel, Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó, Samira Rafaela, Inma Rodríguez-Piñero, Massimiliano Salini, Helmut Scholz, Liesje Schreinemacher, Sven Simon, Dominik Tarczyński, Mihai Tudose, Kathleen Van Brempt, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, Jörgen Warborn, Iuliu Winkler, Jan Zahradil, Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez |
|||
Substitutes present for the final vote |
Marek Belka, Markus Buchheit, Seán Kelly, Jean-Lin Lacapelle, Manuela Ripa |
|||
FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION
33 |
+ |
NI |
Tiziana Beghin, Carles Puigdemont i Casamajó |
PPE |
Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou, Arnaud Danjean, Christophe Hansen, Danuta Maria Hübner, Seán Kelly, Gabriel Mato, Massimiliano Salini, Sven Simon, Jörgen Warborn, Iuliu Winkler, Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez |
Renew |
Barry Andrews, Jordi Cañas, Karin Karlsbro, Samira Rafaela, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne |
S&D |
Marek Belka, Miroslav Číž, Paolo De Castro, Raphaël Glucksmann, Bernd Lange, Margarida Marques, Inma Rodríguez-Piñero, Mihai Tudose, Kathleen Van Brempt |
The Left |
Emmanuel Maurel, Helmut Scholz |
Verts/ALE |
Saskia Bricmont, Markéta Gregorová, Sara Matthieu, Manuela Ripa |
2 |
- |
ECR |
Dominik Tarczyński, Jan Zahradil |
7 |
0 |
ECR |
Geert Bourgeois |
ID |
Markus Buchheit, Herve Juvin, Maximilian Krah, Jean-Lin Lacapelle, Danilo Oscar Lancini |
Renew |
Liesje Schreinemacher |
Key to symbols:
+ : in favour
- : against
0 : abstention
OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON BUDGETS (22.6.2021)
for the Committee on Development and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
on the EU Gender Action Plan III
Rapporteur for opinion: Alexandra Geese
SUGGESTIONS
The Committee on Budgets calls on the Committee on Development and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, as the committees responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into their motion for a resolution:
1. Welcomes the gender action plan III (GAP III), and in particular, the commitment of 85 % of the EU’s official development aid (ODA) being allocated to programmes across all sectors having gender equality as a significant or as a principal objective and at least one dedicated action programme for each country; calls for 20 % of ODA in each country to be allocated to programmes having gender equality as one of its principal objectives; expects that no ODA will be spent on projects that could reverse or harm gender equality achievements; emphasises the need for coordinated and coherent EU action and calls for close cooperation with Member States, partner governments, multilateral development banks, civil society, the private sector, trade unions and other relevant stakeholders to support gender equality and women’s empowerment, to ensure that women and girls are not left behind, and to maximise developmental impact and effectiveness, including through the use of innovative financial instruments, such as blending support; stresses the need for intensified and targeted action to advance the promotion of gender equality and to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 by 2030 at the latest;
2. Underlines that in order to maximise the impact of EU action, funding needs to be accessible for local and small civil society organisations, such as women’s rights organisations and social movements, and other relevant local actors who work most closely with girls, women and LGBTIQ people in all their diversity and different life situations, with a special focus on single parents and women and girls in vulnerable situations; stresses that these organisations should actively contribute towards linking the 85 % target to the actual funding needs of specific regions; emphasises the key role of the neighbourhood, development and international cooperation instrument, and stresses that administrative and implementation barriers should be avoided, since they might hamper the involvement of the most relevant actors; recalls the urgent need for significant funding to support, protect and further enhance universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); highlights the crucial importance of access to support for victims and calls for specific protection programmes to be implemented;
3. Highlights that all crises have a strongly gendered impact and none more than the current COVID-19 pandemic; underlines that owing to the asymmetric impact of the pandemic on sectors and occupations, as well as the different position of men and women in the labour market, where more women than men have lost their jobs and women are more likely to be among furloughed workers, while also being victims of the sharp increase in domestic and gender-based violence; expects measures to be put in place for funding essential services to ensure that victims of gender-based violence have access to protected shelters, social welfare, legal aid and housing, including those in fragile and humanitarian crisis situations; highlights that adequate and quality services can promote socio-economic integration and provide psycho-social support to the victims of all forms of gender-based violence;
