Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-04-06-Speech-3-732-000"
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"en.20110406.41.3-732-000"2
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"Madam President, the ALDE Group proposed and initiated this debate, as we want to express our concern tonight at the situation of women in North Africa and the Middle East in the face of the current political change and turmoil. During the past few weeks, we have witnessed severe violations of human rights in Libya and Egypt, particularly affecting women. I am not going to enter into the details of all these cases, but let me mention just two symbolic and worrying situations that should be condemned immediately.
Iman al-Obeidi, a Libyan woman, has told the international press that she was gang-raped and subsequently detained by pro-Gaddafi soldiers and interrogated for 72 hours before being released. In Egypt, as my colleagues have mentioned, several female protestors have claimed they were subjected to so-called virginity tests – and also raped by soldiers – and some of them are now being tried for ‘failing’ such tests. These cases have provided additional evidence that rape is still used as a weapon in times of conflict in order to terrorise and humiliate the civilian population.
It would be unacceptable not to raise our voices against these terrible atrocities being committed against women. We call on the Commission and the Council strongly to oppose and condemn the use of sexual assault, intimidation and any other form of abuse of women taking place in the context of the current events in North Africa and the Middle East. We also need to use all our available policy instruments in order to guarantee that, after the transition of these societies, women’s rights will be guaranteed and upheld.
Yesterday, we adopted our report on an EU policy framework to fight violence against women, and it would be unacceptable to have double standards when it comes to our policy action outside the Union. In this regard, the promotion of women’s rights must be fully integrated into the European Neighbourhood Policy, its programmes and projects and, at the same time, specific policies for women’s rights and empowerment must be put in place."@en1
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