Proposition 54K0630

Proposition de résolution relative à la lutte contre les mariages précoces et forcés dans le monde et plus particulièrement dans les pays partenaires de la Coopération belge au développement.

General information ¶

Authors

CD&V Roel Deseyn
DéFI Véronique Caprasse
Ecolo Benoît Hellings
LE Georges Dallemagne
MR Benoît Piedboeuf
N-VA An Capoen
Open Vld Nele Lijnen
PS | SP Gwenaëlle Grovonius, Karine Lalieux
Vooruit Fatma Pehlivan

Submission date

Nov. 17, 2014

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

violence fundamental rights marriage child child protection resolution of parliament development aid developing countries reproductive health sexual violence public health

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI ∉ Open Vld N-VA LDD MR PVDA | PTB PP VB

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

March 5, 2015 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I return to the report.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, dear colleagues, first of all, I would like to thank all the colleagues who have reserved a very positive and very warm welcome to this proposed resolution. I also thank Ms. Nele Lijnen for her work. There is evidence here that we can work on important topics beyond political affiliation.

This resolution follows an international conference organized by Plan Belgique, which I organized with my colleague Nele Lijnen. This conference highlighted a worrying problem about early marriages. This proposal for a resolution is a parliamentary act aimed at ensuring the monitoring and maintenance on the agenda of this issue both at the government level and at the European and international level.

We have already taken a similar initiative on health rights and sexual and reproductive rights as part of the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals.

Every day, 39,000 underage girls are told they will be married before they reach the age of majority. That means 27 girls per minute! During my speech, more than a hundred girls will hear that they will be forced to marry while they are still underage.

In 2010, 67 million women aged 20 to 24 were married while they were underage. According to the United Nations Population Fund, if nothing changes, they will be 142 million at the end of the decade and 150 million in the next decade. Never in history have developing countries had such a young population and therefore, never in history, this subject has been so important and so burning. This also applies to all violence against women as well as to genital mutilation where, there too, the figures for both Belgium and the countries of the South are increasingly high, unfortunately.

Early marriages in fact condemn thousands of young girls to experience dramatic situations on the personal level, on the social, economic and, of course, on the level of their health. It is known that these are illegal acts in many countries but even if there is a law that condemns this type of practice in these countries, there is never judgment! Many regions are affected; these include Africa, South Asia and Central America.

I am convinced that no culture, no religion, no custom can be used to legitimize acts that harm gender equality and the physical and psychological integrity of women.

Indeed, the rights of men and women are identical, regardless of their origin and their social or geographical position. No discrimination can be admitted. While this phenomenon is relatively limited in geographical terms, it is, for this parliament, a global struggle.

Mr. Minister, you know that we are cooperating with several countries, including Niger, where 75% of women aged 20 to 24 are forced to marry. That’s why we need to put this issue on the agenda – a phenomenon affecting seven of the eighteen countries with which we have relations in terms of development cooperation.

The Department of Development Cooperation is the good student of the class, let’s recognize it. In his time, Mr. Labille had introduced gender as a transversal theme in the Law of Cooperation. I think, Mr. Minister, as you have already told us, that this will also be a concern of this government.

I would also like you to relay this issue in the European framework and in the international relations in general. It is important that every member of Parliament who votes on this motion for a resolution places this issue on the agenda of the Interparliamentary Union. These topics can irritate partners, but these controversial issues must be raised. There is equality between men and women.

This position is not dictated either by a paternalist sentiment or by a neocolonialist will, but by a complete rejection of violations of fundamental rights and by a total will for equality between men and women.

Therefore, Mr. Minister, we are waiting for you. When it comes to your development cooperation programs, these issues should be addressed – whether forced marriages, genital mutilation or reproductive health. We sincerely count on you in this regard. Likewise, we count on you regarding the Millennium Goals. They are being negotiated at the European level. We know that there are conservatives. Europe’s decision should not be a step backwards. I think you will have a lot of work, Mr. President. The Belgian position is positive. It is important that it becomes that of Europe.

