kfajdsl/voxpopuli huggingface dataset:
based on lessons learned we wanted to address all the identified weaknesses such as limited capacities to tackle gender equality and women's empowerment issues in external actions limited high level political support and coordination among the services and on the ground. this learning process will also continue in the implementation of our second gender action plan.
this would be facilitated by the requirement that each report has to be endorsed by either the head of delegation or the relevant director and headquarters. we also need a strong political buy in from the highest level including parliament.
we also need adequate funding. the recent midterm review of the external financing instruments has been as you suggest a great opportunity to measure the scope of gender sensitive initiatives in our development cooperation.
this is about understanding that gender is fundamental and a key driver in all sectors when it comes to sustainable development.
two thousand and sixteen two thousand and twenty our evaluation of the first gender action plan had been a useful guidance in the preparation of the second plan.
the management's commitment and ownership of the second gender action plan is therefore crucial.
the annual reporting requirement by all external relations services is an important tool in this regard and an opportunity to do things better together and more efficiently.
asia sexual and gender based violence including harmful practices in sub saharan africa domestic violence in the pacific and the caribbean.
from the data already available for the two thousand and seventeen report around sixty five of eu official development assistance has been committed in gender sensitive ways.
this year we have been making an effort to harmonise reporting requirements and leverage as much as possible the coordinating mechanism at the country level. i hope you will agree that we still have a lot of work ahead of us to deliver and i sincerely hope that together by using all our voices policy tools and financing instruments we can indeed make a lasting difference.
so we have invited other donors to join forces with
what we are not debating tonight is whether or not we need gender action in our external relations.
so far eighty one of delegations of our embassies have submitted their gender reports as have twenty two member states because our member states have also signed up to this plan.
we need to move away from the days when the gender responsibility was given to the youngest newest member often female of our delegations in our partner countries.
we have seen some good practice in some embassies in some of our delegations and we need a platform a mechanism to make sure the good practice and the good projects are exchanged.
yes it is about giving women control of their own fertility about our sexual and reproductive health rights and allowing women and girls to make their own choices about what happens to their bodies.
thank you and i will come back with further comments later.
it is really about making positive changes to the lives of women and girls in our partner countries many of which are some of the poorest countries on our planet.
of course the real point of the gender action plan is not about collecting data or nominating gender focal points;
i saw one of these projects a couple of weeks ago in uganda where we met women and girl refugees from south sudan living in refugee settlements and they were receiving psychological support because they have been victims of conflict and victims of appalling sexual violence.
i think that women in our partner countries deserve the same access to family planning services as we expect in our own countries and when i meet the women who are victims of sexual violence and the girls often twelve ten eleven years old they in particular need our support in this respect.
we have seen the creation of gender focal points and gender champions in our delegations but i would like to see further progress inside the commission's headquarter services in brussels as well to see them focus more actively on this.
what we are looking at is whether or not we are delivering on the pledges we signed up to.
what we are seeing now is that it is now the clear responsibility of the ambassadors in our delegation and of senior officials in our services who are responsible for gender action and they have to give an annual report to make sure that they can be held to account.
we have seen an increase in the number of projects specifically aimed at women and we are also seeing that all projects have to have some form of gender screening.
we had that debate two years ago and we agreed we needed a much stronger focus in this new programme not just in development policy like the last gender action plan but right across our external relations in trade in our neighbourhood policy and in our global strategy.
it is never easy to engineer cultural change and to get gender action taken more seriously that is what we need.
but there is so much more to be done.
we are not doing enough to explicitly involve women in peace negotiations and the gender dimension is frequently sidelined in crisis situations or difficult conflicts.
the report also recommends significant actions in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights including in conflict situations specific regions and combating the consequences of the deeply damaging global gag rule.
commissioner please also take note of the need to empower women in our political work in our neighbourhood countries.
and the prevention of violence against women.
but more importantly what this report touches on which i definitely condemn is the absolutely horrific human rights violations which take place in libyan detention centres. women at the hands of libyan coastal guards are subjected to gang rapes men are beaten to death there is no food
no basic amenities and appalling unimaginable living conditions.
these are the same coastal guards that the eu are training.
one cannot begin to imagine the fear terror and despair of these victims.
