Activities of Cindy FRANSSEN related to 2021/2035(INL)
Plenary speeches (1)
Identifying gender-based violence as a new area of crime listed in Article 83(1) TFEU (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT with recommendations to the Commission on identifying gender-based violence as a new area of crime listed in Article 83(1) TFEU
Amendments (42)
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14 a (new)
Citation 14 a (new)
– having regard to the Commission’s Communication "Gender Equality Strategy (2020-2025)", published on 5 March 2020,
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 14 d (new)
Citation 14 d (new)
– having regard to the Commission’s Communication: "EU Strategy on the rights of the child (2020-2025)", published on 24 March 2021,
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 a (new)
Citation 15 a (new)
– having regard to the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025 of 12 November 2020,
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 b (new)
Citation 15 b (new)
– having regard to the EU Strategy on victims’ rights (2020-2025),
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 c (new)
Citation 15 c (new)
– having regard to the UN brief ‘COVID-19 and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls’, 20201a _________________ 1a https://www.unwomen.org/- /media/headquarters/attachments/sections /library/publications/2020/issue-brief- covid-19-and-ending-violence-against- women-and-girls-en.pdf?la=en&vs=5006
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 d (new)
Citation 15 d (new)
– having regard to the legal opinion of the advocate general of the European Court of Justice on the Istanbul Convention, aimed at clarifying the legal uncertainty about if and how the EU can access and ratify the Convention, delivered on March 11, 20211a, _________________ 1a https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/do cument.jsf?docid=238745&doclang=en
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas gender-based violence is violence directed against women because they are women andor it affects women disproportionately; whereas LGBTI persons are also victims of gender-based violence because of their gender, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics; whereas gender-based violence is rooted in gender stereotypes, patriarchal structures and power asymmetriremains one of our societies’ biggest challenges and is deeply rooted in gender inequality and gender stereotypes;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the European Institute for Gender Equality defines femicide as the killing of women and girls because of their gender; whereas it can take different forms such as the murder of women as a result of intimate partner violence, killing of women and girls because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, as well as female and intersex genital mutilations and so called "honour killings";
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas there is a lack of updated, comprehensive and comparable disaggregated data on all forms of gender- based violence across the Member States;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the ‘Istanbul Convention’) has been signed by all Member States and ratified by 21; whereas disinformation campaigns to undermine gender equality also block progress on the issue of eliminating violence against women, as has been seen in relation to the Istanbul Convention, leading to public opposition and regrettable political decisions in some Member States;
Amendment 123 #
Fc. whereas a possible addition of gender-based violence to article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) requires to establish that it is a particularly serious crime with a cross-border dimension resulting from the nature of the offence, the impact of the offence, or a special need to combat the offence on a common basis;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F d (new)
Recital F d (new)
Fd. whereas gender-based violence is a huge and structural problem in our society, affecting a significant part of the European population, with EU surveys showing that one in three women has experienced sexual and/or physical violence during her life, and one in two women (55%) has experienced sexual harassment1a; _________________ 1aEuropean Union Agency for Fundamental Rights entitled ‘Violence against women: an EU-wide survey’, published in 2014
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F e (new)
Recital F e (new)
Fe. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in domestic violence across Member States, with women and girls, children and LGBTI+ persons shown to be disproportionately impacted by this form of violence, as they can be exposed to abusers for long periods of time and can be cut off from social and institutional support; whereas community support for these vulnerable groups has been dramatically restricted given the measures taken in response to the pandemic;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Condemns all forms of violence against women and girls and other forms of gender-based violence, such as violence against LGBTI persons, and deplores the fact that women and girls continue to be exposed to psychological, physical, sexual and economic violence, including sexual exploitation and trafficking in human beings, both online and offline online and offline, which is considered to refer to different acts of violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering and which common feature is that they are directed against a person because of that person’s gender or that affects them disproportionately;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recalls that “violence against women” is understood as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Recalls that “domestic violence” shall mean all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim; emphasises that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the volume of gender-based violence experienced by women and girls across the EU, particularly in the form of domestic violence, resulting in an overwhelming need for support services for these victims;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Reminds that according to Article 3(3), second subparagraph, TEU, “the EU shall combat social exclusion and discrimination, and shall promote social justice and protection, equality between women and men, solidarity between generations and protection of the rights of the child”; and that pursuant to Article 5(2)TEU, “under the principle of conferral, the Union shall act only within the limits of the competences conferred upon it by the Member States in the Treaties to attain the objectives set out therein. Competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with the Member States”;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Denounces femicide as the morest extreme form of gender-based violence against women and girls and a very severe violation of human rights;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that violence against women and other forms of gender-based violence