MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the recent attacks on medical aid workers in Pakistan
5.2.2013 - (2013/2537(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 122 of the Rules of Procedure
Jean Lambert, Barbara Lochbihler, Raül Romeva i Rueda, Nicole Kiil-Nielsen, Rui Tavares on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B7-0056/2013
B7‑0056/2013
European Parliament resolution on the recent attacks on medical aid workers in Pakistan
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its pervious resolutions on Pakistan
– having regard to the statement of 18 December 2012 from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),
– having regard to the Commission Communication entitled "a special place for children in EU external action"[1],
– having regard to its resolution of 18 April 2012 on the Annual Report on Human Rights in the World and the European Union’s policy on the matter, including implications for the EU’s strategic human rights policy[2],
– having regard to the EU-Pakistan five-year engagement plan of March 2012, containing priorities such as good governance, cooperation in the field of women’s empowerment and dialogue on human rights,
– having regard to the Council conclusions on Pakistan of 25 June 2012, reiterating the EU’s expectations regarding the promotion of and respect for human rights,
– having regard to Rules 122(5) and 110(4) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. Whereas Pakistan, according to the WHO, is one of the last three countries worldwide where polio is still endemic, counting 198 infections in 2011;
B. whereas on Jan 1 2013, six medical aid workers and one doctor were gunned down on their way home from the community centre where they were employed by a non-governmental organization in the north-western Swabi region, about 75 km (45 miles) northwest of the capital of Islamabad
C. whereas from 17 to 19 December 2012, nine health workers, six of whom were women, involved in Pakistan's polio eradication campaign were gunned down in Karachi and Peshawar
D. whereas on 29 January 2013 a policeman providing security for a polio vaccination team was killed near Swabi and whereas on 31 January 2013 two polio vaccination workers were killed in a landmine blast in north-west Pakistan, although it is unclear whether this was a targeted attack
E. whereas in another attack last July, a Ghanaian World Health Organisation doctor and his driver were wounded, who were helping fight polio in Karachi;
F. whereas it is suspected that all attacks were linked to campaigns to vaccinate Pakistani children against polio;
G. whereas the latest series of killings has prompted WHO and UNICEF to suspend their polio campaigns in the country; whereas according to the WHO a halt to the eradication program would pose serious health risks for the whole region and beyond since polio is a highly infectious disease;
H. whereas most attacks on health workers took place in North Western areas near militant strongholds, and are allegedly linked to the Taliban;
I. whereas the reason for the recent attacks seem to be an opposition to the vaccination campaigns amongst Islamic extremist groups, who spread fake rumors that the vaccine is intended to make Muslim children sterile;
J. whereas it cannot be excluded that there is a link between the incidents and the fact that the CIA had been using local vaccination teams across Pakistan for espionage activities;
K. whereas most of the victims of the assault on medical staff were women, which coincides with the Taliban militants' routine to attack female workers and advocates to give the message that women may not work outside the house;
L. whereas the Pakistani Government declared Polio a national emergency and is currently undertaking a polio vaccination campaign in an effort to eradicate the disease within its borders;
M. whereas this campaign is supported internationally by the WHO, UNICEF and others and is part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative; whereas the campaign is targeting 33 million children for vaccination with several hundred thousand of health workers applying the vaccination country wide, in particular female health workers
N. whereas such attacks deprive children in Pakistan of their right to basic life-saving health interventions and place them at risk for a disease that causes lifelong disability.
1. Strongly condemns the multiple attacks and murders of medical workers in the past months; stresses that these assaults deprive Pakistan's most vulnerable populations, especially children, of basic life-saving health interventions;
2. underlines that the interruption of the polio vaccination program in Pakistan deals a serious blow to the worldwide efforts to eradicate Polio once for all in the near future;
3. Expresses its condolences to for the families of the victims;
4. Welcomes the widespread condemnation of the attacks by the government of Pakistan and the country's civil society;
5. Calls on the Government of Pakistan to bring to justice those responsible for the assaults during the last months;
6. Expresses its admiration for the courage and determination of those health workers, many of them women, who continue to provide their services despite the recent hostilities;
7. Welcomes the National Emergency Action Plan (NEAP) for Polio Eradication of the Pakistani Government of 2012, and stresses the importance of it to continue successfully; notes that since the start of the latest immunization campaign the number of infections has reached historic lows;
8. Welcomes the efforts the government of Pakistan has already undertaken to increase security during medical campaigns; however calls on the Government of Pakistan to further improve the safety of medical aid workers and human rights activists in Pakistan;
9. Encourages the Government of Pakistan to implement a comprehensive information campaign to enhance the level of basic understanding and trust regarding vaccination campaigns; in this respect calls on the government to enter into dialogue with community leaders to address root causes of this problem;
10. Calls on all WHO and UNICEF member states to bring the necessary security arrangements to bare so that the organisations' polio eradication campaign in Pakistan can resume;
11. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase, if necessary, financial support for these campaigns, including for the related security costs borne by Pakistan and the international organizations;
12. Calls on governments worldwide to refrain from using medical campaigns as a cover up for intelligence activities, since the deceptive use of medical care jeopardizes the efforts of health campaigns, may leave tens of thousands of people vulnerable to illnesses and endangers those who provide legitimate and essential health services;
13. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the European External Action Service, the Vice-President of the European Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, the UN Women, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the UN Human Rights Council and the Government and Parliament of Pakistan.
- [1] COM(2008) 55 final
- [2] Texts adopted, P7_TA(2012)0126.