Activities of Anna ZÁBORSKÁ related to 2012/2273(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on Gendercide: the missing women? PDF (214 KB) DOC (135 KB)
Amendments (34)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Heading 1
Heading 1
on Gendercide: t‘The missing women?: putting an end to prenatal sex selection’
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16
Citation 16
– having regard to the common declaration by EU ministers for gender equality of 4 February 2005, in the context of the 10- year review of the Beijing Platform for Action, reaffirming, inter alia, strong support and commitment to the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the reservations expressed by the States parties,
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 22 a (new)
Citation 22 a (new)
- having regard to the European Court of Justice judgment C-34/10 confirming that any human ovum after fertilization constitutes a human embryo, and that an human embryo constitutes a precise stadium in the development of the human body;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 23 a (new)
Citation 23 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 5 July 2012 on the forced abortion scandal in China1 __________________ 1 Text adopted T7-0301/2012
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the term ‘gendercide’ is not defined in law and is difficult to translate into all the official EU languages;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas the term ‘gendercide’ is used to refer to cases in which a foetus is aborted once its gender has been established;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas the purpose of this report is to study the impact of systematic, deliberate and gender-selective mass killings of persons (either male or female) on the demographic balance between men and women;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas, despite recent legislation against sex-selective practices, girls are to a disproportionate degree the target of ruthless sexual discrimination, often extended to include the unborn, predetermined baby girl foetus, which is aborted, abandoned or killed, for no other reason than the fact that it is femalea girl;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas it has been estimated that, as early as 1990,more than 100 million women were demographically ‘missing’ from the world's population due to gendercidesex selection ; whereas according to recent estimates this number has increased to almost 200 million women ‘missing’ from the world's population9 ;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas gendercide isthe practices of prenatal determination and of selection based on the biological sex of a foetus (male or female) are a global issue of concern not only in Asia and Europe but also in North America, Africa and Latin America; whereas gendercide isprenatal determination and selection are committed everywhere pregnant women, on purpose or under pressure, decide not to give birth to girl foetuses because they are considered a burden to the society;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas gendercide is a global issue of concern not only in Asia and Europe but also in North America, Africa and Latin America; whereas gendercidesex selection is committed everywhere pregnant women, on purpose or under pressure, decide not to give birth to a girl foetuses because theygirls are considered a burden to the society;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the practices of gendercide isprenatal determination and sex selection are most often found deeply rooted in cultures exhibiting ‘son preference’, gender inequality, persisting discrimination and stereotypes against daughters;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas lethal prenatal sex-selective practices also impose a financial burden on society in the form of the cost of treating complications following sex-selective abortions;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas advocacy, policy measures and good practices such as the ‘Care for Girls’ and ‘Women's Rights Without Frontiers’ campaigns in China, aiming at raising awareness of the value of girls, and the ‘Balika Samriddhi Yojana’ scheme in India, providing monetary incentives for educating girls from poor families, are essential to change behavioural attitudes towards girls and women;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. States that every child, regardless of sex, has the right to appropriate legal protection before as well after birth1, survival and development, and reaffirms that girl children have equal status under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; __________________ 1 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, Adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 1386 (XIV) of 10 December 1959
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that gendercidelethal practices based on prenatal determination and sex selection remains a crime and a severe violation of human rights that necessitates effective ways to address and uproot all its fundamental causes leading to ‘son preference’ cultures;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines that any family or societal pressure on women to pursue sex-selective abortion is considered a form of physical and psychological violence according to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, and to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to support and encourage all types of initiatives to increase awareness on gendercidelethal sex-selective practices, and to find effective ways to combat ithem, by offering guidance, assistance, appropriate policies and funding, as part of its external relations, humanitarian aid and gender mainstreamingacknowledgement of the specific needs of men and women;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on governments to eliminate democratic and legislative deficits, combat persisting obstacles discriminating against the born or unborn girl child, ensure inheritance rights for women, enforce national legislation that guarantees women equality with men before the law in all sectors of life, and provide economic, educational and political empowerment to girls and women;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Supports relevant reforms, continued monitoring and implementation of gender equality andpublic policies on equal opportunities for women and men, and the non-discrimination legislation, particularly in developing countries;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission to work intensively to prevent gender-biased sex selectionsex selection on the basis of social and cultural prejudices, not by imposing restrictions on access to reproductiveprenatal and maternal health services and technology but by promoting responsible use of it, to introduce and strengthen guidelines, to provide specialised training for medical staff to advise on and prevent sex selective practices, with the rare exception of justified cases for sex-linked genetic diseases, and to prevent the use and promotion of technologies for sex- selection and/or for profit purposes including in the context of surrogacy and medically-assisted procreation;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Encourages closer engagement and cooperation between governments and the medical community, in order to actively prevent sex selection as a business for financial gain, including in the context of medically-assisted procreation and surrogacy;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls, therefore, on the Commission to promote an educational and social environment in which both sexes are respected and treated equally, without stereotypes and discrimination, reinforcing gender mainstreamingand in which greater account is taken of the gender-specific dimension and the specific needs of both sexes, equal opportunities for men and women, and equal partnership;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Recalls the MDGs and stresses that access to education and healthcare are basic human rights; stresses the need for making special and specific reference to gendercidelethal practices based on prenatal determination and sex- selection issues in dialogues and reports on the MDGs and in other experience-sharing international fora;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls on governments to improve women’s access to health care, in particular prenatal and maternal care, education, agriculture, credit and microloans, economic opportunities and property;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19 a. Urges the competent authorities to analyse the social and national security costs of sex selection, i.e. higher suicide rate and post abortion syndrome (PAS) amongst women, bride trafficking, kidnapping and forced marriage of women as a competition over scarce women, poor men being forced into a long or permanent bachelorhood, and demographic imbalance;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Calls on the Commission and all relevant stakeholders to take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that practicing forced abortions and sex- selective surgery to terminate pregnancy without prior and informed consent or understanding of the procedure by the women involved is criminalised;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Calls on governments and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that legislation on sex selection is implemented effectively and that appropriatein view to overcome those practices, and that heavy sanctions are imposed on those breaking the law;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Commission to enhance cooperation with other international organisations and bodies such as the UN, WHO, UNICEF, OHCHR, UNFPA and UN Women to tackle sex-selective practices and to combat their root causes in all countries, and to network with governments, parliaments, various stakeholders, media, non-governmental organisations, women organisations and other community bodies in order to increase awareness of gendercidethe serious consequences of lethal sex-selective practices and ways to prevent ithem;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Calls on the Commission and the EU delegations to include gendercideefforts to combat lethal sex-selective practices in the extended political dialogue agenda with relevant third countries, enjoining them to commit themselves to make the eradication of gendercidethese practices a priority, to increase awareness about this issue and to press for its prevention;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Calls on the European Union to include gendercidesex-selective practices as a key issue in the post-2015 development policy agenda;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27 a. upholds the human right to conscientious objection as outlined in Art 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Art 10 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and highlights that no person, hospital or institution shall be coerced, held liable or discriminated against in any manner because of a refusal to perform, accommodate, assist or submit practices of lethal prenatal sex selection, the performance of a human miscarriage or any act which could cause the death of a human foetus or embryo because of its sex; affirms the right of conscientious objection together with the responsibility of the state to ensure that patients are able to access lawful medical care in a timely manner in particular in cases of emergency prenatal and maternal health care;