WUNRN
European Parliament - EP - Press
Release
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European Women's Lobby - EWL
European Parliament Report on Human Rights Calls for
Stand-Alone Goal on Gender Equality,
Respect for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights,
and an End to Violence Against Women
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In particular, MEPs call for for
a stand-alone goal for women’s rights and gender equality to be included in the
post-2015 Millennium Development Goals, with a strong emphasis on Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights. Very interestingly: on the day before, MEPs
voted an alternative resolution to the Estrela report on sexual and
reproductive health and rights (SRHR), recalling the subsidiarity principle
when it comes to health policies, and therefore denying any debate on the issue
as the resolution canceled the vote on the report.
Moreover, the report on Human
Rights "calls for efforts to be stepped up to ensure the fullest possible
achievement, prior to the expiry of the deadlines, of the Millennium
Development Goals as regards gender equality, maternal health and access to
adequate health systems, education and sexual and reproductive health rights,
especially for the most vulnerable groups such as girls and young women, on the
basis of a solid commitment on the part of governments to enhance
accountability and monitoring mechanisms for existing human rights obligations,
promote access to justice for all and ensure effective participation for all,
including the most marginalised and disadvantaged, in development, decision
making and implementation."
So, if the Estrela report has not
been adopted this week, nevertheless the European Parliament sends a strong
message about SRHR as human rights.
Finally, the report calls for an
immediate end to all acts of violence, sexual assault and other forms of
degrading treatment against female protesters and women‘s rights activists and
for serious and impartial investigations into all such cases and full
accountability for those responsible.