Activities of Dominique BILDE related to 2020/2118(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the role of the EU’s development cooperation and humanitarian assistance in addressing the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic
Amendments (49)
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas humanitarian aid is severely undernot optimally funded, which makes it difficult to adequately address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries, and the monitoring of how this aid is used and its effectiveness is also poor in some cases;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas there is a disproportionately high risk of contagion for millions of refugees worldwide, who often live in densely populated refugee camps, in particular for internally displaced persons, especially on the African continent, which represents more than half of people displaced as a result of conflict (2019), and there is therefore an urgent need to find sustainable solutions that would allow these internally displaced persons to return to their regions of origin;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas armed conflicts and especially Islamist terrorism, in particular in the Sahel and in Mozambique, have caused substantial population displacements, and whereas the number of internally displaced persons in the Sahel reached 1 930 482 as at 30 November 2020 according to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;2 a _________________ 2a https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/sahe lcrisis
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly exacerbated the existing debt problems of developing countries and highlights the significant indebtedness of some developing or least developed countries to China, in certain cases to contribute to the funding of energy or transport infrastructure projects that are, moreover, questionable at times (in particular with regard to the numerous investments in fossil fuels) and, as a result, China should assume its share of responsibility for the indebtedness of those countries;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic hassituation is expected to greatly exacerbated the existing debt problems of developing countriesacross the world;
Amendment 53 #
D. whereas school closures due to the pandemic have deprived vulnerable children of school feeding and nutrition services that are essential to their health along with their schooling, thus jeopardising their social and professional future;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas armed conflicts and Islamist terrorism have also caused numerous school closures, in particular in the countries of the Sahel, given that attacks against educational institutions, for example, more than doubled in Niger and Burkina Faso between 2018 and 2019, contributing to the closure of more than 2 000 schools in those two countries;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas improved coordination is needed of international efforts to promote an efficient and resilient humanitarian- development-peace nexus, along with greater consistency between development aid and humanitarian aid;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas improved coordination is needed of international efforts to promote an efficient and resilient humanitarian- development-peace nexustransformation of the United Nation and its organizations is needed to promote an efficient, cost effective and resilient ability to provide aid;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomDeplores the EU’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrates its ambition to lead and show solidarity with all partner countries; points out, however, that current funds are essentially reallocated from other budget lines and that the challenge of aid front-loading has to be tackled; calls, therefore, for substantial new funds to be mobilised to assist developing countries worldwide in fighting the direct and indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic; stresses that making safe vaccines available globally in a fast and affordable manner must be one of the first sput all others before the citizens of the Member Stateps;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomAcknowledges the EU’s global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrates its ambition to lead and show solidarity with all partner countries; points out, however,; notes that current funds are essentially reallocated from other budget lines and that the challenge of aid front- loading has to be tackled; calls, therefore, for substantial new funds to be mobilised to assist developing countries worldwide in fighting the direct and indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic; stresses that making safe vaccines available globally in a fast and affordable manner must be one of the first steps;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Insists that the momentum gained from the common Team Europe approach in terms of joint analysis, joint programming and joint implementation must translate into a new standard for cooperation in the fields of humanitarian aid and development policy, both in law and in practiceon a moratorium on all support to non-EU members and use the funds available in order to ensure Member States' resilience in view of the economic losses brought about by the lock down methods employed across most European nations;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes, however, that developing countries are also responsible for contributing to boosting agroecology and supporting pastoralism, in particular by adapting their property law provisions so as to foster the generational renewal of farmers, the emergence of local seed systems and the adaptation of agriculture to global warming where possible;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Stresses that the European Union should refrain from concluding fishing agreements with certain developing states that contribute to the depletion of some fish stocks and the destabilisation of coastal communities in signatory countries;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Emphasises the need to support the actions of the FAO and the WFP aimed at mitigating hunger and loss of livelihood and building up resilient food systems, such as those to set up a global data facility for the provision of swift