What Pierrette spoke about.

15 Mar

2023

FR Speech

Deaths at sea: a common EU response to save lives and action to ensure safe and legal pathways (debate)

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Mr President, humanitarian assistance is being criminalised. The Italian government has adopted a new law that restricts rescue activities. It requires rescue vessels to inform the authorities as soon as a boat is rescued. As a result, NGOs spend more time travelling to ports than saving people at sea. Until when will we witness these tragic scenes of dead bodies lying on our beaches, of children …

15 Feb

2023

FR Speech

Violence against opposition activists in Equatorial Guinea, notably the case of Julio Obama Mefuman

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Madam President, Julio Obama Mefuman died in prison in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, while serving a 60-year sentence. His only crime was to be a member of the opposition. He was a European citizen: Because of his dual nationality, he was indeed Spanish. He was first detained, then imprisoned and tortured. In his country, the government brutally repressed civil society groups and censored journalists…

15 Feb

2023

FR Speech

The situation of human rights defenders in Eswatini, notably the murder of Thulani Maseko

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Madam President, Eswatini is the last absolutist monarchy in the world, headed by King Mswati III. In January 2021, a protest movement emerged calling for democratic reform. This demonstration was violently repressed. Dozens of people were killed. Mswati III had promised to start a national dialogue with the assistance of the Southern African Development Community, but her promise remained a dead …

14 Feb

2023

FR Speech

The EU priorities for the 67th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, in these times of crisis, women and girls are particularly exposed to many dangers. They face situations of vulnerability, sometimes even in their own homes. One in three women has been the victim of violence and abuse in an intimate relationship with a close partner. But the risk does not stop there. Many women are victims of online harassment, hate messages and threat…

19 Jan

2023

FR Speech

The Global Gateway Initiative (debate)

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Mr President, the Global Gateway strategy is a priori in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, it seems that the main focus is on exploiting energy resources, such as hydrogen, from developing countries for export to the EU. The European Union has developed many projects in sub-Saharan Africa, but these projects do not cover the energy consumption of these countries. More th…

18 Jan

2023

FR Speech

Criminalisation of humanitarian assistance, including search and rescue (debate)

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Mr President, there are currently about 26 million refugees in the world, half of whom are children. Many flee their country because of persecution, famine, wars, but also because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. One thing is clear: these refugees want to build a new existence elsewhere. What a shame to see that NGOs are being held hostage and that criminalization is taking preceden…

18 Jan

2023

DE Speech

Terrorist threats posed by far-right extremist networks defying the democratic constitutional order (debate)

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Mr President! A right-wing network planned a violent coup d'état in Germany. These people often occupy important positions in the German security apparatus. However, we must take the threat posed by such networks seriously. The right-wing extremists express their racism, their inhuman ideology, they spread their slogans. But being defensively democratic means opposing right-wing extremism wherever…

17 Jan

2023

FR Speech

EU response to the protests and executions in Iran (debate)

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Madam President, the revolt of the Iranian people started with the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini by the Iranian police because of an unveiled strand of hair. The Iranian people demand justice, they demand freedom and they demand equality for women. He wants to live in a word according to his own ideals. The Iranian government responded with outrageous violence: arrests, death sentences, expeditious j…

17 Jan

2023

FR Speech

The establishment of a tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

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Madam President, there is a mistake. I'm catching the eye for Iran, for the next theme. Excuse me, I put the cardboard in too early. For Iran.

15 Dec

2022

FR Speech

The 30th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (debate)

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Madam President, minorities, whether ethnic, religious or linguistic, contribute to enriching our European project and not to degrading it. It is our duty to protect them, so that living together prospers within our continent. Numerous studies have shown that minorities, often judged negatively and compared by the population to the supposed "norm", are subject to inequality and discrimination. Thi…

14 Dec

2022

FR Speech

Military Junta crackdown on peaceful demonstrations in Chad

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Madam President, the situation in Chad is alarming. After the death of the President of the Republic, the military took power, suspended the Constitution and dissolved the National Assembly. Thousands of people demonstrated throughout the country to demand an immediate return to democratic rule. The repression was brutal. Police responded to the protesters by firing live ammunition and tear gas. I…

13 Dec

2022

FR Speech

Implementation of the New European Agenda for Culture and the EU Strategy for International Cultural Relations (debate)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, this report is an important step in our cultural relations, because it takes into account the external dimension and welcomes the efforts made by some Member States to return stolen cultural property. The negotiation process must be undertaken in an approach that respects the positions of countries whose cultural property has been robbed. It must also actively s…

12 Dec

2022

FR Speech

Towards equal rights for persons with disabilities (debate)

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Madam President, people with disabilities face structural barriers and discrimination, and are often victims of violence. By addressing intersectional discrimination, we could take targeted action for people with disabilities in vulnerable situations, such as women with disabilities from minorities, who are most affected. Unfortunately, faced with intersectional double discrimination, they suffer …

