Proposition 54K2040

Proposition de résolution relative à la mise en oeuvre, au contrôle et au suivi des objectifs de développement durable en ce qui concerne la santé et les droits sexuels et reproductifs.

General information ¶

Authors

CD&V Roel Deseyn
Groen Wouter De Vriendt
MR Jean-Jacques Flahaux, Kattrin Jadin
N-VA An Capoen
Open Vld Sabien Lahaye-Battheu, Annemie Turtelboom, Tim Vandenput
PS | SP Karine Lalieux
Vooruit Fatma Pehlivan

Submission date

July 20, 2016

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

family planning resolution of parliament development aid reproductive health 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 ¶

July 19, 2017 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr Crusnière and Mrs Bellens are the rapporteurs.

I refer to the written report.

The floor is yielded to Mrs Lalieux.

Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, for many years now I co-preside, along with Mrs. Sabien Lahaye-Battheu and Mr. Roel Deseyn, the Parliamentary Group for the 2030 Agenda which is focused on the importance of a focus on sexual and reproductive rights, a group which – and we will thank them here in the plenary session – thanks to the support of Sensoa International, is the source of many symbolic initiatives of advocacy or as here of drafting parliamentary texts. Each of our colleagues here usually participates in all these initiatives. In this context, I signed this resolution. It also shows that the majority and the opposition can work hand in hand when it comes to texts for women’s rights in particular.

Belgium has been a pioneer in this field for years. I therefore welcome the initiatives taken by our country internationally, in particular to combat all forms of discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. I also welcome the Belgian proactivity at the She Decides Donor Conference which has raised no less than €181 million to strengthen the security of the practice of voluntary abortion, as the Trump administration has scandalously decided to cut food for such projects in developing countries.

If we are fortunate to live in a country that has, for years, made sexual and reproductive health and rights a transversal priority of our international and development action, this is unfortunately not the case in many countries and even within the framework of European countries. This struggle reminds us that nothing is achieved as conservative pressures in many countries and in international forums are strong, pressures that deny how underdevelopment in family planning or fighting AIDS and against STIs undermines efforts to eradicate hunger or poverty in the world, for example.

In particular, millions of women do not have access to contraception, and at the global level, one in three women is victim of sexual violence during their lifetime, not counting the cases of genital mutilation or the problem of early marriages, against which I had taken, at the beginning of the legislature, a similar initiative.

The fight for sexual and reproductive rights has been a priority for my group for years. During the previous legislature, we had submitted and had the House adopted a proposal for a resolution on sexual and reproductive health and rights within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals for post-2015.

This new text is a mobilization within the framework of the 2030 Agenda to ⁇ these sexual and reproductive rights. My colleague, Stéphane Crusnière, also submitted a text to make our assembly more active in the legislative follow-up of this Agenda 2030.

Such reminder bites are essential, as the work of the Interparliamentary Group on the 2030 Goals proves, and especially the cruel current with the positions taken, for example – I regret to repeat it again – by Belgium during the UN vote that allowed the election of Saudi Arabia to the Women’s Rights Commission and the decisions of the Trump administration.

It is about actively working, both at the European and UN level, for the promotion of equality between women and men, the protection of health and sexual and reproductive rights in the context of the pursuit of the SDGs and advocating for the removal of barriers in the exercise of these rights. We cannot show any relaxation in this matter.

Although women and girls have benefited from progress in certain areas since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals for education, maternal health, etc., gender inequality remains a permanent challenge for all regions of the world and constitutes a major systematic barrier to sustainable development in many ways.

Investing in gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, including through education, is not only a human rights imperative, it can become one of the most effective leverages to fight poverty and thus make a major contribution to sustainable development both in its economic, social and environmental dimensions, which is why women have a crucial role in achieving each of the SDGs.

It is now up to Belgium to implement the budgetary and human resources to ⁇ these development goals if we do not want to limit ourselves to communication.

I am concerned about the potential impacts of the government’s sometimes drastic economic measures on development cooperation, and I hope that this text can help boost the resources in this area. Therefore, my group will strongly support this text.

Finally, I would like to conclude my speech by thanking all the colleagues with whom I worked together.

Mr. Speaker, I will be brief because the content of the present resolution is clear and unambiguous. I do not think I should go into this much deeper. Everyone should have the right to freely decide about their own body, worldwide, especially since there are still thousands of victims of traditional practices and discriminatory legislation. Too often again it concerns women and the LGBTQ community.