this is despite prior warnings from human rights organisations that warned of the exacerbation of such crimes.
the un human rights chief stated that the eu's policy of assisting the libyan coast guard was inhumane and that increasing interventions by the eu have done nothing to reduce the level of abuse suffered by migrants.
what checks does the eu have in place to oversee this operation?
has the commission investigated this and what are they doing about it?
madam president i am very pleased to see the genuine commitment joint contributions and collaboration in the implementation of our second gender action plan.
so far good progress has been made but we cannot forget that changing social norms and gender power relations require long term efforts and continuous high level engagement.
finally let me recall that in less than a week we will have the european development days under the main topic of women and girls at the forefront of sustainable development protect empower invest' and i hope many of you will be there because putting women girls and gender equality at the forefront of sustainable development is key for ensuring a brighter more inclusive and more prosperous future and we fully count on your support.
of course it's not just the commission that should be doing things we should do things as well.
when we go on missions for example we should ask the commission for their gender analysis of the country and we should be asking questions as well and also in our work taking this very seriously and showing our partners that we take it seriously.
it's getting late colleagues.
i just want to thank everybody thank ms uica in particular for her work on this.
i know there are some difficult issues where we disagree.
when we have disagreed we have done so in a good spirit.
it's got some very important elements in this report and i hope that as many colleagues as possible will support it in the vote.
women girls and lgbtiq people suffer disproportionately because of inequality and if we truly want to stand shoulder to shoulder with our sisters then we need to be bold and inclusive.
as someone who was recently awarded a master's in education and international development at newcastle university with world class experts teaching me i know that including an efficient gender perspective in foreign policy is crucial if girls are to succeed.
this report highlights some progress that has been achieved but underlines many shortcomings that must be addressed.
the report calls for greater consideration of the gender dimension in conflict and post conflict situations.
women girls and trans people are likely to be the victims of sexual violence as a weapon of war and our policies must address this issue specifically.
can we continue to expand in the way we are expanding for example and have a commission with an ever increasing number of commissioners?
i welcome this.
at some stage we have to again look at the institutional issues.
i welcome the progress that has been made by montenegro in the way they have addressed this issue so far but the european union is open to any european country which is a democracy and can take on the responsibilities of membership.
in my country the answer to that is yes' because small countries guard this with great jealousy. but if this question is to be addressed and i am sure it is on the agenda somewhere let it be addressed in such a way that it is not a power grab by large member states.
sometimes i think that when we look back on this period of history people will not just look at the economic turmoil but they will look at the fact that the berlin wall came down suddenly and miraculously in; one thousand nine hundred and eighty nine and here we are with ten new member states such a short time after that talking about montenegro joining the european union given the recent history of the former yugoslavia. this is indeed miraculous and it is what we need in europe and is what the whole foundation of europe was about from the very beginning.
montenegro has worked hard to address the criteria and benchmarks set by you as commissioner in seven key priority areas namely improving the work of its parliament and the electoral framework professionalism within the administration of montenegro independence of the judiciary fighting corruption combating organised crime ensuring media freedom and cooperation within civil society.
by freeing up the country from too much red tape and bureaucracy this will encourage business and promote growth through foreign direct investment.
the major political copenhagen criteria issues which include inter ethnic relations gender religious ethnic and disability discrimination the repatriation of idps independence and transparency of the judiciary and freedom of the media are very fully covered in my resolution.
montenegro to its credit was admitted to the world trade organisation in december last year.
this signals montenegro's integration into the world economy as well.
my current resolution on montenegro's progress also focuses on the economy.
as a country with outstanding natural beauty tourism plays a major role in montenegro's economy as well.
once again implementation is the key issue and the test of the success of all this adopted legislation.
in the fight against corruption the montenegrin authorities must focus on high level corruption cases.
this is the test of the judiciary and of the political class.
i am confident that this resolution sends the right message to montenegro one of both acknowledgement of the hard work delivered so far and strong encouragement to pursue the reform process with determination.
i am positive that with the strong commitment of its people and our joint support montenegro will continue to set a positive example in the region by moving ahead in its european integration efforts.
the report will especially look into continued progress on the seven key priorities since the adoption of our two thousand and eleven progress report.
his determination to pursue the reform process and commitment to sustained progress in the country's european union agenda are commendable.
