Proposition 51K2974

Proposition de résolution relative aux grossesses adolescentes dans les pays en développement.

General information ¶

Authors

CD&V Roel Deseyn
Open Vld Hilde Vautmans
PS | SP Karine Lalieux
Vooruit Magda De Meyer

Submission date

March 8, 2007

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

young person motherhood resolution of parliament development aid position of women

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR FN VB

Party dissidents ¶

• Filip De Man (VB) voted to reject.
• Filip De Man (VB) voted to reject.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

April 26, 2007 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr Chevalier refers to his written report.

The following speakers will sign up for the general discussion: the ladies Vautmans and Detiège.

You come to the speech room. Do you do!

( ... )

I have nothing against it. The only difference is that you now have the chairman in your neck.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, I am actually very pleased that we are addressing a whole series of resolutions here today. There has been a lot of work done in the committee and between the various parties. As you can see, most of those resolutions have been signed by all democratic parties in this hemisphere.

This resolution, colleagues, actually aims to draw more attention to teenage pregnancies in developing countries. It is actually a consequence of the action plan of our Minister of Development Cooperation who released his policy note on sexual and reproductive health a few days ago.

Colleagues, 10% of the children born in this world actually have a mother who is still a child. I was fortunate to have been sent to Ethiopia and there I was able to see with my own eyes the health risks for those maternal mothers. They often switch to unsafe abortions, their babies die and mothers are very often affected by fistula. This evening there will be a large meeting here in Brussels on the Flagey Square where an action plan will be proposed for which signatures will be collected. In that plan, they are asked to help the fistula out of the world.

I see a few people watching and I wonder if everyone knows what it is about. When a little girl has to give birth to a child, this is often very difficult. One goes as if pressing on the abdomen to bring the child into the world causing lasting injuries in the body of the little girl. As a result, this child will face lifelong incontinence unless he is lucky enough to be operated. This child who is faced with incontinence is rejected by the community and is doomed to wander through the fields to build his own existence.

Colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to a specific point of this resolution, namely point 5. To help the phenomenon of babysitters from the world, we must focus not only on the women who need to use the pill, but also on the men. We need to persuade them in developing countries to use a condom. I have said this in the committee and I will repeat it here at the tribune: I hope that we will be spared from some bishops in this country who are going to advocate against the use of the condom or who claim that the condom does not always help prevent pregnancy or AIDS. Colleagues, the condom helps against this and I hope that we will do everything we can to ensure that people in developing countries are not denied access to the condom or distracted by some religious leaders in our country.

Mr. Speaker, we will support this resolution proposal initiated by Magda De Meyer and which is also the result of the work of the "Parliamentary Group for Population and Development".

We share the full meaning of this resolution proposal.

I would like to say briefly that I am very pleased with the initiative taken. A lot of people sometimes comment on parliamentarians who go on a mission. They ask what the added value is. Well, I can assure you that it is very painful when one comes face to face with a twelve-year-old girl who is pregnant, a child who will bear a child herself. We often assume that this is happening more in developing countries, but it is seen in practice that it is very difficult for those very young girls to bear.

I am also pleased that there is another resolution that wants to correct some things. We will discuss them later. For example, the use of condoms is very difficult to implement in some areas. Then we need to learn from a number of projects how to do it in the right way, how to finally make people aware that it is absolutely necessary. Therefore, I am pleased that we today adopt these two resolutions.

thank you . Furthermore, I must say to the members of the Chamber that these missions are usually followed by a report, that the report is available on the Chamber’s website and that this is also a way to inform the members of the Chamber and the outside world about it, much more because these resolutions should be discussed in the policy letters of the ministers.

I just wanted to emphasize the importance of being able to see it on the field. If one stands face to face with those people, one is even more motivated to do things for them in Belgium too. I think that is good.

thank you . It is pleasant to be able to establish all this.