Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-06-13-Speech-3-578-000"
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"en.20120613.32.3-578-000"2
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"Madam President, all forms of gender-based violence constitute an unacceptable violation of fundamental rights and a clear obstacle to gender equality. Female genital mutilation is one form of violence against women that is particularly unacceptable. It is degrading, it violates fundamental rights, it violates the right to health and it violates children’s rights.
Female genital mutilation is an extreme and unacceptable practice. The Commission is determined to combat it and to help empower women inside and outside the European Union through legislation, financial programmes and a range of other means, including support to grass-roots organisations.
An estimated three million women and girls in the world suffer female genital mutilation every year. Up to half a million women living in Europe have suffered genital mutilation already and many thousands are at risk.
Female genital mutilation can, under no circumstances, be justified by cultural or religious traditions and practices. It has both immediate and long-term consequences for the health of women and can cause death. The Commission is determined to take concrete action and develop a strong policy response to tackle the issue of violence against women in Europe. Female genital mutilation is of particular concern. The Commission has already said so in its strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015.
The lack of reliable and comparable data is a huge challenge. My colleague, Vice-President Viviane Reding, has asked the European Institute for Gender Equality to assess the reliability and comparability of data available in Member States and to identify data gaps. On this basis, the institute will report on the state of play with regard to this phenomenon, and of the replies drawn up in the Member States. We should get a report in the second half of 2012. Its results will help us to take even better informed action in this field.
In 2011 and 2012, the Commission has made funding available for combating harmful practices through the Daphne III Programme. Financial support will be granted for the implementation of transnational projects to grass-roots organisations working to prevent such practices by raising awareness and changing social attitudes.
Although there is no specific EU-wide legislation on female genital mutilation, it is criminalised in most EU Member States, either through specific laws or under the general criminal codes. A large majority of EU Member States have also included the principle of extraterritoriality in their criminal provisions, thus enabling prosecutions to be brought for female genital mutilation that has been committed outside the European Union.
The Commission is taking measures in the criminal justice area and has proposed legislation on the rights of victims of crime. The aim with the Victims Directive is to ensure that all victims across the European Union have a basic set of minimum rights, that they are treated as individuals and receive appropriate treatment. This instrument notably aims at ensuring that the needs of victims are individually assessed and that the most vulnerable, including victims of female genital mutilation, receive specific treatment appropriate to their needs. The Commission proposal, with changes proposed by the European Parliament, will significantly improve the situation for women as victims of violence.
The EU also addresses the issue of female genital mutilation in its external actions. It supports advocacy and lobbying initiatives for promoting and protecting women’s rights and prohibiting harmful practices. The Commission and the European External Action Service systematically raise the issue of female genital mutilation in their dialogue with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. In this framework, we underline the need for African states to ensure that female genital mutilation is legally prohibited and that legislation prohibiting female genital mutilation is effectively enforced.
We strongly support the United Nations General Assembly’s planned resolution to ban female genital mutilation. It is crucial that the countries with the highest occurrence of female genital mutilation, in particular, in Africa, take ownership of this resolution. The European External Action Service is currently preparing a campaign, under the EU human rights guidelines on violence against women and girls, to draw attention to the need to step up efforts to eradicate this practice, particularly on the African continent."@en1
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