4. Welcomes the accomplishments made so far on gender in the lending policies of the European Investment Bank and calls on the Bank to scale up its efforts and, in particular, to take into account to the maximum extent possible the policy goals of the GAP III in its external lending mandate;
5. Welcomes the increased level of support for gender-responsive budgeting that can have a fundamental impact on inclusive social and economic growth, foster employment, reduce poverty and increase GDP; stresses the need to recognise gender-responsive budgeting as a fundamental policy tool; welcomes the creation of specific gender indicators, which must be clear, measurable and time-bound, and the collection of quality, gender-disaggregated and globally comparable data; in particular, welcomes the support announced by the Commission regarding the inclusion of the module on gender responsiveness in all new public expenditure and in financial accountability assessment reports; expects the Commission to consult Parliament on the monitoring system, in accordance with Article 16(f) of the Interinstitutional Agreement on budgetary discipline so that the efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and added value of the GAP III can be closely monitored and assessed; insists that the monitoring system should be in line with, but not limited to, the SDGs and should include EU-specific indicators based on international human rights standards, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action and its review conferences, the EU Strategic Approach to Women, Peace and Security and the relevant International Labour Organization conventions;
6. Calls for the establishment of an extensive and comprehensive training programme to underpin the implementation of the GAP III, namely on gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting, gender impact assessments and gender analyses, as well as on gender-based violence; calls for the EU to develop clear and specific gender equality guidelines and set binding targets for all EU actors implementing the GAP III, and, in particular, to employ full-time gender focal points in each EU delegation, with sufficient resources and time to perform their tasks, as well as gender advisers in military common security and defence policy missions;
7. Expects that the gender transformative approach of the GAP III be fully respected and that the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics be fully upheld in the implementation of all funds and accessibility for projects and applicants; believes that this entails the proactive inclusion of civil society organisations working on the intersection of women’s rights and LGBTIQ rights, in particular for projects focused on gender-based and/or domestic violence, education, SRHR and combating gender stereotypes;
8. Recalls that women and men should have equal opportunities, equal access to employment and equal pay for equal work in order to be economically independent; underlines that women and men should equally share care responsibilities and have access to adequate social protection, public services and financial opportunities; expects concrete steps towards supporting universal social protection systems and recognising, reducing and redistributing unpaid care and domestic work;
9. Emphasises the importance of investing in women’s entrepreneurship and women-led businesses, as well as of funding projects offering business development services and support for employment, including for women in recovery contexts and in forced displacement;
10. Recalls the necessity of advancing equal participation and leadership given the fact that only a small number of women occupy top management positions; stresses the need to combat any discrimination regarding the occupation of management positions based on gender; underlines the necessity of gender-balanced leadership;
11. Reiterates the important role played by academic and educational cooperation in reinforcing gender rights across the world, and underlines the importance of development studies and global citizenship education in achieving the goals for gender equality; recalls that education and quality education systems are the foundation for promoting gender equality; stresses the need to increase investment in girls’ education in order to achieve equal access to all forms of education and training; welcomes the intention to increase overall funding for education, with 10 % of the humanitarian aid budget to be devoted to funding for education in emergencies; emphasises the necessity of the measures intended to overcome gender stereotypes and norms that create gender discrimination in schools; underlines that gender-responsive budgeting should also support programmes aimed at enhancing women’s capacity as political leaders and promoting young leaders programmes; reiterates the need to use all the available know-how and expertise that exists across EU Member States in promoting gender rights.
INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION
Date adopted |
22.6.2021 |
|
|
|
Result of final vote |
+: –: 0: |
32 4 3 |
||
Members present for the final vote |