information on humanitarian needs, to provide food production assistance and access to food, to organise cash transfers and in-kind food distribution, to stabilise food systems, and to ensure the functioning of local food markets, value chains and systems while focusing on smallholder farmers by implementing sanitary measures in order to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, and stresses that recipient countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa, should, for their part, take steps to prioritise domestic production rather than imported food products;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Underlines that global extreme poverty is expected to rise dramatically in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years, with the COVID-19 pandemic compounding the forces of conflict and climate change and having a particularly hard impact on informal and migrant workers (who some claim represent one quarter of the global workforce), the tourism sector and Latin American and Caribbean economies; highlights, against the backdrop of this extreme crisis, the importance of universal social protection; asks the Commission to work out strategies with partner countries for the economic recovery and job creation and for improving social security systems;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Underlines that global extreme poverty is expected to rise dramatically in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the decisions made in relation to lockdown compounding the forces of conflict and climate change and having a particularly hard impact on informal and migrant workers (who represent one quarter of the globVSEs/SMEs, self-employed workers, informal workforce)ers, the tourism sector and sub-Saharan African, Latin American and Caribbean economies; highlights, against the backdrop of this extreme crisis, the importance of universal social protection; asks the Commission to work out strategies withadvise partner countries foron the economic recovery and job creation and for improving social security systems;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Urges the Commission to address the specific needs of refugees, upholding the guiding principle of public health networks of leaving no-one behind and refraining from blocking front-line humanitarian workers from having direct contact with the migrants and refugees they serve; stresses the absolute need for equal access to COVID-19 treatment and other health services and safety net programmes for all affected people, regardless of nationality, migrant/refugee status, origin, sex, gender identity or any other characteristic;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Stresses, however, that the European Union must develop and implement an effective strategy to return migrants living on its soil who do not meet the criteria for asylum and/or have been denied asylum or subsidiary protection, and expresses concern in this regard about the rise in the number of repeated asylum applications, a trend highlighted by the European Asylum Support Office in October 20203 a; stresses that the failure by the European Union and the Member States to develop and implement removal and external border protection measures contributes to certain humanitarian tragedies, such as the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the bulk of migrants are economic migrants; _________________ 3ahttps://www.easo.europa.eu/latest- asylum-trends
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for the revision of proposed or existing strategies with the aim of further strengthening health systems in partner countriesmaking radical changes in how EU administers the aid provided by the Member States in regard to health systems in partner countries once this aid can be provided again, after the moratorium on aid has ended, in particular as regards preparedness for pandemics and the organisation and management of health systems, including the provision of universal healthcare, health monitoring and information, training of medical staff, diagnostic capacity and medicine supply;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for the revision of proposed or existing strategies with the aim of further strengthensupporting health systems in partner countries, in particular as regards preparedness for pandemics and the organisation and management of health systems, including the provision of universal healthcare, health monitoring and information, training of medical staff, diagnostic capacity and medicine supply;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Emphasises on this point that the consequences of the emigration of skilled health personnel, in particular doctors, on management of the health crisis in certain countries, especially in the Western Balkans region, where medical coverage is therefore poor, require that the European Union and the Member States concerned develop strategies to encourage health professionals to return to their countries of origin outside the European Union and refrain from encouraging this type of emigration;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Calls for rigorous monitoring of funds allocated for development aid and humanitarian aid for the purposes of managing pandemics and other health crises, and highlights, in this regard, certain concerns raised in September 2020 by the ambassadors of the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada about management of the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses the need to catch up on routine immunisation programmes as soon as possible and to provide adequate funding for initiatives such as Gavi, the vaccine Alliance, and CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; calls on the Commission to ensure that the EU global response to the COVID-19 pandemic does not undermine EU funding for other vital health programmes, including the Minimum Initial Services Package for sexual and reproductive health and programmes targeting the health of women and pregnant women; urges all countries and the Commission; suggests that countries may consider to continue to provide services related to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as well as routine immunisation services, while ensuring the safety of communities and health workers; however stresses that this is their own internal affairs and not