are the result of the unequal distribution of power, patriarchal structures, and gender stereotypes, that have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men; underlindeeply rooted in structural inequalities in our society and are still shrouded in silence and continue to be one of the most severe violations of human rights; gender-based violence remains widespread and it has a huge impact on victims, their families, and communities; that thise situation is aggravated by social and economic inequalitiefurther exacerbated by gender biases, stereotypes and the continuous manifestation of historically unequal power relations;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines the wide range of psychological impacts that gender-based violence has on victims, including stress, concentration problems, anxiety, panic attacks, low self-esteem, depression, post- traumatic stress disorder, lack of trust and of sense of control; recalls that gender- based violence also has a social and economic impact; underlines that the mental health impacts can include severe social consequences for the victims regarding, among others, their participation in the society, resulting in their inability to engage as a productive member of a society or fully exercise their rights as EU citizens, and highlights that provision of mental health services for victims of those crimes is often provided as well by NGOs and civil society actors;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Highlights the detrimental economic impacts that gender-based violence and the subsequent mental health issues it causes, can have on victims, including their ability to seek employment and the financial burden imposed on them by taking legal action; taking into account therefore the estimated annual societal costs of gender- based violence (290 billion) exceeding the estimated annual costs of particularly serious crimes listed under art 83(1)1a; _________________ 1aEPRS interim European Added Values Assessment (EAVA) on gender-based violence, p.35
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Denounces the fact that the combat against gender-based violence is negatively affected by the attack on women’s rights and gender equality; condemns the actions of anti-gender and anti-women movements in Europe and worldwide that aim to overturn existing laws on women’s rights and LGBTI+ rightsFirmly believes that the EU must make combating gender-based violence in all its forms a policy priority; denounces all movements that undermine this goal;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Insists on actions to prevent gender- based violence by addressing the underlying causes, including counteracting sexism, gender stereotypes and patriarchal values of gender inequality; underlines the need for gender equality to have a central place in education which challenges gender stereotypes and supports the development of non-violent relationships, and the need for an EU-wide awareness-raising campaigns on gender stereotypes, which includes information targeted at educating our younger citizens about gender equality;
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve the regular availability and comparability of quality, disaggregated data on all forms of gender- based violence at EU and national level and for the harmonisation of data collection systems among Member States, through cooperation with Eurostat, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and the European Institute for Gender Equality; believes that quality data will be essential for clear and measurable targets in the elimination of gender-based violence;
Amendment 238 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Highlights the need for targeted policies to address the situation of survivorsvictims of gender-based violence who experience intersectional forms of discrimination, such as women refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, indigenous women, racialised women, women from religious and ethnic minorities, lesbian, bisexual and trans women, elderly women and women wibased on several personal characteristics such as race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, state of health, disabilitiey, marital status, migrant or refugee status, or other status;
Amendment 245 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Regrets that cyber violence disproportionally affects women and girls, including online harassment, cyberbullying and sexist hate speech (the cost of cyber harassment and cyber stalking is estimated between €49.0 and €89.3 billion1a) and is becoming increasingly common; deplores that gender-based cyberviolence reduces the participation of women from public debate which, as consequence, degrades our democratic principles; regrets that this ‘silencing effect’ has been particularly aimed at targeting women politicians, journalists and activists, with the intention of discouraging the presence of women in the political life and decision-making spheres; _________________ 1a https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/ etudes/STUD/2021/662621/EPRS_STU(2 021)662621_EN.pdf
Amendment 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Is deeply worried about the nature, extent and gravity of gender-based violence and harassment in the workplaces; welcomes in this regard the recently adopted ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work and calls on the Member States to ratify and implement it without delay; calls also on the Commission and the Member States to adequately complete the existing framework for effective measures to prohibit violence and harassment in the workplace, as well as preventive measures, effective access to gender- responsive, safe and effective complaint and dispute resolution mechanisms, training and awareness-raising campaigns, psychological support services and remedies;
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Recalls that violationEncourages the Commission to promote regular exchanges of good practices between member states and stakeholders ofn sexual and reproductive rights are a form of violence against women and girlshealth rights, within its proposals for additional measures to prevent and combat forms of gender-based violence;
Amendment 274 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Notes that the Commission must address the particular situation of migrant women’s protection againstmigrant women are particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence, and; recalls that under Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council6 access toall victims of gender- based violence deserve to receive appropriate protecinformation, support services and effective remedies must be available to all victims of gender-based violence, independent ofand protection and are able to participate in criminal proceedings, and that all rights must apply in a non-discriminatory manner, including with respect to their residence status5a; _________________ 65aas set out in Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA (OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, p. 57).
