SP(2007)6028

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted, 560 votes in favour to 4 against, with 6 abstentions, a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Raül ROMEVA i RUEDA (Greens/ALE, ES) on the murders of women (feminicides) in Central America and Mexico and the role of the European Union in fighting this phenomenon. The report follows the public hearing on feminicide which was held at the European Parliament in April 2006 and organised jointly by that Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality and its Subcommittee on Human Rights.

The report urged the countries of Central America to take all necessary steps to enable violence against women to be combated effectively. These measures must ensure full respect for human rights, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Declaration of Human Rights and Duties. The governments of Mexico and Central America were urged to adopt the measures needed to achieve the United Nation's MDGs.

The national authorities of these countries are asked to: (i) promote legislative initiatives defining violence within the family and sexual harassment at work and in all areas of public life as specific crimes; (ii) draw up policies and legislation to deal with impunity and promote gender equality; (iii) respect and facilitate the role of the NGOs and civil-society organisations working for the victims of feminicide; (iv) recognise the relatives of the victims and human rights campaigners, by creating effective arrangements for protecting witnesses and promoting reparation mechanisms for the victims' relatives; (v) ensure respect for women's labour rights under national law and at all levels of government. Companies should be encouraged, within the framework of corporate social responsibility, to respect their workers' integrity, safety, physical and mental wellbeing and labour rights.

Acknowledging the legislative advances achieved in Mexico as regards equality between men and women, the report welcomed the federal law on the prevention and elimination of discrimination and urged Mexico to make further progress in this direction.

Parliament called on the Commission, in the context of the agreements in force and those under negotiation, to promote the inclusion of a reciprocal obligation designed to create mechanisms for implementing the human-rights and democracy clause. The Commission was also asked to do the following:

- put forward a methodological proposal concerning ways of coordinating the various EU initiatives designed to combat feminicide and the impunity of the perpetrators. Such initiatives should be regularly put forward and discussed by its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, in conjunction with its Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America and its Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee;

- ensure that the human-rights programmes for Mexico and the countries of Central America are covered by a separate budget heading devoted to bilateral cooperation, in order to prevent the limited financial resources allocated from being affected;

- ensure, together with Member States, that both their political dialogue with the governments of Mexico and the countries of Central America and their dialogue with civil society include the issues of violence against women - in particular feminicide - and access to justice for victims' relatives and support groups;

- pay greater attention to feminicide, violence and discrimination against women in its 2007-2013 Country Strategy Papers and to put forward an action plan;

- make an assessment of the impact on sustainable development to be - as soon as possible and in connection with the negotiations regarding the future EC-Central America Association Agreement - supplemented by an assessment of the impact on equality between the sexes, the findings of which will be taken into account during the negotiations;

- provide information on the progress made on this issue in the context of the negotiations regarding the future EC-Central America Association Agreement, before the negotiations close and in any event before the EU-LAC summit in Lima in May 2008;

Parliament called on Member States to support efforts made as regards non-discrimination between women and men and to contribute to establishing a structured dialogue with a view to exchanging good practices in this field.

Lastly, the report proposed that a joint public hearing be organised by its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, its Subcommittee on Human Rights and the delegations concerned before the 2008 EU-LAC Lima Summit, with a view to evaluating the measures in place, including the experiences of the relevant bodies set up in Mexico in the fight against gender violence in both the EU and Latin America, including the experiences of the relevant bodies set up in Mexico in the fight against gender violence.

T6-0431/2007

Debate in Parliament

A6-0338/2007

A6-0338/2007

The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality adopted the own-initiative report drafted by Raül ROMEVA i RUEDA (Greens/ALE, ES) on the murders of women (feminicides) in Central America and Mexico and the role of the European Union in fighting this phenomenon. The report follows the public hearing on feminicide which was held at the European Parliament in April 2006 and organised jointly by Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality and its Subcommittee on Human Rights.

The report urged the countries of Central America to take all necessary steps to enable violence against women to be combated effectively. These measures must ensure full respect for human rights, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Declaration of Human Rights and Duties.

The national authorities of these countries are asked to: i) promote legislative initiatives defining violence within the family and sexual harassment at work and in all areas of public life as specific crimes; ii) draw up policies and legislation to deal with impunity and promote gender equality; iii) recognise and facilitate the role of the NGOs and civil-society organisations working for the victims of feminicide; iv) recognise the relatives of the victims and human rights campaigners, by creating effective arrangements for protecting witnesses and promoting reparation mechanisms for the victims' relatives; v) ensure respect for women's labour rights under national law and at all levels of government.

Acknowledging the legislative advances achieved in Mexico as regards equality between men and women, the report welcomed the federal law on the prevention and elimination of discrimination and urged Mexico to make further progress in this direction.

Members called upon national governments in the context of their bilateral relations with the countries of Latin America and upon the European institutions in the context of the strategic partnership: i) to support (by means of cooperation programmes and financial and technical resources) prevention and protection policies relating to violence against women, such as creating or reinforcing awareness-raising and training programmes on gender issues; ii) to increase the budget for the bodies responsible for investigating the killings; iii) to create effective protection arrangements for witnesses, victims and their relatives; iv) to develop the capacity of the courts, security corps and public prosecutor's offices in order to facilitate the prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators and to combat drug trafficking and organised crime. Members also called for the promotion of closer coordination in these areas amongst all levels of government, and on the European institutions to work for cooperation and dialogue between the EU, its Member States and the countries of Central America and Mexico.

The European Commission, for its part, was asked in the context of the agreements in force and those under negotiation, to promote the inclusion of a reciprocal obligation designed to create mechanisms for implementing the human-rights and democracy clause, with particular reference to respect for women's rights and gender equality.

The Committee also called on the Commission to provide information on the progress made on this issue in the context of the negotiations on the EC-Central America Association Agreement. The EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Parliament's Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America were asked to integrate systematically the issue of ‘gender violence, feminicide and impunity in Mexico, Central America and Europe' in the programmes for their respective parliamentary missions.

Lastly, the report proposed that a joint hearing be organised by its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, its Subcommittee on Human Rights and the delegations concerned before the 2008 EU-LAC Lima Summit, with a view to evaluating the measures in place, including the experiences of the relevant bodies set up in Mexico in the fight against gender violence in both the European Union and Latin America.

PE392.138

PE388.414