key to this success was the determination of the montenegrin authorities to conduct ambitious reforms together with the active involvement of the parliamentary opposition civil society and the media.
it will facilitate its continued steady progress towards the european union.
this will provide a solid guarantee for the independence and accountability of the judiciary.
as i am speaking to you the first explanatory phase of the screening of chapter twenty four is taking place while the one on chapter twenty three took place earlier this week.
the recent attack against an investigative journalist is unacceptable and needs to be thoroughly investigated along with past cases of violence and vandalism directed against the media.
in line with the two thousand and six renewed consensus on enlargement we know the importance of addressing these issues as early as possible in the accession process.
the responsibility for addressing these outstanding challenges lies with montenegro and its capacity to maintain the pace of reforms and ensure their effective implementation.
further efforts are also needed to strengthen anti discrimination policy in particular from the aspect of gender equality and the effective protection of minority rights. efforts to increase the number of legally registered displaced persons also need to be actively pursued.
compliance with european standards in the field of human rights and minority rights is also of crucial importance in particular regarding freedom of expression and anti discrimination.
the track record of final convictions notably for high level corruption and organised crime needs to be substantially increased and all alleged cases thoroughly investigated.
a further important milestone for montenegro will be the finalisation of the ongoing constitutional reform in line with the recommendations of the venice commission in a spirit of consensus and constructive dialogue with the opposition parties.
the new approach for the negotiation chapters twenty three on the judiciary and fundamental rights and twenty four on justice freedom and security will allow them to be opened early in order to give montenegro sufficient time to produce a solid track record in the fight against organised crime and corruption.
the decision of the december european council is a fair recognition of the progress the country has made over the five years since its independence and in particular since december two thousand and ten when it was granted european union candidate status. this decision has opened the door towards the start of accession negotiations.
i am positive that this broad national consensus on the country's european integration is a major asset for montenegro.
i am further encouraged by our shared understanding that the opening of accession negotiations will not mark the end of a process but the beginning of a long and demanding journey.
we look forward to the conclusions of the constitutional reform which will enhance independence of the judiciary.
i am convinced that we will see progress in these areas and that montenegro's accession process will provide further positive momentum in the western balkans.
if these reform efforts in montenegro continue at the same pace it is my hope that this will be possible and that we can agree to open accession negotiations with montenegro in june.
the country has progressed towards establishing a market economy and strives to live up to the obligations under the stabilisation and association agreement. montenegro's relations with its neighbours are very good and montenegro has been actively involved in a number of regional initiatives
balanced and positive contribution.
two thousand and ten with a view to opening accession negotiations by june this year the european council has tasked the council to examine montenegro's progress in implementing reforms.
this has enabled the country to work systematically with the reform efforts.
in december last year both the council and the european council welcomed the commission's assessment that montenegro has achieved overall satisfactory results notably with regard to the key priorities set out by the eu in.
there is strong public support for montenegro's eu integration as well as national consensus on this objective among the political parties.
among the focus areas are the rule of law fundamental rights the fight against corruption and organised crime.
montenegro has achieved a high degree of compliance with the membership criteria.
with the historic agreements in the dialogue between pristina and belgrade the decision of one march two thousand and twelve to grant candidate status to serbia and the ongoing smooth ratification process of croatia's accession treaty strong signals have been sent by the eu to the region and this will hopefully encourage neighbouring countries and regions to make the right political choices.
it has to continue its reform efforts and ensure full implementation especially concerning the rule of law. progress in this area is particularly needed when it comes to internally displaced persons media freedom implementation of anti discrimination policies and independence of the judiciary.
progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime will also be key to the advancement of montenegro in its eu integration process.
yes montenegro is ready and is doing quite well.
that was very positive but still there is one thing that is very problematic in montenegro and that is the corruption problem.
it has been addressed by several colleagues especially concerning the privatisation processes.
state owned companies aluminium telecom electricity there were large scale protests just recently in podgorica against this and the government really has to look into this and move ahead.
one last issue the law on financing of political parties.
implementation of that law has been largely delegated to the state electoral commission and do you know who that is composed of? representatives of political parties.
here there has been progress in montenegro recently and i would like to add one aspect of regional initiatives.