This issue is ⁇ worrying, as is the situation of women in the world, as they are increasingly subject to violence.

I would like to thank you for your support for this resolution.

As a member of the N-VA Group, I would like to briefly present the position of our group.

I was also present at the conference, organized by Plan Belgium. The figures are dizzying. In my discussion, I will not go further to the figures, as the content of the resolution has already been cited extensively by Mr Lalieux. The figure of 27 girls per minute who get married is hardly to contain.

Particularly the disastrous consequences of these practices, such as early leaving school, increased risk of childbirth and increased risk of marital violence, are terrifying. It is also a persistent problem, given that the population in most developing countries has never been so young. Therefore, especially in the light of Women’s Day today, we must continue to defend women’s rights worldwide and ⁇ not close our eyes to this problem, even when it happens closer to home, closer to European borders.

Since the practice is also common in seven of the eighteen partner countries we support, the N-VA Group also supports the call to the Government to include this issue in the preparation and evaluation of cooperation programmes with the partner countries.

Finally, I’d like to end my discussion with a quote from the conference that I absolutely don’t want you to remember: “When girls are allowed to be girls, everybody wins.”

I congratulate colleague Capoen on her maidenspeech.

The United Nations Convention of 1962 recommends that all States abolish the marriage of children and the engagement of young girls before marriage. The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ratified by 187 countries, specifies that a woman has the same right as a man to freely choose her husband and to marry only with her free and full consent, but also that engagement and child marriages will have no legal effect and that all necessary measures should be taken to set a minimum age for marriage and make marriage registration in an official register mandatory. The African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights states that the minimum age for marriage is 18 years.

All of these texts exist, and yet 700 million women are still married before age; 250 million of them are under fifteen. UNICEF denounced this situation only a year ago, and it was predicted that the figure would remain due to population growth.

However, it is well known that early marriages cause serious and irreparable harm to young girls, and are harmful to them, but also to their families and to society. These marriages cause health and socioeconomic difficulties: health problems due to early pregnancies, miscarriages, dead-born children, risk of death during childbirth, risk of obstetric fistulas and genital cracks.

These young girls also find it difficult not to be subjected to school. Early marriage is often rooted and fuelled by the existence of other practices such as genital mutilation or giving a girl in marriage to settle a debt or dispute.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, dear colleagues, we must be careful that fathers or parents, guardians or sometimes even the courts do not provide the necessary consent for marriage. As States are obliged to integrate the international treaties they have ratified into their national law, all Members have the responsibility to take all legislative, judicial, administrative or other measures to ensure the full realization of the rights of women and children.

Mr. Minister, we must ensure that the partner countries of the Cooperation have an adequate legislative arsenal and implement it.

In the post-2015 development programme, the Reform Movement will pay attention to the importance of gender equality, the possibility of choosing a spouse, having a own body, or freely deciding to have children.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, colleagues, as colleague Lalieux just said, in October we were together chairman of the conference on forced child marriages organized in this Parliament, in collaboration with Plan.

I was greatly touched by the testimony of Haoua. Let me show you her photo. She is thirteen years. She was married at the age of nine and at the age of eleven she had to live with her husband. He wanted things she didn’t want. Thanks to the mediation of Plan, the families agreed to dissolve the marriage. Today, Haoua, as she says herself, is the voice of the girls who have no voice.

Every day, 39,000 girls are forcibly married, 27 child marriages per minute, or, as Lyric Thompson said, one girl every two seconds. One ... two ... t happened again.

Lyric Thompson, senior policy manager at the International Center of Research on Women, spoke at the conference of a human rights violation. Families become strategic financial planners in the function of their daughters. Girls are sold for a pack of corn.

Without action, 142 million underage girls will be victims of this form of gender-based discrimination and violence between 2010 and 2020.

