MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the situation of women in Afganistan and Pakistan
13.12.2011
pursuant to Rule 122 of the Rules of Procedure
Elmar Brok, José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Mario Mauro, Cristian Dan Preda, Roberta Angelilli, Bernd Posselt, Tunne Kelam, Monica Luisa Macovei, Elena Băsescu, Sari Essayah, Eija-Riitta Korhola, Zuzana Roithová, Sergio Paolo Francesco Silvestris, Eduard Kukan, Laima Liucija Andrikienė, Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, Filip Kaczmarek, Róża Gräfin von Thun und Hohenstein, Giovanni La Via on behalf of the PPE Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B7-0702/2011
B7‑0711/2011
European Parliament resolution on the situation of women in Afganistan and Pakistan
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its previous resolutions on human rights and democracy in Pakistan, in particular of 20 January 2011 as well as those of 20 May 2010 and of 12 July, 5 October and 15 November 2007,
- having regard to its previous resolutions on Afghanistan, in particular of 24 April 2009 on Women's rights in Afghanistan and of 16 December 2010 on a New Strategy for Afghanistan;
- having regard to its resolution of 16 December 2010 on the Annual Report on Human Rights in the World 2009 and the European Union's policy on the matter (2010/2202(INI)),
- having regard to its 26 November 2009 resolution on the elimination of violence against women;
- having regard to the Council conclusions adopted on 16 November 2009 on freedom of religion or belief, in which it underlines the strategic importance of this freedom and of countering religious intolerance,
- having regard to the Council Conclusions on intolerance, discrimination and violence on the basis of religion or belief, adopted on 21 February 2011,
- having regard to the EU-Pakistan Joint Statement of 4 June 2010, in which both sides have reaffirmed their determination to jointly address regional and global security issues, to promote respect for human rights, and to cooperate to further strengthen Pakistan’s democratic government and institutions,
- having regard to the Council conclusions on Pakistan and on Afghanistan of 18 July 2011,
- having regard to the Statement by EU High Representative on the proposed legislation on women’s shelter in Afghanistan of 20 February 2011;
- having regard to the conclusions of the International Conference of 5 December 2011 in Bonn;
- having regard to Article 18 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),
- having regard to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
- having regard to the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion and Belief,
- having regard to Rule 122(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas both physical and moral violence against women remain among the major human rights violations reported in Afghanistan and Pakistan;
B. whereas women and children are the most vulnerable people in Afghan and Pakistan societies;
C. whereas the situation of Afghan women remains worrying, with the rate of mortality of mothers during pregnancy and childbirth as well as the infant mortality rates in Afghanistan being the second most highest in the world, while violence against women remains a widespread phenomenon,
D. whereas some progress has been achieved as far as regards the situation of women in Afghanistan since 2001 in various fields such as health, education, the role of women in politics at national and regional levels and in the civil society;
E. whereas Afghanistan is a party to several International Conventions, particularly the elimination of discrimination against women, and whereas the Afghan Constitution, in Article 22, stipulates that men and women have equal rights and duties before the law;
F. whereas in some areas of Afghanistan under control of insurgent formations 'Sharia Law' has been imposed, as occurred on 12 November in Gazni (Kandahar), where a woman and her daughter were executed by stoning;
G. whereas the practice of “baad” – the sale of a woman or a girl as a reward for a crime or a punishment decided by a local Jirga(Council) – is still in use, although considered a criminal offence under article 517 of Afghan penal code;
H. whereas women from religious minorities are the most frequent victims of violence, particularly sexual violence, based on the abuse of the blasphemy laws to intimidate Christians, Ahmadis and all religious minorities in Pakistan;
I. whereas it is becoming common in Pakistani rural areas for Muslim fundamentalists to abduct, force into marriage and forcibly convert women to Islam, with abductions making up nearly 30 percent of all crimes against women in the first half of 2010 in Pakistan;
J. whereas international human rights organisations report on the constantly increasing number of apparently systematic cases of rape or abuse of Christian girls by Muslim fundamentalists in Pakistan as part of a concerted effort aimed at forced conversion to Islam through forced marriage;
K. whereas the Pakistani legal provisions known as the "blasphemy laws", introduced in 1982 and 1986, undermine the fundamental religious and minority rights granted by the Constitution and the Pakistan government has publicly announced on 30 December 2010 that it had no intention to repeal or amend the blasphemy laws;
L. whereas Article 3(5) of the Treaty on European Union states that the promotion of democracy and respect for human rights and civil liberties are fundamental principles and aims of the European Union and constitute common ground for its relations with third countries; whereas EU assistance in trade and development is conditional upon respect for human rights and minority rights,
1. Is deeply concerned about the situation of women and girls and the repeated reports on brutal violations of women’s rights in Afghanistan and Pakistan; stresses that closer international attention must be paid as a matter of urgency to the situation of women and girls in the in these countries;
2. Urges the European Commission and the Council, but equally the international community, to significantly increase funds aimed at efforts to protect women from rape, abuse and domestic violence and to outline practical measures to support civil society movements against discriminatory legislation;