Amendment 287 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on Member States to take all necessary measures to promote and ensure the protection of women and girls in all their diversity and all survivorvictims of gender- based violence against all forms of violence;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Underlines the obligation on Member States to ensure that there is support and services for survivorvictims of gender- based violence; recalls the importance, in that context, of support to independent civil society and women’s shelter organisations in particular with regards to the provision of essential psychological and legal consultation supports;
Amendment 304 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the Member States to step up their work in order to ensure that victims have access to justice, including restorative justice, and to guarantee that the rights of the victim are placed at the centre in order to avoid discrimination, traumatisation or revictimisation during judicial, medical and police proceedings; underlines with concern that most Member States still have issues with complete/correct transposition and/or practical application of the Victim’s Rights Directive, as reflected in the Commission’s Strategy on victim’s rights, and calls on their due diligence for its complete and correct transposition;
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Member States to improve the resources and training of practitioners, law enforcement officers and all professionals dealing with victims of gender-based violence; calls on Members States to ensure that victims have the right to state-funded legal aid before and during legal proceedings;
Amendment 322 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses that gender-based violence is a particularly serious crime and a widespread violation of fundamental rights in the Union which needs to be addressed with greater efficiency and determination on a common basis; stresses that gender-based violence is the result of a patriarchal society that has a cross-border dimension; points, in particular, at the growing anti- gender and anti-women movements, which are well organised and have a cross-border naturewith profound impact on individual fundamental rights and freedoms as well as on the population which needs to be addressed with greater efficiency and determination; stresses the cross-border dimension of gender-based violence, directly stemming from the impact of this offence across the Member States, as well as from the need of a common action at EU level; considers that the great individual, economic and societal impacts across all Member States, taking into account the estimation of the societal cost of 290 billion euros of gender-based violence, reaffirms the need to combat gender-based violence in its multiple dimensions on a common EU basis;
Amendment 336 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Strongly advocates for all EU Member States and for the EU to ratify the Istanbul Convention; regrets that six Member States have yet to do so; emphasises that both an EU-wide accession to this Convention together with the parallel recognition of gender-based violence under the TFEU are needed in order to adequately address the problem;
Amendment 347 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses that the special need to combat violence against women and girls and other forms of gender-based violence on a common basis also results from the need to establish minimum rules concerning the definition of criminal offences and sanctions, thus contributing to law enforcement in cross border operations;
Amendment 348 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses that the special need to combat violence against women and girls in all their diversity and other forms of gender-based violence on a common basis also results from the need to establish minimum rules concerning the definition of criminal offences and sanctions;
Amendment 364 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to propose a directive on gender-based violence that implements the standards of the Istanbul Convention and includes the following elements: prevention, including through gender-sensitive education programming directed at both girls and boys, and empowerment of women and girls; support services and protection measures for survivorvictims; combating all forms of gender-based violence, including violations of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights; and minimum standards for law enforcement; and minimum standards for law enforcement, cooperation among Member States and the exchange of best practices, information and expertise; stresses that this new directive shall be complementary to existing and upcoming legislative and non-legislative measures in order to achieve a coherent EU action in gender equality, as well as an eventual ratification of the Istanbul Convention; believes that the implementation of these measures could be facilitated by the national equality bodies;
Amendment 373 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
Amendment 387 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Recital 5
Annex I – Recital 5
(5) Gender-based violence is violence directed against women because they are women and it affects women disproportionately. LGBTI persons are also victims of gender-based violence because of their gender, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. Gender- based violence is rooted in gender stereotypes, patriarchal structures and power asymmetries stereotypes are a root cause of gender inequality and affect all areas of society.
Amendment 390 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – Recital 7
Annex I – Recital 7
(7) Gender-based violence constitutes a violation of fundamental rights such as the right to security and the rights to life and to physical integrity, human dignity, prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, prohibition of slavery and forced labour, respect for private and family life enshrined in Articles 61, 2 and 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of the Charter, respectively.