The consequences of child marriages are far-reaching for girls, for women and for society. Not only are there the health risks, such as physical and sexual abuse, maternal mortality and deadborn babies from early pregnancy, but also on the socio-economic level the consequences are heavy. Girls leave school banks, become dependent and live in poverty and social isolation from their own family and acquaintances. Whole lives and society as a whole are in fact disrupted.

Colleagues, I am convinced that no culture, religion or custom should be cited to justify acts that undermine gender equality and the physical and psychological integrity of women. Discrimination between men and women is unacceptable.

This was also the starting point of the resolution, which came across the boundaries of majority and opposition. I totally agree with you, Mrs. Lalieux, these topics need that. It is important to get hands-on on these types of topics and reach a wide-ranging agreement.

Specifically, we call on the Government to put forced child marriages high on the agenda in bilateral relations, in particular with our partner countries in development cooperation. The phenomenon currently occurs in seven of our eighteen partner countries, not least in Congo, where its use is widespread. Also in Niger, 75% of young twenty-year-olds are married. Our country is currently working on an agreement with Niger. It is therefore an excellent opportunity to explicitly include child marriages here. We must also follow the developments in our partner countries closely.

In addition to the bilateral initiatives of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, it is essential to address the issue with the European Union and international organizations such as the UN and the African Union. The fight against child marriages is carried out diplomatically, mainly at European level. The gender issue in relation to sexual rights and related topics should therefore also gain a prominent place in the post-2015 Millennium Goals. A unanimous European position on this is desirable. Belgium has a leading role in this. There is no single easy solution to this problem. A horizontal and transversal approach is needed. These include poverty reduction, emancipation, human rights protection and education.

There is hope, my colleagues. In countries with strong economic growth, such as Malaysia, China, Brazil and India, we see a decrease in the number of child marriages and, consequently, a decrease in birth rates and better education. In India, parents were given money to send their children to school. Thus the children were educated and they were not married at the same time. Parents did not force their children to work or provide services for them. This has caused a change in one generation. In addition to the fact that we vote today on this resolution, we must carry this message of hope very deeply in our hearts and spread it, on whatever political stage.

I also have confidence in the future. According to the policy note of the Minister of Development Cooperation, Mr. De Croo, the rights of the child, the universality of human rights and non-discrimination are important milestones of our policy. In addition, the new Development Cooperation Act of 2013 identifies gender policy as an important focus. Also for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Reynders, human rights are a cornerstone of policy. Therefore, the implementation of this law, the government agreement and the aforementioned policy note we would like to support in particular with the present resolution.

Finally, can I thank colleague Lalieux and the other fellow Indians for joining me in the fight against child marriages? As I said before, every second counts.

I also count on your support.

Mr. Speaker, the Ecolo-Groen group has, in its DNA and in its founding identity trait, the struggle for the right of women to dispose of their bodies, in particular. We signed this resolution with great pleasure and a great resolution. It is the case to say it!

We would like to welcome the presence of the Minister of Cooperation at our discussions. In fact, it is quite rare that a minister shares the discussions.

That said, point 2 of the dispositif of the resolution that we will vote just now stipulates the following: “(...) and calls on the government to systematically integrate the gender issue in the drafting of future cooperation programs, including the question of forced child marriage.”

This resolution therefore resolutely urges the government to pay particular attention to the fight against early marriages and forced marriages, at the time that matters, namely when defining development policies through, precisely, the drafting of its cooperation programmes, that is, at the most effective time.

Furthermore, our role as a parliamentary is now to read these future programs with the 18 partner countries drafted by the government, to verify that they contain the commitments regarding the right of women to dispose of their bodies, but also to read the annual reports on the state of human rights in the said partner countries and to verify that these beautiful intentions that will be voted with enthusiasm have been well flooded in the bronze of these programs and implemented day-to-day by the Administration in charge of Cooperation.

You can therefore count on the Ecolo-Groen Group to vote on this proposal for a resolution and to fulfill the above tasks in the coming years.

Finally, I would like to congratulate Lijnen and Lalieux who are at the origin of this proposal for a resolution.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, since this is such an important topic, I will not repeat everything, but I will repeat some points.