Rasmus Andresen, Robert Biedroń, Anna Bonfrisco, Olivier Chastel, Lefteris Christoforou, David Cormand, Paolo De Castro, José Manuel Fernandes, Eider Gardiazabal Rubial, Alexandra Geese, Vlad Gheorghe, Valentino Grant, Elisabetta Gualmini, Francisco Guerreiro, Valérie Hayer, Eero Heinäluoma, Niclas Herbst, Monika Hohlmeier, Mislav Kolakušić, Moritz Körner, Joachim Kuhs, Zbigniew Kuźmiuk, Ioannis Lagos, Hélène Laporte, Pierre Larrouturou, Janusz Lewandowski, Margarida Marques, Siegfried Mureşan, Victor Negrescu, Andrey Novakov, Jan Olbrycht, Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Karlo Ressler, Bogdan Rzońca, Nicolae Ştefănuță, Nils Torvalds, Nils Ušakovs, Johan Van Overtveldt, Rainer Wieland, Angelika Winzig |
|||
Substitutes present for the final vote |
Petros Kokkalis |
|||
FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION
32 |
+ |
ID |
Anna Bonfrisco |
PPE |
Lefteris Christoforou, José Manuel Fernandes, Niclas Herbst, Monika Hohlmeier, Janusz Lewandowski, Siegfried Mureşan, Jan Olbrycht, Karlo Ressler, Rainer Wieland, Angelika Winzig |
Renew |
Olivier Chastel, Vlad Gheorghe, Valérie Hayer, Moritz Körner, Nicolae Ştefănuță, Nils Torvalds |
S&D |
Robert Biedroń, Paolo De Castro, Eider Gardiazabal Rubial, Elisabetta Gualmini, Eero Heinäluoma, Pierre Larrouturou, Margarida Marques, Victor Negrescu, Nils Ušakovs |
The Left |
Petros Kokkalis, Dimitrios Papadimoulis |
Verts/ALE |
Rasmus Andresen, David Cormand, Alexandra Geese, Francisco Guerreiro |
4 |
- |
ECR |
Zbigniew Kuźmiuk, Bogdan Rzońca |
ID |
Valentino Grant, Joachim Kuhs |
3 |
0 |
ID |
Hélène Laporte |
NI |
Mislav Kolakušić |
PPE |
Andrey Novakov |
Key to symbols:
+: in favour
–: against
0: abstention
INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE
Date adopted |
26.1.2022 |
|
|
|
Result of final vote |
+: –: 0: |
48 5 7 |
||
Members present for the final vote |
Isabella Adinolfi, Barry Andrews, Eric Andrieu, Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou, Simona Baldassarre, Hildegard Bentele, Robert Biedroń, Dominique Bilde, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Udo Bullmann, Catherine Chabaud, Antoni Comín i Oliveres, Ryszard Czarnecki, Margarita de la Pisa Carrión, Rosa Estaràs Ferragut, Frances Fitzgerald, Heléne Fritzon, Lina Gálvez Muñoz, Gianna Gancia, Mónica Silvana González, Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, György Hölvényi, Lívia Járóka, Rasa Juknevičienė, Beata Kempa, Arba Kokalari, Alice Kuhnke, Karsten Lucke, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska, Pierfrancesco Majorino, Erik Marquardt, Karen Melchior, Andżelika Anna Możdżanowska, Maria Noichl, Janina Ochojska, Pina Picierno, Sirpa Pietikäinen, Samira Rafaela, Evelyn Regner, Diana Riba i Giner, Michèle Rivasi, Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Christian Sagartz, Christine Schneider, Sylwia Spurek, Jessica Stegrud, Tomas Tobé, Isabella Tovaglieri, Miguel Urbán Crespo, Hilde Vautmans, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Marco Zullo |
|||
Substitutes present for the final vote |
Stéphane Bijoux, Annika Bruna, Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques, Aušra Maldeikienė, Irène Tolleret |
|||
Substitutes under Rule 209(7) present for the final vote |
Ernest Urtasun |
|||
FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE
48 |
+ |
ID |
Gianna Gancia |
NI |
Antoni Comín i Oliveres |
PPE |
Isabella Adinolfi, Anna‑Michelle Asimakopoulou, Hildegard Bentele, Frances Fitzgerald, Rasa Juknevičienė, Arba Kokalari, Aušra Maldeikienė, Janina Ochojska, Sirpa Pietikäinen, Christian Sagartz, Christine Schneider, Tomas Tobé, Elissavet Vozemberg‑Vrionidi, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska |
Renew |
Barry Andrews, Stéphane Bijoux, Catherine Chabaud, Karen Melchior, Samira Rafaela, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Irène Tolleret, Hilde Vautmans, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Marco Zullo |
S&D |
Eric Andrieu, Robert Biedroń, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Udo Bullmann, Heléne Fritzon, Mónica Silvana González, Lina Gálvez Muñoz, Maria‑Manuel Leitão‑Marques, Karsten Lucke, Pierfrancesco Majorino, Maria Noichl, Pina Picierno, Evelyn Regner |
The Left |
Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, Miguel Urbán Crespo |
Verts/ALE |
Pierrette Herzberger‑Fofana, Alice Kuhnke, Erik Marquardt, Diana Riba i Giner, Michèle Rivasi, Sylwia Spurek, Ernest Urtasun |
5 |
- |
ECR |
Ryszard Czarnecki, Beata Kempa, Andżelika Anna Możdżanowska, Jessica Stegrud, Margarita de la Pisa Carrión |
7 |
0 |
ID |
Simona Baldassarre, Dominique Bilde, Annika Bruna, Isabella Tovaglieri |
NI |
Lívia Járóka |
PPE |
Rosa Estaràs Ferragut, György Hölvényi |
Key to symbols:
+ : in favour
- : against
0 : abstention
- [1] OJ L 23, 27.1.2010, p. 35.
- [2] OJ L 107, 26.3.2021, p. 1.
- [3] OJ L 209, 14.6.2021, p. 1.
- [4] OJ C 76, 9.3.2020, p. 168.
- [5] OJ C 294, 23.7.2021, p. 8.
- [6] OJ C 294, 23.7.2021, p. 58.
- [7] OJ C 404, 6.10.2021, p. 202.
- [8] OJ C 456, 10.11.2021, p. 191.
- [9] OJ C 456, 10.11.2021, p. 232.
- [10] Texts adopted, P9_TA(2021)0315.
- [11] Texts adopted, P9_TA(2021)0314.
- [12] OJ C 162, 10.5.2019, p. 9.
- [13] OJ C 99 E, 3.4.2012, p. 31.
- [14] OJ C 162, 10.5.2019, p. 9.
- [15] OJ C 99E, 3.4.2012, p. 31.