Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-09-19-Speech-3-137"
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".
Mr President, I should like to congratulate Mrs Valenciano MartÃnez-Orozco and start by stressing the political importance and impact of this report, which will of course be even greater if it is supported by a large majority. This report will give momentum both to the Commission's work and, more importantly, to the women's organisations in Europe and Africa trying to combat this barbaric practice. This is a problem which, as several Members of Parliament have said, does not only exist in Africa. According to data from the DAPHNE programme, there are about 700,000 women from these countries in Europe today. It is difficult to quote an actual figure but we suspect that it is much higher than we can possibly imagine.
This is a difficult, thorny problem. Obviously cultural traditions which go back centuries in certain areas of our planet form part of it. But a cultural tradition cannot be used as an alibi for trampling all over human rights. Obviously, as stated at the World Conference in Beijing, genital mutilation is a violation of human rights and, at a secondary level, it is discrimination, because it only applies to women and girls.
What can the European Union do? First, proposals and legislation. There is some disagreement as to whether the present Treaty provides a legal basis for European legislation. The Charter of Fundamental Rights adopted in Nice cannot as yet form a legal basis. However, legislation is not always the only solution and there is a great deal which can be done in this area.
The question of asylum. Several speakers raised this argument and the report is clear here. May I say that, a few days ago, the Commission submitted a proposal for a directive to the Council on the adoption of minimum requirements for recognising the status of third country nationals or stateless persons or refugees in accordance with the Geneva Convention. After a great deal of discussion and effort, the text includes a clear reference stating that applications for protection for women will be recognised, especially where there is a probability of sexual violence or some other gender-related conduct. I think, therefore, that it is worth examining this Commission proposal, which could provide a basis for an agreement which would be very important to all the groups in the European Parliament.
However, over and above the legislative framework, current European Union programmes can be used as a basis for supporting action and campaigns to recognise the problem, mobilise society and increase public awareness and, of course, to inform and educate hospital staff. Medical and health workers in at least five countries in the European Union often come into contact with such cases and they must be specially trained and specially qualified to help these people.
The potential for educating and supporting immigrants. Clearly, women need financial resources if they are to be financially independent and organise their own rebellion, and support for female immigrants in Europe is therefore paramount. We can support them and integrate them into the labour market and fund information and public awareness campaigns through existing programmes which we have already debated in Parliament and we are waiting for proposals from non-governmental organisations on these issues.
As far as our relations with the third world are concerned, we have already made a serious effort to ensure that development aid is predicated on respect for human rights by governments, especially in this area, and to take account of governments' efforts to apply policies to educate, train, raise awareness and support women and families. We already intend, in collaboration with the development sector and the Commissioner responsible, to increase financial support to countries intent on wiping out this practice. I think we can draw satisfactory conclusions from the implementation of this programme in Ethiopia as to what we can achieve if the European Union works with governments through development aid.
Finally, we appreciate that non-governmental organisations can act as a catalyst both in the European Union and in Africa, which is why they are the Commission's main contacts, our main partners in this endeavour."@en1
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