Speeches

Madam President, the tragedy of Pentecost in Nigeria is reviving fears of a surge of violence in this country split in two between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south. Attacks by a gang of fanatical criminals who use religion to cover up their crimes affect all ethnic and religious groups in the nation. These killings often correspond to ethnic rivalries, poverty, socio-economic and territorial demands, on interreligious grounds. Multiple attacks and kidnappings have taken place over the past decade, and women and children are the first victims. They are raped, and those who are abducted are turned into sexual objects. The jihadist group Boko Haram targeted churches during the conflict to divide people. Security remains a major challenge in Africa’s most populous country, which has the continent’s largest economy and many resources. We condemn these massacres and encourage Christians and Muslims to work together for peaceful cohesion to end the instability in the country. Knowing to what extent investment and job creation for young people could contribute to changing the political landscape and calming the social climate remains one of the issues we could discuss with our partners in Nigeria in our upcoming meetings with ACP members.

Mr President, Commissioner, the Russian offensive in Ukraine and besieged cities has put millions of women on the road to exile, exposing them to sexual abuse and other atrocities. Many single women and girls are forced to cross the border in the hope of escaping the war. They are in great danger: they become victims of trafficking in women as sex workers. For them, amidst the bombing and fighting, a more insidious danger creeps in: sexual violence. The risks of rape, sexual assault and harassment are also high for those who remained in Ukraine. The work of documenting the current abuses committed by the Russian forces obviously remains to be done. Refugee women who are victims of intersectional discrimination, such as Roma women, non-Ukrainian women, black or Afro-descendant women, migrant women, women living with disabilities and LGBTQ people are left behind and disproportionately affected by this conflict. Refugee women also face increased risks in terms of access to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Many of them do not have access to contraception or legal and safe abortion. We need to put in place specific strategies by supporting and protecting civil organisations and NGOs that put their own freedom at stake and work tirelessly to alleviate the situation of refugee women, especially those who are victims of sexual exploitation. Commissioner, how are you going to support the coordination of health services, ensuring that women have access to all sexual and reproductive health services? What strategies will you put in place to ensure the safety and well-being of survivors and to ensure that women who have fled Ukraine due to their high vulnerability can receive special protection and psychological support in their mother tongue? The women's body must not be a battlefield, neither for the invaders, nor for the men on the spot of the same camp and even less for the traffickers of the trafficking of women.

Madam President, Commissioner, in recent months we have witnessed worrying political developments in West Africa and the Sahel countries. Indeed, several countries have de facto fallen under the control of the military, which should lead us to a thorough reflection on our approach to peace and conflict resolution. We are very concerned about the security situation in West Africa and the Sahel region. So, already at the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in early April, we discussed all these issues in order to get out of the crisis of the current crisis. In this context, it is therefore important to recall that democratic governance depends on the respect of the Constitution by the governing executive and free multi-party elections, while the citizens of West Africa and the Sahel support democracy and seek fair participation in the democratic process. It is therefore absolutely necessary to understand and reflect the complexity of the conflicts in this region and to examine thoroughly how we can mitigate the situation, including, if necessary, by also denouncing crimes perpetrated both by the military of the country concerned and by the foreign military forces responsible, in principle, for helping to maintain peace in these regions. Sahel countries require coordination between security, climate and development policies, and this is one of the major challenges facing these countries. Our response must be comprehensive and address the complexities of conflict and the links between poverty, lack of access to basic social services, climate change, terrorism, inter-community violence, food security and gender-based violence and displacement.

Madam President, Afghanistan quo vadis? Where are you going? Are women victims of the Taliban? Yes, because their lives have become hell. With the closure of schools for girls, the Taliban have taken a step forward in violating women’s rights, confiscating their right to education and drawing a line on their future. With the arrival of the Taliban, women were expelled from their jobs. The flogging of women has resumed more beautifully. It is feared that forced marriages and other obsolete customs will become the lot of millions of women and that female genital mutilation will resume under the spurious cover of religion. The daily life of Afghan women is punctuated by prohibitions. However, the right to education for all was one of the preconditions for aid and recognition of the Taliban regime. Today, the dreams of independent living have collapsed for millions of Afghans. We have no right to remain silent. Millions of women in Afghanistan are asking for our support. Let us show solidarity, take responsibility and demand that the Taliban honour their commitments.

