24 Amendments of Marie-Christine VERGIAT related to 2017/2275(INI)
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas various international charters and laws prohibit the marriage of minors; whereas early and forced marriage has a very negative impact on the personal development of the individuals concerned and on the children resulting from the marriage; whereas according to the resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council on 22 June 2017 child and forced marriage is a harmful practice which violates, abuses and impairs human rights and is linked to and perpetuates other harmful practices, including female genital mutilation, and human rights violations, whereas child marriage is also a violation of the rights of children;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. Whereas child and forced marriage is, in particular, a serious violation of women’s rights – including the rights to equality, access to education and freedom from exploitation and discrimination – which may have a significant impact on women’s physical and mental health; whereas child, early and forced marriage undermines the autonomy and the capacity of women and girls to take decisions in all aspects of their lives and continues to hamper the economic, legal, health and social situation of women and girls and the development of society as a whole; whereas the empowerment of women and girls requires their meaningful participation in all decisions that affect them and whereas the full, effective and equal participation of women at all levels of decision-making is a key factor for ending the cycle of gender inequality and discrimination, violence and poverty, and is essential to, inter alia, sustainable development, peace, security, democracy and inclusive economic growth;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. Whereas child marriage is a global problem which cuts across countries, cultures and religions; whereas child brides can be found in all regions of the world, from the Middle East to Latin America, from Asia to Europe and from Africa to North America; whereas child marriage also affects boys but to a much lesser extent than girls;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas, to date, more than 700 million girlswomen have married before the age of 18, of whom 250 million were married before the age of 15; whereas there are currently around 40 million girls between 15 and 19 who are married or living in union; whereas every year some 15 million more get married before the age of 18, of whom 4 million get married before the age of 15; whereas early and forced marriages are more frequent in poor, under-developed regions; whereas the number of early and forced marriages is increasing as the global population grows, according to a recent UNICEF report which estimates that in 2050 around 1.2 billion girls will have married before the age of 18;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. Whereas child marriage, in general, is the result of a combination of poverty, lack of education, gender inequality, the perception that marriage will provide ‘protection’, family honour and the lack of effective protection of the rights of boys and girls; whereas these factors are often exacerbated by limited access to quality education and job opportunities, and are reinforced by some entrenched social standards;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas child, early and forced marriages are linked to high rates of maternal mortality, lower use of family planning and unwanted pregnancies, and usually signal the end of a girl’s education; whereas according to UNICEF some of the harmful consequences of child marriage are: separation from family and friends, lack of freedom to interact with peers and participate in community activities, decreased opportunities for receiving education, sexual abuse, serious health risks such as premature pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and, increasingly, HIV/AIDS; whereas child marriage can also lead to forced labour, slavery, and prostitution;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas early and forced marriages very often deprive the persons concerned of the possibility to continue their studies; whereas education is an effective way of preventing early and forced marriage, allowing girls to free themselves from any form of control adversely affecting their rights; whereas there are 263 million children who are not in the education system; whereas child, early and forced marriage disproportionately affects girls with little or no formal education and in itself constitutes a major obstacle to educational opportunities for girls and young women, in particular girls who are forced to leave school because of marriage, pregnancy, maternity or care responsibilities for children, and whereas educational opportunities are directly related to the empowerment, employment and economic opportunities of women and girls and their active participation in economic, social and cultural development, governance and decision- making;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. Whereas every year, 17 million children have a child which forces them to take on adult responsibilities and endangers their health, education and economic prospects; whereas child- mothers are exposed to considerable risks and difficulties during pregnancy and childbirth, particularly owing to highly inadequate or non-existent medical support, frequently resulting in maternal mortality; whereas there is an increased risk of contracting viral infections such as HIV; whereas early child-bearing, where a girl’s body is insufficiently prepared, is usually beset with complications that constitute the second-most common cause of death among adolescent girls between 15 and 19 years of age and whereas girls in this age group are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than those who are older than 20 years;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. Whereas the rate of mortality of babies born to adolescent mothers is around 50 % higher; whereas the risk of a child born to an adolescent mother dying in their first year of life is 60 % higher than for a child born to a mother aged over 19; whereas even if the child survives, it will have a higher risk of suffering malnutrition, low birth weight or physical and cognitive development problems;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas child marriages are a violation of the rights of the child and a form of violence against girls in particular, and whereas, as such, they must be condemned; whereas early and forced marriages are often associated with domestic violence and sexual abuse;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the number of early and forced marriages increases significantly in situations of armed conflict and humanitarian disaster, which leave little scope for