The theme of sexual and reproductive health is therefore a priority theme for our development cooperation. However, the situation of family planning and teenage pregnancies is still problematic in some of our partner countries. The issues of the 2030 Agenda remain current. These themes are also part of the policy notes of Minister De Croo and of the gender strategy of the Belgian Development Cooperation.

For the N-VA group, I can only say that we support the multisectoral approach in the Gender Strategy and Gender Plan. We support the active implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Therefore, sexual and reproductive health deserves additional attention, as does education, which we adopted a resolution on a few weeks ago. In fact, it transcends the interest of the individual and can have an impact on a whole society, which can thus get out of a vicious circle in which a lack of knowledge and access to sexual and reproductive health care results in poverty.

I have therefore signed this resolution on behalf of the N-VA group, which will fully support it.

We are fortunate to live in a country where sexual rights and access to reproductive health care are not questioned by politicians. In this Parliament it is often easy to forget that this is not evident in the rest of the world. In the United States, there are people in power, such as Vice President Mike Pence, who want to reverse these rights globally. For this, he finds allies in various countries, including in European countries, such as Poland.

A major boost for these people with an ultra-conservative agenda was Saudi Arabia’s accession to the UN Women’s Rights Council. The United Nations prepares texts and recommendations on social rights and health care with a consensus approach. As a result, many of these texts are often deliberately vague or limited. This is the so-called agreed language, to which the resolution originally refersed and intended to defend it internationally. Therefore, I have proposed an amendment from our group, which was also unanimously adopted, in order not only to move from the UN positions on this subject, but from the Belgian positions.

Since this resolution has the great ambition to put these topics more prominently in the talks with our partner countries in the South and within the EU, it seems to me appropriate that we do not restrain ourselves and just fully take our own vision as guidance. It is not up to us to defend the consensus, but just to bring the consensus closer to our views.

This resolution was discussed in the committee and my group signed it. We will therefore approve this resolution with full conviction.

Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, we are currently living in a time when sexual and reproductive rights are threatened more than ever, while they allow women, where these rights are exercised freely and without coercion, to freely dispose of their bodies in full security.

These sexual and reproductive rights have been regarded as full human rights by the United Nations, and rightly. In March 2016, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stressed that the right to sexual and reproductive health is an integral part of the general right to health, enshrined in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and that it is fundamentally linked to the enjoyment of other human rights including the right to education and work as well as the right to life, privacy, the prohibition of torture and individual autonomy.

This evolution implies in our head a duty, that of defending sexual and reproductive rights in our country but also abroad and, in particular, in our partner countries of development cooperation. Tawakkol Karman, who won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle for women’s rights, said: “We cannot establish democracy and lasting peace in the world without women having the same opportunities as men to influence the development of society. But these opportunities can only be seized in the absence of violence against women and violations of their sexual and reproductive rights.”

A meaningful statement that echoes the resolution proposal presented to us today, as it aims at the concrete implementation of the 2030 Agenda goals on sexual and reproductive health and rights adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2015.

Clear and indispensable goals such as reducing maternal mortality, access to sexual and reproductive health care services, ending sexual exploitation, honour crimes, forced heterosexuality, and early and forced marriages.

This resolution calls, therefore, and among other things, on the Government to face, both at the European and international level, the growing questioning of these rights and to defend the European acquis and Belgian legislation as an ideal. Europe has been a pioneer in the field of sexual and reproductive rights and must spread the good word outside the old continent. But it must also maintain a critical mind on the situation of these rights in its own territory. While Belgium can boast of having an eminently progressive legislation, other member states, for example, still prohibit abortion, prompting women to abort in very bad conditions, which the 2030 Agenda just intends to combat.

This text also justifies itself in view of the struggle of many men and women who have devoted their lives to the defense of sexual and reproductive rights and to the fight against violence against women, whether illegal abortions, forced marriages or female genital mutilation. I think in particular of Dr. Denis Mukwege, more commonly called the man who repairs women. In fact, it was he who revealed to the world all the horror of MGF in his country, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as in twenty-seven other countries in Africa and the Middle East. He also denounced the collective rape used as a war weapon. Mr. Mukwege is one of those people who have understood that the development of a state involves taking medical, psychological, economic and legal care of victims of such violence so that they rebuild themselves physically and mentally and that they in turn advocate for the end of such practices.

When we talk about sexual and reproductive rights, we also think of the right to safe and medicated abortion. In addition, the UN is increasingly stressing that the lack of emergency obstetric care services or the refusal of abortion often lead to maternal mortality and morbidity which, in turn, constitute a violation of the right to life and security and, in certain circumstances, can be assimilated to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

By his scandalous ban on funding international NGOs supporting abortion, US President Trump has demonstrated that abortion is indeed the first struggle of opponents for full and complete autonomy of women, whether in our country or in countries that are our partners in development cooperation.

