EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 21/8

Thursday 4 December 2008

The situation of women in the Balkans

P6_TA(2008)0582

European Parliament resolution of 4 December 2008 on the situation of women in the Balkans (2008/2119 (INI))

2010/C 21 E/04

The European Parliament,

having regard to Articles 6 and 49 of the Treaty on European Union,

having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

having regard to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted by the UN General Assembly on 18 December 1979,

having regard to the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000 on women, peace, and security,

having regard to the work of the Vienna Conference on Human Rights (1993), which affirmed human rights and condemned the violation of these rights in the name of culture or tradition,

having regard to the Brussels Declaration on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings adopted on 20 September 2002,

having regard to the Commission 2007 Progress Reports on the Candidate and Potential Candidate countries accompanying the communication from the Commission of 6 November 2007 entitled ‘Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2007-2008’ (COM(2007)0663),

having regard to the communication from the Commission of 25 October 2007 entitled ‘Towards an EU response to situations of fragility — engaging in difficult environments for sustainable development, stability and peace’ (COM(2007)0643),

having regard to the communication from the Commission of 5 March 2008 entitled ‘Western Balkans: Enhancing the European perspective’ (COM(2008)0127),

having regard to the activities and the progress report of the Gender Task Force operational under the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe (2004),

having regard to the study entitled ‘Women's Situation in the Balkan Countries: comparative perspective’, undertaken by Ms Marina Blagojević on behalf of the European Parliament (Belgrade, February 2003),

having regard to its resolution of 22 April 2004 on Women in South-East Europe (1),

having regard to its resolution of 6 July 2005 on the role of women in Turkey in social, economic and political life (2) and its resolution of 13 February 2007 on women's role in social, economic and political life in Turkey (3),

having regard to its resolution of 1 June 2006 on the situation of Roma women in the European Union (4),

having regard to the conclusions of the international conference: Women in conflict resolution, held in Ljubljana, June 21-22, 2008 in the Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis — Ljubljana Graduate School in Humanities,

having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

having regard to the report of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (A6-0435/2008),

1. Considers that the continuation of political and economic stabilisation and the creation of democratic institutions in the countries of the Balkans requires the active participation of women (given that they comprise just over half of the population);

2. Notes with anxiety that gender equality laws and practices (institutional, financial, human) are not fully guaranteed although there is a difference between countries which have started accession negotiations and those which have not;

3. Stresses the importance of women's equal rights and equal participation in the labour market, which are indispensable for women's economic independence, for national economic growth and for the fight against poverty, to which women are more vulnerable than men;

4. Notes that women were disproportionately affected by cuts in social services and public spending such as health care, child and family care; points out that these non-wage benefits and services which were previously provided enabled women to participate in paid employment and consequently to reconcile work and family life;

5. Notes with concern that women, while generally under-represented in the labour market, are over-represented in some (traditionally ‘female’) jobs where their situation, especially in rural areas, is more precarious; in that respect, calls for special measures to avoid the feminisation of ‘lower paid’ sectors; is also concerned that the ‘gender pay gap’ phenomenon exists, and that women have difficulties in setting up their own businesses;

6. Invites the governments of the countries in the Balkans to establish a legal framework for equal pay for both sexes, to assist women in the reconciliation of private and professional life and to provide good quality, accessible and affordable childcare facilities and care facilities for the elderly to that effect, and in addition to remove obstacles which inhibit female entrepreneurship;

7. Underlines the importance of education in eliminating stereotypes relating to the social roles of both women and men and cultural stereotypes and the fact that the education system itself should not promote stereotypical patterns, including in career choices;

8. Draws attention to the generally insufficient healthcare infrastructure, especially in rural areas, and calls on governments to ensure regular screening of cervical and breast cancer for women, and of HIV/AIDS, to which women are more vulnerable than men; stresses the importance of psychological and medical rehabilitation of female war victims;

9. Considers that women in the Balkans, who have been victims of war, should no longer be seen only as war victims but rather as actors of stabilisation and conflict resolution; stresses that women in the Balkans in general can only fulfil this role once equally represented in political and economic decision-making; welcomes quotas and calls on the countries which have not done so already, to promote female representation and, where necessary, to apply quotas effectively in political parties and national assemblies, and encourages the countries which have already done so to continue this process in order to ensure that women can participate in political life and overcome their under-representation, with a view to removing the ‘glass ceiling’ once and for all and to implement positive action to ensure that women and men learn about and engage with citizenship from an early age;