medical and psychological care; whereas during the recent migration crises, many parents, seeking to protect their daughters from sexual aggression, chose to have them marry before the age of 18in such situations the risk of child and forced marriage increases owing to various factors such as: insecurity, gender inequality, an increased risk of sexual violence, the collapse of the rule of law and state authority, the erroneous impression that marriage provides protection, the use of forced marriage as a tactic in conflict situations, a lack of access to education, the stigma of pregnancy outside of marriage, a lack of family planning services, the disruption of social networks and routines, the increase in poverty and a lack of livelihood opportunities;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. Whereas forced marriage is one of the most common causes of persecution on the grounds of gender as claimed by a significant number of women seeking asylum; whereas there are still a number of hurdles to recognising forced marriage as a reason for granting international protection despite it being a form of gender-based persecution and constituting a serious and systematic violation of fundamental rights, entailing inhuman and degrading treatment which may amount to torture;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on legislators, both in the EU and in third countries, to set the minimum age for marriage at 18 years and to provide themselves with the administrative, legal and financial means to be able to comply with this requirement; points out that they could, for example, promote the registration of marriages and births as a way of implementing those laws;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes it is important to tackle the multiple causes of early and forced marriage, including age-old traditions having little regard for gender equality and women’s affairs, the lack of educational opportunities and, very often, the endemic poverty in the communities concerned;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls, therefore, on all Member States to be consistent and to include a ban on early and forced marriage in their legislation; with that in mind, urges the Member States to provide refugee and displaced children with specialist child protection services that take account of the particular vulnerabilities and specific protection requirements that children have, especially children who have been forced to flee violence and persecution, unaccompanied children or those who have been separated from their families, and further urges the Member States to include protection and response measures to combat child, early and forced marriages;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recommends that Member States align their legislation on the treatment of immigrants who married before the age of 18 and not recognise early and forced marriages, while extending humanitarian treatment to those who married before the age of 18, and guaranteeing protection in cases in which the women or girls involved demand the dissolution of the forced marriage;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 – point a
Paragraph 8 – point a
a. all its partner countries prohibit early and forced marriage, including the removal of any provisions that could allow, justify or give rise to child, early or forced marriages, including those that enable the perpetrators of rape, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, abduction, people trafficking or modern forms of slavery to escape prosecution and punishment if they marry their victims, specifically by repealing or amending those laws;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 – point d
Paragraph 8 – point d
d. the level of public development aid is made dependent on the recipient country’s commitment to complying, in particular, with the requirements in the fight against early and forced marriage;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 – point e
Paragraph 8 – point e
e. the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) programme is implemented in triangular cooperation involving these organisations, the European Union and the developing countries in combating early and forced marriage, prioritising programmes and methods likely to go beyond so-called cultural, religious or tribal practices that, in reality, constitute the worst violations of the rights of children and the dignity of girls;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 – point f a (new)
Paragraph 8 – point f a (new)
fa. women have access to family planning and the full range of public and universal sexual and reproductive health and rights, including modern contraception and safe and legal abortion, in order to reduce maternal and infant mortality; underscores the fact that universal access to health, in particular sexual and reproductive health and the associated rights, is a fundamental human right;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Recommends that the EU, via its cooperation policies, should promote and protect equal rights for women and girls when it comes to access to education, placing a special emphasis on free, high- quality primary and secondary education, including the provision of catch-up and literacy programmes for those who have not received any formal education or who have dropped out of school early owing to marriage or motherhood;
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the European Union to ensure that training is provided to law enforcement agenciepublic officials so that they are better able to uphold the rights of girls exposed to forced and early marriage, domestic violence, the risk of rape and any other practice which undermines human dignity;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Recommends that the EU, via its cooperation policies, should promote access to guidance services on abuse, reproductive health and protection against HIV; recommends, furthermore, that the EU should also promote support centres to ensure that those escaping early marriage or fleeing parents who force them to marry against their will have access to education, psychological and social support, housing and other high- quality social services, as well as mental, sexual and reproductive health services and healthcare;
Amendment 230 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. Reminds the EU of its commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment through EU external relations 2016-2020; asks the Commission to ensure that European development cooperation follows an approach that is based on human rights, with a particular emphasis on gender equality and combating all forms of sexual violence against women and girls; calls on EU Member States and EU institutions to increase their support to local human rights defenders and NGOs campaigning for the rights of women and girls;