Our legislation may be imperfect, as we still have not reached an agreement on the complete withdrawal of IVG from the Criminal Code, but it must nevertheless serve as an example, as a vision to be defended with the UN member countries. The positive effects of the Lallemand-Michielsen Act on women’s health deserve to be known and must serve as arguments for the effective achievement of the 2030 Agenda objectives.

Based on these good words, it is obvious that we will support this proposal for a resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the colleagues for their presentations today and also for the cooperation in the committee.

With this resolution from Parliament, we reinforce our country’s leading role in defending women’s rights worldwide. “She Decides” is a joint initiative of Minister Alexander De Croo and his Dutch colleague. 181 million euros were raised for safe abortions. That conference was a response to the decision in America to close the money crane for projects in developing countries in that area.

This resolution emphasizes the importance of women’s rights. Moreover, countries will develop better if women’s rights are respected, women are free and they can decide when and how much they want children. These countries are making huge leaps forward because women can be more active there.

Finally, I would like to thank the colleagues who are active in the Working Group of Parliamentarians 2030 and the support services of Sensoa who are always ready to organize the meetings and interesting actions that allow us to keep the theme warm.

Thank you for the support.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to very soberly associate a male voice with the voices of women who have just spoken and who have done so excellently. Their word is gold. I would simply like to thank Mrs. Lalieux, Mrs. Caprasse, Mrs. Capoen, Mrs. Pehlivan, Mrs. Lahaye-Batteu for the words they have just said.

I think it is indeed very important that this issue of sexual and reproductive rights be at the heart, at the center of our concerns and of our development cooperation. I would also like to highlight the excellent work that Parliament is doing with NGOs in this field and in particular with Sensoa. I think this is a very useful, very in-depth work that will of course continue in view of this resolution.

I will not be longer but I just wanted to emphasize the quality of the interventions of my colleagues, which I naturally join.

I will not be too long, because the most important thing has already been said. We would like to welcome the work of the authors of the draft resolution, in particular with regard to our group, the work of Ms. Jadin and Mr. Flahaux.

It is an important resolution for us because it is a resolution against discrimination, against pressure, against violence, sexual mutilation and even the crimes committed mostly against women, against homosexuals and LGBTQI.

This resolution addresses the right to health, the right to fulfilled sexuality and to desirable and assumed parenting. A Swedish author, Johan Norberg, in his book titled No, it wasn’t better before, insists on the fact that it is from the moment, dear colleagues, where progress, science and democracy have developed that sexual freedom, which is a fundamental right in the eyes of our party, has received the right of citizenship and has actually been experienced by all people.

As Co-Chair of the Working Group, I would also like to take the word to extend my warm congratulations on the initiatives and the cooperation of all my colleagues. The agenda and the ambitions formulated here regarding sexual and reproductive rights extend to 2030 and are a mandate of all governments in Belgium.

Sometimes more and more intensive cooperation is needed. Recently, in the hearing with diplomats and officials of our working group, under the chairmanship of colleague Lahaye-Battheu, we had to conclude that this cooperation is not yet optimal. The implementation of the Agenda for Sustainable Development should therefore be a collective ambition, a horizontal policy line across all departments.

Belgium has voluntarily submitted itself to some sort of assessment, but has not received equal input from all departments. For some departments, of which I remember the example of Defence – it is good that the Minister of Defence is present – we are still waiting for input for the goal of the agenda on sustainable development. I do not find that insignificant. I think it is a point of work for a next voluntary assessment.

We will therefore report to the United Nations that we can do everything integrated and globally. It is also a recommended report, which shows how our country is achieving sustainable development in many areas.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. De Croo has asked me to communicate the following.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights are an important priority in the Belgian Development Cooperation. They are a priority in our gender strategy and in our gender action plan.

Belgium is one of the pioneers of the initiative “She Decides” and puts women’s rights, and in particular sexual health and rights, prominent on the agenda.

On Tuesday, July 11, Minister De Croo also participated in the London Family Panning Summit. The commitment is also budgetarily translated into our multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental partnerships.

Mr. Deseyn, I would like to mention for a moment that you should look at the reports of the Land Defense Committee, which has repeatedly demonstrated that, among other things, in terms of gender equality, the Belgian Defense is one of the pioneers. The ladies who asked the questions will be able to tell you more about it.