3. Insists that women's rights be explicitly addressed in all human rights dialogues, and in particular the combating and elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, including all forms of harmful traditional or customary practices, early or forced marriage, domestic violence and femicide, and likewise insists that the invocation of any custom, tradition, or religious consideration of any kind, in order to evade their duty to eliminate such brutality, be rejected;
Afghanistan
4. Pays tribute to the Afghan women that play a crucial role in the development and in the growth of the Nation; consider that the advanced made in recent years in the field of equality between men and women, is the best way to build the future of the Country;
5. Welcomes the recent decision of President Karzai to pardon Gulnaz, a rape victim who had been jailed for adultery; hopes that similar cases could be solved as well in the near future;
6. Takes note with satisfaction that Afghanistan and the international Community reiterated, in the Bonn II conclusions, the principle that "reconciliation must contain respect for the Afghan constitution, including its human rights provisions, notably the rights of women";
7. Calls on the Afghan Parliament and the Afghan Ministry of Justice to repeal the laws which give rise or contain elements of discrimination against women, and which breach the International Treaties signed by Afghanistan
8. Believes that the commitment and respect of human rights, and in particular women’s rights, is essential for the democratic development of Afghanistan;
9. Calls on the Afghan Authorities to adopt all necessary measures to protect women from sexual violence and other form of violence, and bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes;
10. Calls for the revision of the law concerning the personal status of Shiite women in Afghanistan, which, despite some amendments, contradict the principles of International Covenant on Civil and political rights, the Convention on the elimination of all form of Discrimination and the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
11. Reiterates that the support of the European Union and its Member States in the reconstruction of Afghanistan must include concrete measures to eradicate discrimination against women in order to strengthen respect for human rights and the rule of law;
12. Calls on the Afghan Authorities to eradicate the inhuman practice of “baad” and take urgent measures applying the law of 2009, which provides for sentences up to ten years;
13. Calls on the Afghan Government, in order to better protect women’s rights and to avoid discriminatory conditions to amend the existing legislation, and the penal code; the peace talks, under any circumstances, shall not result in a loss of rights acquired by women in recent years;
Pakistan
14. Remains deeply concerned over the fate of Asia Bibi, the Christian woman, mother of five children and the first woman in Pakistan to be sentenced to death under the blasphemy laws, who is still being held on death row, with an additional prize of about 5000,- Euro put out for her killing by an Islamic cleric;
15. Recalls the case of Mukhtar Mai, a woman from the Muzaffargarh district in Punjab province, who was gang-raped on the orders of a village council as punishment for an alleged romance between Mai’s young brother and a woman from another tribe; regrets the decision of the Pakistani Supreme Court to acquit five men accused of this crime;
16. Recalls the case of Uzma Ayub, a single Pakistani mother, who was repeatedly raped whilst being held captive by an army soldier and three police officials during an entire year, and who is is currently seven months pregnant and will give birth soon;
17. Expresses its deep concern that the handling of the court cases against Asia Bibi, Mukhtar Mai and Uzma Ayub could further erode faith in Pakistan's justice system and emboldens those who seek to violate the rights of women and other at-risk groups;
18. Urges the Pakistani government to identify mechanisms by which the conduct of informal village and tribal councils can be monitored in order to ensure that they would act in accordance with the law and in respect of women's rights;
19. Welcomes the recent introduction of a bill in the Pakistani National Assembly to turn the National Commission on the Status of Women into an autonomous body for the empowerment of women and elimination of all forms of discrimination against them; hopes for a speedy adoption of this bill as well as of the bill introduced to effectively deal with incidents of burning women with acid or otherwise;
20. Regrets that the Pakistani Senate had let the Domestic Violence Bill lapse although the National Assembly had already passed the bill in 2009; urges both the Pakistani government and the National Assembly to reintroduce and speedily adopt the Bill in order to obtain better protection of women against domestic violence;
21. Urges the Government of Pakistan to prosecute those inciting violence in Pakistan, in particular those calling for and, in some cases, offering rewards for the deaths of individuals and groups with whom they disagree; and to take further measure to facilitate debate on the issue;
22. Reiterates its call upon the Government of Pakistan to reconsider its stance on the blasphemy laws and to carry out a thoroughgoing review of the blasphemy laws and their current application, as well as – inter alia – of Section 295 C of the Penal Code, which prescribes a mandatory death penalty for anyone found guilty of blasphemy, and in the meantime to implement amendments already suggested;
23. Calls on the competent EU institutions to include the issue of religious tolerance in society in its political dialogue with Pakistan, this matter being of central importance to the long-term fight against religious extremism;
24. Urges the competent EU institutions to insist that the Government of Pakistan uphold the democracy and human rights clause enshrined in the Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; reiterates its call on the European External Action Service to present a report on the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement and the democracy and human rights clause;
25. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the European External Action Service, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the European Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, and the Government and Parliament of Pakistan.