Child marriages are a global curse. It is one of the world’s most devastating disaster states, across regions, cultures and religions. Child marriages are also a gross violation of children’s and women’s rights. They are depriving girls of their right to education, emancipation and a full and balanced life.

Although colleagues Lalieux and Lijnen have already taken the figures, I will repeat them, even if it was only to make them known to the public opinion and to make them more sensitive to the problem. Every day around the world, ⁇ 40,000 minor girls are forced into marriage. That is 15 million per year. Without action, the United Nations forecasts their number will increase to 18 million per year by 2050.

As mentioned earlier, child marriages are common everywhere, but especially in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, they are shaving and embroidering. 41 countries account for 30-75% of child marriages, so in some countries it means that almost two-thirds of girls between seven and eight years of age get married. Usually they are poor and unskilled girls from rural areas, who are forced to marry very young, usually with many older men.

The testimonies we have heard are shocking. It is a good initiative that in the generics of some films that are forbidden for girls under the age of twelve, girls declare that the film is forbidden for them, while they have already been married.

The consequences for the girls are dramatic. They are taken out of school and often get health problems from premature pregnancy and childbirth. We can’t imagine that our nine-year-old daughter – and here are many parents – would get married and in ten years she would become a mother. I can’t really imagine it, but it happens every day.

Until now, the problem of forced child marriage was not discussed in the Belgian Development Cooperation. When we find that in seven of the eighteen partner countries of Belgian Development Cooperation there is a prevalence of child marriages of more than 30 % – in Niger the percentage is even up to 75 % – then it is time for Belgium to engage in the fight against child marriages and that commitment to translate into action, not only in our partner countries but also outside.

The SP-A group will therefore support the draft resolution with a full hundred percent support.

Mr. Speaker, I am here to see Mr. Speaker. I stand in front of him and thank him.

Thank you very much for being present to address such a sensitive and important topic. It is a beautiful gesture.

Dear colleagues, our first concern must be to act in accordance with human rights, in this course including women’s rights, rights that are now more than ever seriously undermined in conflict regions such as Syria, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria.

We must ensure that these rights are fully effective, regardless of the region, culture, religion. The fate of tens of millions of women and girls, who every day are forced to marry, cannot leave us indifferent, especially since the 10-24 years old, the first affected by early and forced marriage, today account for 43% of the world population.

Forced marriage is a form of gender-related violence that violates gender equality and the physical and psychological integrity of women. Its consequences are both countless and unacceptable: abandoning studies, risk of dying in childbirth and having dead-born children, physical violence, sexual violence.

Our domestic policy of gender equality, which your government agreement is good to insist on, only makes sense if it echoes in our external policy of development cooperation. However, the problem of early and forced marriages affects seven of the eighteen current partner countries of the Belgian Development Cooperation.

Unfortunately, the problem is wider as most women and girls in these countries still do not have access to the health and sexual education services necessary to lead a healthy life because of the discrimination they are victims of. Complications during pregnancy and childbirth, sexist violence, excision, AIDS are among the main causes of mortality among young girls in these countries.

Forced and early marriage must therefore be combated in a more comprehensive perspective of gender equality and respect for sexual health, as defined by the WHO, namely “a state of physical, mental and social well-being that requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships that must be safe, free from coercion, discrimination or violence.”

It follows that every woman, every young girl must be able to freely, without any fear, coercion or discrimination, dispose of its sexual and reproductive rights, including the right to choose whether and with whom she wishes to marry.

This proposal, which I ask you to support, aims to fully integrate the problem of early marriages in the countries concerned and, in particular, our partners in development cooperation. This integration must be part of a whole since female genital mutilation, maternal mortality, rape must also be combated. This support is an obligation that is imposed on our country.

Of course, condemning a practice is not enough to abolish it. That is why the proposed resolution calls on the government to act in the long-term and within the framework of social standards of fighting poverty, schooling for girls and young women and the development of emancipation.

