Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2016-03-08-Speech-2-064-000"
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"en.20160308.5.2-064-000"2
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"Madam President, I would like to greet everyone by wishing them a happy International Women’s Day.
This report on women refugees and asylum seekers is about bringing a much—needed gender perspective to the way we in the European Union deal with those seeking safety within our borders. At present, there are worrying disparities in the way different Member States handle asylum claims, particularly where those claims are related to gender. As a result, women seeking asylum in the EU are not guaranteed consistent gender—sensitive treatment. Women refugees and women seeking asylum are too often confronted with policies which fail to meet acceptable standards and where sensitive policies regarding gender are not implemented in practice.
This report recommends a new set of gender guidelines to address these shortcomings. Violence is, tragically, an everyday reality for women and girls fleeing conflict. I have heard horrifying reports of women being exploited and abused. Research shows that women and girl refugees face this kind of violence, assault, exploitation and sexual harassment at every stage of their journey, including on European soil. Women – and indeed children – who are entitled to claim asylum are being coerced into transactional sex and forced into prostitution to pay for travel documents or a place in a boat or on a lorry. Traffickers and smugglers are having a field day with these desperate people.
Women need safer alternatives, as this report sets out. Pressure on the asylum reception systems should never excuse failure to protect women from violence. Nor should women seeking asylum and women refugees experience any double standards. They should have the same rights as other victims of gender-based violence.
I very much welcome the news in the past few days that the Commission has proposed accession of the EU to the Istanbul Convention. The Istanbul Convention is the most comprehensive treaty on violence against women in the world today and requires states to interpret the Refugee Convention in a gender—sensitive manner. It also requires states to implement reception and asylum procedures which are sensitive to the needs of women and girls. The proposal will now be discussed in the Council and in this Parliament, whose consent is needed for the conclusion of the convention by the EU. Only 12 Member States have already ratified the Convention and another 13 have yet to do so.
We also need to look at the longer term issues. We often talk of refugees as presenting a burden, or bringing only costs to the countries which host them. However, with adequate investment, this need not be the case in the longer term. As I know we are all aware, refugees have much to offer our societies in the longer term, but we need to think carefully and develop integration strategies that are relevant to everyone. Women have specific integration and inclusion needs, such as childcare and language training. Many will not have been active in the labour market, so we need to look at properly matching skills and training provision with labour market shortages.
Over 30 years ago, this Parliament acknowledged the need for a gender—sensitive interpretation of the Refugee Convention in a resolution in 1984. This was even before the UNHCR adopted gender guidelines. It would therefore be a huge step backwards if we were to fail to adopt this resolution today. Women and children now make up the majority of those seeking protection in the EU. The UN estimates it is now 55%. It is vital that we have the necessary policies and procedures in place to meet their needs. We need an approach which takes account of gender at every stage of the journey undertaken by these women refugees and provide the kind of protection that they need – and should expect – from the European Union."@en1
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