for Europe to dictate the terms and scope of their interventions;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Stresses the need to catch up on routine immunisation programmes as soon as possible and to provide adequate funding for initiatives such as Gavi, the vaccine Alliance, and CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; calls on the Commission to ensure that the EU global response to the COVID-19 pandemic does not undermine EU funding for other vital health programmes, including the Minimum Initial Services Package for sexual and reproductive health and programmes targeting the health of women and pregnant women; urges all countries and the Commission to continue to provide services related to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), including screening campaigns for infectious diseases, as well as routine immunisation services, while ensuring the safety of communities and health workers;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Supports the important work of the WHO and points out its central role as the leading and coordinating authority on the COVID-19 response,Is highly critical of how the WHO has managed so far in terms of the COVID 19 situation and demands a major revision of how the WHO and the UN operates so that the whiole recognising the need for its reform after the acute crisis has been managedUN organization can be drastically reduced, made more transparent as well as efficient and fully accountable;
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Notes the Commission’s intention, stated in the JOIN(2020) 11 final4 a joint communication, to promote ‘exchange of data between researchers’, ‘facilitating access to results and evidences via Open Access and Open Science from research to feed political and clinical uptake’; stresses, however, that in terms of international scientific cooperation, concerns have been raised by the American authorities about data confidentiality in relation to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and calls on the Commission to exercise vigilance in its health cooperation programmes with those centres, especially in relation to the partnership initiated on 7 December 20205 a ; _________________ 4ahttps://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/FR/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:5202 0JC0011&from=EN 5a https://ec.europa.eu/international- partnerships/news/european-union-and- african-union-sign-partnership-scale- preparedness-health-emergencies_en
Amendment 230 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Highlights the especially severe consequences of COVID-19 lockdowns and the collateral damage that has been suffered by women, girls and children, in particular the rise in gender-based violence, but also the exposure of women to COVID-19 due to their disproportionately high representation in the global health workforce, and the consequences for healthcare caused by the slowdown in some care services, which compounds the risks faced by women in certain developing countries, such as sub-Saharan Africa, especially in relation to maternal health; calls for action to counterbalance the disproportionate care burden borne by women and any potential roll-backs in safety, health, emancipation, economic independence and empowerment, and education, through specific programmes such as the spotlight initiative and by re- focusing European support, which should not be limited to the COVID-19 pandemic, and which is still relatively moderate in sub-Saharan Africa; calls for meaningful participation of women in the decisions that impact their health and working lives; underlines the need to include the gender perspective in the EU’s COVID-19 response, to advocate for inclusive decision-making bodies and collect sex- and age-disaggregated data for gender analysis;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Deplores the fact that in certain developing countries, especially in sub- Saharan Africa, measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have severely disrupted health systems, primarily certain essential vaccination programmes, and stresses that those disruptions have a significant impact on women’s health, in particular by increasing maternal mortality because of the greater difficulty in accessing medical care, and especially hospital treatment; notes that according to the World Health Organisation, sub- Saharan Africa already accounted for two thirds of global maternal mortality rates in 2017; stresses that European external aid should aim to meet the real healthcare needs of the populations concerned as closely as possible and not only those needs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the various regions of the world in different ways;
Amendment 238 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. IsNotes with a certain concerned that, since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisissituation, many governments in EU Member States have used the claim of emergency to justify placing restrictions on democratic processes and the civil space and to oppress minoritiepolitical opponents; draws attention to the growing negative impact of COVID-19 on all human rights, democracy and the rule of law and calls, therefore, for the strengthening of aid, political dialogue and support for institution-building in all these fields, with particular attention to human rights defendersfree speech in Europe;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Is concerned that, since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, many governments have used the emergency to justify placing restrictions on democratic processes and the civil space and to oppress minorities; draws attention to the growing negative impact of the health measures implemented to address COVID-19 on all human rights, democracy and the rule of law and calls, therefore, for the strengthening of aid,on economic rights and activities, especially for VSEs/SMEs and self-employed workers, and calls, therefore, for continued political dialogue and support for institution-building in all these fields, with particular attention to human rights defenders;