Our proposal is thus part of the General Policy Declaration of the Minister of Development Cooperation, which promotes a Belgian development policy based on rights and focused on capacity building. This is intended, on the one hand, to strengthen the capacity of those who have duties and who are obliged to respect and protect human rights and, on the other hand, to strengthen the capacity of the holders of rights who must have knowledge of them in order to be able to claim and exercise them.

The Declaration also emphasizes the ongoing concern for gender equality in society, but also for the rights of the child. The early and forced marriage affecting younger girls seems to me more than urgent to take this problem hand in hand.

Finally, I recall the law of 19 March 2013 on Belgian Development Cooperation, which makes the gender dimension a transversal theme in all interventions of Belgian Development Cooperation.

The main tool to develop in this context is undoubtedly education. The majority of girls forced to marry at an early age live in rural areas, are poorly educated and belong to families characterized by a high degree of poverty.

Dear colleagues, our duty, our strength, is to say “no” to violence, to the unacceptable, to free will, to emancipation and equality. I would like to thank the two initiators of this resolution. This was my first experience when I entered the Parliament and I was really touched by it.

I agree with the above statements. As far as I am concerned, I would like to congratulate the two members who took the initiative on the matter and I would like to emphasise that I will support, on behalf of the People’s Party, the motion for a resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the members first and foremost for this resolution, which I would absolutely like to support.

As you know, the right approach is high on the agenda in our policy for development cooperation. In particular, the problem of child marriages is a problem that we would like to pay great attention to. This is also a problem that is difficult to understand in our society.

Anyone who has children should imagine having a 12-year-old daughter and telling her that she is married to a 35-year-old man, that she has had a first child and is already pregnant with a second child. Know that she will have an average of seven pregnancies, with all the dangers to her health.

This is a situation that we can hardly imagine and which is a genuine violation of fundamental human rights that are universal.

Child marriages are a symptom of two elements. They are a symptom of a certain mentality but also a symptom of very poor countries and a very weak social and economic development. We need to work in both areas.

In the diplomatic sphere, this is a topic that is largely addressed at the European level. In 2010, Belgium, when it was the EU presidency, developed a whole strategy on the subject. We note that the case has somewhat stalled at European level today. Together with my colleague Didier Reynders, I look at ways in which we can revitalize these initiatives. That is really necessary.

At the Belgian level, there has been a lot of consultation with Plan Belgium. Plan Belgium is an organization that we fund and whose topic is very close to the heart.

The present resolution speaks of bilateral cooperation. We will take this into account in our bilateral cooperation. Of course, it often depends on the areas in which we work. There are quite a few countries with which we work bilaterally, though in areas that are sometimes very far from the problem itself.

Nevertheless, everything we do in our bilateral cooperation aims to advance countries socially and economically. This is one of the factors that most influences the complete eradication of child marriages.

With regard to Niger, a new cooperation programme is being discussed. If, in this context, we have the opportunity to work in areas with greater involvement, such as health care, this will be a significant step forward. That said, the whole problem is important.

It is still that the cooperation programme provides for the possibility of having delegated cooperation, that is to say working with local organizations or NGOs, which will allow us to better address this problem.

There are a number of multilateral organizations that are very active in this field. UNICEF is one of them. We support UNICEF for approximately 17 million euros annually. We support UN Women with four million euros annually. We support UNFPA for approximately 7 million euros per year.

This is a topic that is also part of the post-2015 Millennium Goals. This is one of the 169 goals; 169 are very many, but it is not because it is only one of them that it would be less important.

Parliaments play a role in this issue. This resolution is an important signal, also for the policy we are pursuing. It is an important signal to countries where child marriages take place. It is also very often necessary to adjust the legal framework in those countries. There are legal provisions that allow such matters. It is often the case that the adjustment of legal provisions on the ground is very often done through parliamentary cooperation. Any initiative in that light I will support with great pleasure.

I would like to thank everyone for this resolution, which I warmly support from my policy.