this trend is worrying as it shows that the economic crisis has seriously affected the capacity of regional and local authorities to provide public expenditure which is critical to maintaining favourable growth prospects in the future.
at the same time the commission announced that it will allow under certain conditions of course temporary deviations from the requirements of the preventive arm of the stability and growth pact to accommodate the national cofinancing of the eu funded investment projects.
third cohesion policy should also be closely aligned with the macroeconomic reforms undertaken in the context of the european semester.
regional and local authorities are key players to help european economies recover from the current crisis. in two thousand and eleven for example more than forty six of the growth enhancing expenditure in the european union of twenty seven member states was carried out by sub national authorities.
in two thousand and eleven sub national public investment dropped to.
the economic crisis has reduced revenue for regional and local authorities it is true and the growth enhancing type of expenditure and public investment has been dramatically squeezed.
forty six sub national governments also contribute significantly to public investment.
several member states have signalled growing difficulties in co financing eu programmes which can only negatively affect delivery of the objectives.
the commission has proposed a number of measures to facilitate the budgetary management of these resources.
the situation was partially reversed when this region was allocated a special provision of eur one hundred million. of course i raised this issue on several occasions in the committee on regional development. unfortunately this region is still expected to receive a reduction in funding over the next seven years.
however what matters is not only the ratification but the actual implementation of these conventions.
this is not acceptable and it cannot be business as usual.
well what are we going to do? this is something that every mep should be asking.
eight college directors were reportedly beaten to coerce them to pick cotton.
with four other friends she left home at. five thirty in the morning to make a trip to our parliament with a petition for the president.
uzbekistan has made no credible efforts to end this practice.
i want to be able to go back to the children in my constituency to say that we heard their voices because they were speaking up for the thousands of silent voices of children in uzbekistan.
it does not cooperate with the ilo despite signing relevant conventions and it failed to invite ilo observers once again during this harvest.
the parliament must send a strong message to uzbekistan that this practice must cease.
jordan went on i am here to ask the european politicians what they are going to do to stop it'.
we now need to send a strong message.
' no consent should be given to this agreement and there must be no ambiguity about that.
but just try to voluntarily not go out to the harvest!
they face really horrific conditions ten hour working days exposure to harmful pesticides and risk physical harm or expulsion from school if they refuse to do it.
every september two the first day of school the director warns us that if we don't go out to pick cotton we might as well not come back to school.
again and again in this house the gulf between words and actions is great. that gulf should be closed here.
the attempts by the right wing in this parliament to water down the report are outrageous in my opinion.
the uzbek government's blanket denials are simply not credible given the multitude of independent reports and the fact that the government refuses to allow access to the ilo.
they should answer to a fourteen year old boy from uzbekistan who said we're really afraid of getting expelled from school.
the school administration does everything to create the impression that the schoolchildren themselves are the ones who have decided to go out to the cotton fields.
we're all forced to obey this unwritten law.
consent can only be considered after the ilo has been allowed access and after the practice of forced child labour has been ended.
families are threatened with the loss of electricity or loss of social security.
as others have said we need clear independent monitoring from the ilo and clear evidence from the uzbekistan authorities that serious efforts are being made to tackle forced child labour before there can be any question of this issue coming back on our agenda.
so to accept this proposal would not be in line with our principle of coherence between trade policy and human rights.
it seems that we are all on the same page on this issue.
it would not be in line with our commitments to the international rights of the child and it would not be in line with our strong line on tackling corruption.
the evidence that has come from a variety of organisations suggests that as many as two hundred zero children are used to harvest the cotton in uzbekistan.
in relation to the textiles there is clear evidence of state sanctioned systematic and widespread forced labour in the uzbek cotton fields.
schools are being closed during the harvest period and thousands upon thousands of school children are being forced to work in the fields collecting cotton.
i would like to see a plan from the commission not rhetoric. suspension of gsp would be a good start.
in other words one can build bridges and airports but training teachers and addressing issues like water shortage is how to really win over the tunisian man in the street.
so let us encourage growth within the sme sector and internal reforms to reduce bureaucracy and stimulate growth.
i support the efforts of the tunisian government to modernise and liberalise their economy to meet new domestic regional and global demands. a strong and diverse economy will create jobs opportunity and prosperity allowing the country to achieve its aim of participating fully