23 Nov

2022

FR Speech

Forced displacement of people as a result of escalating conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the humanitarian situation in eastern Congo has worsened drastically. In accordance with the Cotonou Agreements, the European Union must join international mediation efforts in order for peace to return to this part of the territory. Currently, nearly 6 million internally displaced people in the DRC are directly witnessing this conflict characterised by unpreced…

22 Nov

2022

FR Speech

Gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges (debate)

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Madam President, after more than ten years of negotiations, the European Union has adopted this directive, which aims to improve equal treatment and equal opportunities between men and women. In order to achieve this balance and thus break the glass ceiling for women’s participation in key positions on the boards of listed companies, many gender-sensitive measures will enter into force, as the per…

10 Nov

2022

FR Speech

Racial justice, non-discrimination and anti-racism in the EU (A9-0254/2022 - Evin Incir) (vote)

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Madam President, I would like to take the floor. I am also a black woman, like Mrs Assita Kanko, our colleague, and I am horrified at what I have just heard. That is not at all correct, as she has just said. This is not true. Racism exists. We are constantly confronted with this racism. This is unacceptable!…

10 Nov

2022

FR Speech

Racial justice, non-discrimination and anti-racism in the EU (debate)

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Mr President, racism is a reality that affects a whole life. It is contrary to our action plan, which we have adopted in order to abolish all forms of discrimination within the European Union. Many civil society organisations have told us about discrimination against people from minorities. There is an ever-increasing inequality of treatment between the different refugees fleeing the same war in U…

19 Oct

2022

FR Speech

Fighting sexualised violence - The importance of the Istanbul Convention and a comprehensive proposal for a directive against gender-based violence (debate)

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Madam President, Article 38 of the Istanbul Convention includes female genital mutilation, which constitutes sexual violence and a violation of women’s rights to sexual and reproductive health and physical integrity. To this end, a civil society association in Germany, in collaboration with the government, has drawn up a letter of protection which aims to break the taboo by raising awareness and t…

18 Oct

2022

FR Speech

Impact of Russian invasion of Ukraine on migration flows to the EU (debate)

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Mr President, the war calls on us not to forget our values of humanism, which are expressed in solidarity with all those fleeing Ukraine. All refugees deserve the same respect, without exception. And yet there is the hidden racism that appears in the differences in the treatment of refugees. Many Africans who were in Ukraine were arrested at the EU’s borders. Everyone has the right to flee a count…

5 Oct

2022

FR Speech

The Dutch childcare benefit scandal, institutional racism and algorithms (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner Dalli, the scale of the family allowances case is an unprecedented racist scandal. Thousands of families have been accused of fraud by the tax authorities. Migrant families, African or black, were prosecuted by the authorities, who demanded the immediate reimbursement of the benefits that these families had legally received. Many families could not bear to be taxed as fr…

14 Sep

2022

FR Speech

Violations of human rights in Uganda and Tanzania linked to the investments in fossil fuels projects

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Madam President, Total Energy and other investors are running two megaprojects that are violating the human rights of more than 100,000 people in East Africa. For people, these oil fields are more of a curse than a source of development. This giant 50-degree-heated pipeline passes through Tanzania and Uganda and causes environmental damage to flora and fauna, as the pipeline carries oil, causing m…

6 Jul

2022

FR Speech

The Post-Cotonou Agreement (debate)

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Mr President, the negotiations on the post-Cotonou agreement are based on a common pillar and focus on the specific needs of the regions, namely democracy and human rights, sustainable, social and human development. Today, we have the opportunity to implement our agenda, including that of a sustainable partnership on an equal footing with the ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific). As Vice-…

5 Jul

2022

FR Speech

Addressing food security in developing countries (debate)

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Mr President, food security in developing countries deteriorated before the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has grown considerably following the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Currently, 800 million people are at risk of starvation, reflecting the uneven distribution of food. The current conflict in Ukraine shines a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of the global food system and highl…

4 Jul

2022

FR Speech

Women’s poverty in Europe (debate)

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Madam President, the feminisation of poverty in Europe has taken on worrying proportions, not least because of the pandemic. Since the mid-1970s, research on women has been based on the thesis that poverty is female. More than half of single mothers and women raising their children alone live below the poverty line and work in precarious conditions. We must therefore do everything possible to elim…

4 Jul

2022

FR Speech

Loss of life, violence and inhumane treatment against people seeking international protection at the Spanish-Moroccan border (debate)

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Madam President, last week more than 2 000 migrants tried to cross the border to the enclave of Melilla. They were greeted by tear gas bombs and stabbings. The UN denounces the disproportionate use of force on both sides of the border, and the African Union demands an investigation, statements with which we associate ourselves. There is no justification for such violence at Europe’s external borde…