Mr President, Commissioner, the international day we are celebrating this year is taking place in a tragic way and our thoughts are with all these women, in countries at war, whether it is Ukraine, Congo, Yemen or Ethiopia. This is why our report on GAP III highlights violence against women around the world, such as sexual abuse, rape and all the outdated traditions such as female genital mutilation that affect the health of women and girls. Empowerment cannot be achieved without the right to education and reproductive and sexual health for all women. This is why it is important to provide women with training that can empower them in the face of the vagaries of life. Women living in these conflict zones are vulnerable targets and, as I said at the outset, we have a special thought for all these women. In this sense, national peace strategies must integrate the gender dimension and fight impunity. As shadow rapporteur for the Committee on Development, I stressed the need to include the concept of intersectionality as a fundamental principle for gender equality. The European Union must take this into account in all its actions. Indeed, many factors come into play, such as multiple identity, religious affiliation, cultural or sexual origin. The European Union must recognise these diverse characteristics and support women and girls in their quest for emancipation, so that all women can thrive in their societies and be agents of this change themselves. Aiming for equality between women and men is a matter of respect for fundamental rights.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this report is timely: it reinforces the current efforts of the European Union to combat the structural racism that I myself had to endure and which I had told you about. However, we need to step up concrete actions by recognising in this regard the important role of media, sport and culture, which can contribute to social cohesion and the abolition of racism. Discrimination in sport is recurrent. As soon as black footballers miss a goal, they are treated with all the names of birds by fans, as was the case during football championships, and victims of hate speech on social networks. However, sport is an inclusive element that promotes integration. Reporting in times of crisis, be it the pandemic or now the Russian aggression, reveals the persistence of racism, which we must actively deconstruct. The media as a whole has been hesitant to report on the situation of African refugees from Ukraine, mostly students. They were forced to chant: ‘We are students and not criminals!’, because they know that there are prejudices against them. They were thus victims of racism at the borders of neighbouring countries and their testimonies, declared "fake news", were doubted. Racism appears in the hierarchy of refugees, which is contrary to the Vienna Convention and the values of the European Union. Blacks and whites, we want to build a Europe where everyone can thrive, according to the motto of the European Union: "United in diversity".

Mr President, Commissioner, the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the implementation of effective climate action and has thus led to the exacerbation of already existing social and gender inequalities. Climate change and gender equality are linked. Gender inequality, combined with climate and environmental crises and disasters, disproportionately affects women who experience intersectional discrimination, such as women with disabilities, black women and older women. With climate change, many women have found themselves in situations of extreme vulnerability and precariousness. We also fear that the adverse effects of climate change, often accompanied by the deterioration of the socio-economic situation of women, could lead to serious violations of their human rights. That is why the European Union must take a clear and unified position on how to achieve gender equality in the context of the fight against climate change. Only through meaningful and effective participation of women and girls, in all their diversity, in decision-making bodies at all levels will we achieve a real climate transition.

Madam President, the EU-Africa Summit should allow us to review the foundations of our relationship, in a spirit of mutual and reciprocal respect, within the framework of fair and just agreements for all. We need to work together to support sustainable development, promote peace and tackle climate change, which is wreaking havoc on both sides and threatening food security, in order to achieve the 2030 development goals. Strengthening economic cooperation between the European Union and Africa must necessarily involve measures that can create jobs for African youth, so that they regain confidence in the possibility of a better life and stop having their eyes fixed on a fictional eldorado in Europe, which they are trying to join at the risk of their lives. Our migration policy must be based on the solidarity and responsibility of the Member States of the European Union and the support of our partners in their development journey. Similarly, the women’s perspective should be one of the powerful levers in our relationships, backed by human rights and reproductive and sexual health, guaranteeing the empowerment of girls and women. Only Europe has historical relations with Africa. It is therefore necessary to review with lucidity what are the critical points and where the damage. Our duty to remember also calls on us to revisit sensitive issues of our common history, such as the restitution of cultural goods and works of art. The Summit offers the only opportunity to establish a constructive dialogue and exchange our respective views, which correspond to the aspirations of all. Together, we will set common goals and resolutely look to a bright future for all, so we don't have to constantly reinvent our partnership.