Amendment 256 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the temporary suspension of debt service payments for the poorest countries announced by the G20 and joins the call on private creditors to follow suit; underlines that the magnitude of the economic and social crisis in the developing world requires more profound and far-reaching measures and encourages the Commission to support international efforts in this regard, in so far as those efforts are undertaken fairly in proportion to the contribution of each state to the indebtedness of developing or least developed countries; considers that interest saved thanks to this suspension should instead be invested in the health sector, which is often severely underfunded in developing countries;
Amendment 258 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Stresses that any renegotiation of debt, especially for sub-Saharan Africa, should involve a fair contribution from China, given that, according to the World Bank, China’s share of the bilateral debt of the world’s poorest nations to the members of the G20 grew from 45% in 2013 to 63% in 2020;
Amendment 261 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Points out that the budgets of many developing countries were already out of balance before the crisis and that too little funding was allocated to crisis prevention, health systems and social protection; calls on the Commission to take new initiatives to tackle the problems of illicit financial flows, tax evasion and tax fraud in order to improve the tax bases of developing countries; calls, furthermore, for budget support to be directed towards basic services and resilience, and draws attention to the fact that the states concerned also have an obligation to counter illicit financial flows, which, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, represent 3.7% of Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP);
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Underlines the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented numbers of pupils missing out on months of schooling, constituting a major set-back to efforts in the education sector especially with regard to girls’ and women’s education, and that this situation is accentuated in certain conflict zones, especially in some countries in the Sahel such as Burkina Faso, where the crisis linked to Islamist terrorism makes it impossible for children living in the areas concerned to go to school; urges governments to use school closures only as a measure of last resort in the fight against the pandemic and against terrorist activities; presses for education to be kept as a spending priority in EU development policy and for due consideration to be given to the social function of schools; urges governments, in this context, to prioritise support for the most marginalised children and their families; recommends that EU countries share their approaches to keeping up teaching even in times of crisis and asks the EU and its Member States to exploit the potential of remote and digital learning in their international support programmes, which naturally involves access by the populations concerned to digital resources and the internet;
Amendment 287 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Underlines the importance of assisting andthe affected nations to exchanging best practice with partner countries in in their region in order to identifying vulnerabilities, building up prevention and crisis response mechanisms as well as protecting critical infrastructure in order better to deal with future systemic shocks of all kinds;
Amendment 288 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Underlines the importance of assisting and exchanging best practice with partner countries in identifying vulnerabilities, building up prevention and crisis response mechanisms as well as protecting critical infrastructure in order better to deal with future systemic shocks of all kinds, and stresses the importance of improving prevention and resilience to recurring crises, such as the crisis caused by the locust invasions in the Horn of Africa, which should have been better anticipated;
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Points out that pandemics are often of zoonotic origin; underlines, therefore, the need to support education programmes regarding the dangers of hunting and trading in wild animals as well as the stricter protection of ecosystems and habitats, and welcomes the programmes already set up to research certain zoonoses, in particular in the forests of Gabon; notes that, according to a 2020 report from the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, 1.7 million viruses exist in the animal kingdom, with between 631 000 and 827 000 of those viruses having the ability to infect humans;
Amendment 305 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Amendment 307 #
17b. Stresses, on this point, the causal link between biodiversity loss, especially through the loss of highly biodiverse areas such as forests, and the proliferation of zoonoses because of more frequent contact between livestock, human beings and certain wild animals as well as possible pathogens, and is concerned about the acceleration of deforestation not only in South America but also in sub-Saharan Africa;
Amendment 309 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Points out that, even in times of crisis, food production and distribution must be an absolute priority; considers that dependence on external sources of food, plants, seeds and fertilisers should be reduced, while local and diversified agricultural production should be increased, and knowledge about new, old and more resilient seeds shared, and emphasises in particular that sub- Saharan Africa should augment its agricultural and food self-sufficiency by prioritising local production, in particular through the use of suitable distribution systems, rather than depending on imports;
Amendment 314 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Stresses in particular that, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), sub-Saharan Africa essentially exports ‘cash crops’ and imports essential agricultural products, emphasises the importance of domestic and regional development, and encourages the Commission, as part of the renegotiation of the Cotonou Agreement, to ensure that the trade agreements concluded with the African states do not have negative consequences for local producers and food security;
Amendment 319 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
Amendment 323 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19