C 214/92
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
16.6.2023
Wednesday 18 January 2023
Responding to global human rights and democracy challenges Response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic
53.
Is deeply concerned about the long-term negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on both the general state of democracy and human rights worldwide; highlights the disproportionate adverse impact on groups in the most vulnerable situations, including women, children, persons with disabilities, persons living with certain chronic diseases, the elderly, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) persons, impoverished people, persons belonging to ethnic, belief and religious minorities, refugees and migrants, and persons in prison or detention; is further concerned about delays and barriers in access to health services and the consequent increase in unintended pregnancies, sexual and gender-based violence, unsafe abortions, and maternal and neonatal deaths; notes with regret the use of COVID-19 prevention measures as a pretext to deny visits from family members or lawyers to detention facilities and to violate the rights of detainees; praises the role that human rights defenders and journalists have played, sometimes even risking their lives, in reporting or attempting to prevent human rights violations during the pandemic;
54.
Reiterates that enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and universal access to healthcare are among the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction; calls for the EU and its Member States to support the defence of these rights, especially in countries and regions where health services are scarcest and urges countries to make progress in facilitating access to health services; asserts that the EU should continue to fund the development and global supply of COVID-19 vaccines, provide education about the benefits of vaccination and increase the availability, accessibility and affordability of vaccination in order to avoid vaccine-preventable diseases;
55.
Reiterates that personal liberty, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief and freedom of expression are cornerstones of democracy; is deeply concerned by the growing use of mass surveillance technologies, in particular by authoritarian regimes, to curtail these freedoms, which increased further under the guise of COVID-19 prevention measures; calls for a strict and effective ban on sales of mass surveillance technologies; calls for a greater response to the mass infiltration of disinformation and conspiracy theories within the digital sphere, perpetuated largely but not exclusively by authoritarian regimes, as well as non-state actors;
Women’s rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality
56.
Condemns the fact that no country in the world has achieved gender equality yet; underlines the persistence of widespread gender-based violence and intersecting discrimination in every region of the world; underlines that women and girls continue to be the main victims in violent crises and that sexual, gender-based and reproductive violence has continued in many places around the world, and is notably used in armed conflicts as a weapon of war; stresses that women human rights defenders, activists, journalists and lawyers have been particularly targeted, and that they face rapidly increasing online harassment and intimidation and ongoing threats and attacks;
57.
Highlights with deep concern the increase in gender-based and domestic violence and deplores setbacks to SRHR in both developing and developed countries; reiterates its call for the EU and its Member States to fully support the right of women to bodily integrity, dignity and autonomous decision-making and to effectively fight gender-based and domestic violence; draws attention to the fact that, despite the efforts of the EU, women are still a minority in leadership positions, they earn less than men for the same responsibilities and positions and their abilities and skills are underestimated or undermined because of their gender;
58.
Calls for the EU and its international partners to strengthen their efforts to ensure full enjoyment of human rights by women, girls and vulnerable groups, and to ensure equal opportunities for all; calls for the worldwide eradication of laws and practices preventing women from exercising their rights, notably the rights to education, work and participation in political and public decision-making; deplores situations in which women and female-headed households, particularly in humanitarian crisis areas, are denied access to humanitarian aid and essential services because national and local authorities insist that these services be provided by female workers, while at the same time limiting women's access to employment; calls on states that have not yet done so to ratify and implement the Istanbul Convention;