10. Notes with concern that, despite the legislative framework recently put in place in most of the Balkan countries, domestic violence and verbal abuse remain present; therefore invites the countries concerned to take measures to create shelters for victims and to ensure that law enforcement institutions, legal authorities and public servants are more sensitive to this phenomenon;

11. Stresses that domestic violence is even more widespread than existing data show and that relevant statistics and data are fragmented, poorly collected and not standardised, even in the countries that have adopted specific legislation in this field;

12. Underlines the importance of awareness-raising campaigns in the fight against stereotypes, discrimination (gender-based, cultural, religion-based) and domestic violence, and for gender equality in general; notes that these campaigns should be complemented by the promotion of a positive picture through female role models in the media and advertising, educational materials and the Internet;

13. Welcomes the recent evolution of the legislative and institutional framework which reflects a strong commitment to ensuring equal opportunities for women and men in the countries concerned; at the same time reiterates that strong measures are needed so that these provisions can be fully implemented in practice;

14. Calls on Balkan governments to take action to pave the way for implementation of an integrated approach to gender equality at all levels and in all areas of social and political life;

15. Calls on all Member States which have not yet done so to accept National Plans for the implementation of the above mentioned UN Security Council Resolution and to implement them when dealing with the Balkan countries;

16. Notes with anxiety that the countries of the Balkans are transit countries in the process of trafficking in human beings and that generally women and children are the victims of the trafficking; stresses that gender equality, awareness-raising campaigns, measures against corruption and organised crime are essential in order to prevent negative phenomena in the Balkan countries such as prostitution and trafficking and to protect potential victims;

17. Calls on the Balkan countries to take urgent action to prevent prostitution, and more specifically child prostitution and pornography, to strengthen penalties for coercion into, or incitement to, prostitution and/or participation in the creation of pornographic materials, and to criminalise child pornography on the Internet;

18. Stresses the importance of NGOs and women's organisations in identifying women's problems and in finding adequate solutions, particularly the Gender Task Force under the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe, in developing the democratic processes and stability in the region; encourages the work of these NGOs and suggests the sharing of best practice in the field of gender equality among the countries concerned, as well as with European NGO networks;

19. Calls on the Commission to provide pre-accession funds for strengthening women's rights in the Balkans, in particular through women's NGOs and women's organisations;

20. Calls on the Commission closely to monitor and to press for the fulfilment of the Copenhagen Criteria, in particular in relation to equal opportunities for women and men and women's rights in the candidate and potential candidate countries; invites the candidate and potential candidate countries of the Balkans to harmonise their anti-discrimination and gender equality legislation with the acquis communautaire in view of possible future accession;

21. Calls on the Commission to ensure that its policy laid down in the above mentioned communication of 5 March 2008, which is directed at strengthening NGOs in the Western Balkans, should be particularly focused on the empowerment of women's participation in civil society;

22. Stresses that Roma women suffer from multiple discrimination (racial, ethnic, gender), and are more vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion; therefore a differentiated approach is needed to tackle these problems; Roma women in particular encounter prejudice in many countries and are affected by lack of citizenship, have limited access to quality education, face inadequate living conditions, are unable to access healthcare services and encounter high unemployment and low levels of political and public participation in society;

23. Notes with concern the lack of up-to-date statistical information and indicators which would assist in the assessment of the situation of women in the Balkans;

24. Calls on the candidate and potential candidate countries in the Balkans to guarantee the elimination of all forms of discrimination and prejudice against women who suffer from multiple discrimination, especially the Roma; calls on the Balkan countries to introduce an effective and practical antidiscrimination strategy to be implemented at all levels (national and local);

25. Calls on the European Institute for Gender Equality also to monitor gender equality in the countries of the Balkans with special attention on candidate countries;

26. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, the governments and the Parliaments of the Member States and the candidate and potential candidate countries concerned.

(1) OJ C 104 E, 30.4.2004, p. 1070.

(2) OJ C 157 E, 6.7.2006, p. 385.

(3) OJ C 287 E, 29.11.2007, p. 174.

(4) OJ C 298 E, 8.12.2006, p. 283.