Madam President, there are still a wide range of barriers to sexual and reproductive health and rights in the European Union, particularly for women facing intersectional discrimination, such as black women, Roma women and women with disabilities. The right to health, in particular sexual and reproductive rights, is a fundamental pillar of women's rights and should not be taken away or confiscated by conservative forces. Some Member States, such as Hungary, Poland and Malta, still have very restrictive laws on abortion. In Malta, even in cases of incest or rape, women do not have the right to decide what they will do with this unwanted pregnancy. We must therefore continue to fight so that, in the European Union, women can freely dispose of their bodies and, above all, so that they do not resort to obsolete methods that endanger their lives. It is therefore up to Member States and institutions to ensure sexual and reproductive rights.

Mr President, at the Japan Summit, governments committed to ending food insecurity and hunger by 2030. The European Union has taken a positive position in favour of such an objective. We hope that its commitment will be followed by a financial commitment for 2024-2027 and that the European Action Plan, which ends in 2025, will be revised accordingly. The number of people who suffer from hunger on a daily basis is alarming: it increased in 2020 to 822 million, the majority of them children, not counting those suffering from the effects of the pandemic. In today’s address to Parliament, the President of Ghana stressed, I quote, “that instead of investing money to prevent migrants from coming from Africa to Europe, these resources would be better used to support the African economy in order to offer economic opportunities”. It is time to address this issue in depth at the Europe-Africa Summit in February 2022, especially as the African Union dedicates 2022 to the topic of nutrition.

Madam President, gender equality in the field of work is far from being a reality. Minority women, older women and women with disabilities sometimes work in low-paid jobs and thus find themselves in precarious situations, which very often also forces them to give up being mothers for purely financial reasons. In addition, they face intersectional discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity, age and disability. Wage disparities are discrimination contrary to equality between men and women. By adopting an intersectional approach, we could overcome these discriminations. To do this, equality policies must propose solutions that value women’s work and also ensure better working conditions, for example for those who wish to become mothers and cannot by introducing full payment in all Member States. It is up to the Member States to come up with solutions that genuinely defend women’s rights and put in place wage policies that contribute to financial independence.

Madam President, the rise of the far right poses a serious threat to our societies. Indeed, the far right used the crisis during a demonstration in Rome to spread its racist, fascist and fake news ideas. Some have brandished the health passport as a hindrance to their freedom. Across the EU, far-right groups use passports and vaccinations and target the most vulnerable sections of society with their conspiracy theory. They find fertile ground in these communities for their false information and even compare themselves to the victims of the Holocaust and slavery. This is unacceptable. It is time to tackle the rise of racism plaguing society across Europe. At the European Youth Event, EYE 2021, here in Strasbourg, at the heart of democracy, we had similar facts. Far-right youth harassed Muslim girls. They massively disrupted the workshops with hateful diatribes and racist remarks. Let's not close our eyes. Let's fight racism. This growing phenomenon is detrimental to social cohesion in our States.

Mr President, the whole world has been affected by the outbreak of the virus, which has given a new face to our migration policy. This pandemic has demonstrated that the disease does not distinguish between borders, nationalities or social status. Only a comprehensive response, which leaves no one behind, will make it possible to eradicate it, but it also encourages us to really review our policy. The COVID-19 health crisis has been a pretext for some states to suspend the fundamental rights of asylum seekers and their reception in Europe. It is time to broaden the legal pathways to the European Union by introducing humanitarian visas for both those in need of international protection and those aspiring to a better future. By creating a new Asylum Agency, Europe must move towards durable solutions that guarantee the fundamental rights of asylum seekers, in line with the rights of refugees, but also with our values of solidarity here in Europe. European border management must guarantee these rights in all circumstances. We regret that the gender dimension is not mentioned in the Agency’s initial report. As a result, there is no consideration of the specific needs and vulnerability of underage girls, unaccompanied adolescent girls, women, the LGBTI community and girls with disabilities. This invisibility exacerbates their insecurity and precariousness. The new Agency’s response means that every asylum seeker can be accommodated with respect for his or her dignity.

Mr. Speaker, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen an increase in domestic violence cases. Within the European Union, women and children, disproportionately affected by this scourge, do not enjoy equal protection. Children, who are eyewitnesses to these acts of domestic violence, suffer the disastrous effects and serious repercussions on their behaviour, psychological state and future life. It is important to introduce an intersectional perspective, so that all women in the European Union feel protected in cases of domestic violence. This includes, for example, ensuring that women of different cultural backgrounds can benefit from sound advice and support free from discrimination and prejudice. In separation and parental custody agreements, care must be taken to ensure that the best interests of the child prevail. The partner’s violence must also be taken into account, in order to prevent cases of femicide and sometimes also infanticide from occurring. All EU Member States should ratify the Istanbul Convention. But a very important point is that the protection of children is a human right and that every child has the right to grow up in an environment where violence is banned.

Madam President, today we want to present a joint resolution that highlights the dire situation in the Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya. I would like to highlight some key points that show how complex the situation in Kakuma camp is as well. Already, the planned closure of the camp, which was opened in 1992 as a temporary solution, is a huge challenge in itself. Today, the camp has a generation of children born and raised in the camp with a more or less bleak future. The fact that the camp is located in an already disadvantaged area, affected by climate change, food insecurity and lack of access to basic services, water and health services makes the situation even more dire, especially for the refugee population. Of course, the side effects of the pandemic as well as the low vaccination rate in Kenya and even more among the refugee population worsen the situation. Of course, we commend the work of the Kenyan authorities in hosting refugees from all walks of life. We appreciate that they have opened an investigation into the recent attacks against members of the LGBTQI community living in the camp. We encourage the investigation and also the fact that our European delegations on the ground support the government’s efforts with regard to the situation of marginalised and vulnerable groups within the refugee population, namely children who do not always have an appropriate education, women who are victims of domestic and sexual violence and also members of the LGBTQI community who suffer attacks such as that of 15 March. The situation of this community is particularly deplorable and the human rights of its members must be respected. At this point, I would like to stress that when we call on the Kenyan government to maintain the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps until the region is more stable and to truly respect the human rights of refugees. We are also reflecting on the responsibility of the European Union. Supporting Kenya for the reception of refugees does not mean that the European Union can evade its own responsibility to receive and resettle a fair share of those in need of international protection. This seems obvious, but it should perhaps be remembered: If we are talking to a partner here, as we have always said, on an equal footing – and this we have not only said, but also repeated – in the context of our agreements and our relations with Africa, we must act, we must commit ourselves so that all refugees, especially LGBT people, are supported. Our credibility could be in jeopardy if we do not practice what we preach.

Mr President, the world food situation is alarming. Today’s agro-industrial food systems fail to feed the world’s population in a sustainable and healthy way. We also know that the problem of food insecurity was already present well before the COVID-19 pandemic and that it further aggravated the situation. In the new report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, it is clear that we are not moving in the right direction, for any of the nutrition indicators, to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The high cost of healthy food and socio-economic inequalities deprive around 3 billion people of healthy food. Children are starving. It is clear that our current food systems will create humanitarian crises in the long term. We need to be sure that at the Nutrition for Growth Summit in December 2021 in Japan, the European Union will promote a profound transformation of our food systems to make them resilient, sustainable and fair. For me and my colleagues, the Commission must make a strong political and financial commitment for 2021-2027 to contribute to the achievement of Development Goal 2, the eradication of hunger in the world.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this conflict raises questions about the peace procedure in this region. How do the allegations made by our representative that the Ethiopian government wanted to ‘disappear the Tigreans for a hundred years’, even if it is a quote, agree with the desire to promote peace in the Horn of Africa? Why was this statement not discussed with the competent authorities rather than published? Why did we not send an election observation mission while other international observers were present? Famine strikes at the gates of this region. Rape and sexual violence are used as a weapon of war. Let us seize the opportunity of the ceasefire to resume cooperation and facilitate humanitarian aid. The European Union must take up the peace torch, support independent investigations into allegations of human rights violations, respect the partnership, and listen to the people in order to speed up the reconciliation process.