Brussels, 19/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Sounding the alert on worsening conditions for women in the southern countries of the Mediterranean, women's rights activists called on the European Union, on 18 September, to change its message to these countries. Stating that there have not yet been any results, the leader of the Lebanese Women's Council, Jamal Hermes Ghibril, called on the EU to re-think everything it has done before. “If it takes the same paths and the same ways then we will reach the same point. Things must be re-considered. Major changes must be made at the level of political, economic and social cooperation”, she said, on 18 September, on the sidelines of a conference at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on the economic and social situation of women in the Euro-Mediterranean region. She therefore called for a “different” message from the EU.
“We are waiting for strong and concrete support from the EU through, for example, the implementation of conditions for subsidies and partnerships. Let human rights be written into the constitutions. Let women's rights and international conventions have a higher value at the level of the countries' legislations”, added the leader of the Association of Tunisian Women for Development Research, Salwa Kennou Sebei. The founder of Mediterranean Women's Forum, Esther Fouchier, also called for a conditionality clause in bilateral agreements.
Nevertheless, this conditionality certainly already exists, and the European neighbourhood policy underlines the more-for-more principle. Yet the activists believed that this is not working. “We don't believe that the more-for-more is working. Financial control on the money given is also needed”, said Fouchier. She wants an assessment of what improvements the money has brought about - a significant assessment in terms of transparency and traceability. EESC member and rapporteur on the economic and social situation of women in the Euromed region, An Le Nouail, stated that the EESC has called for a check on the traceability of funds that the EU allocates, believing that the funds do not achieve their objectives and highlighting misappropriation of the funds. “One of the solutions is better cooperation with civil society (…). Let it not be bilateral governmental partnership that is the chosen route but partnership with civil society”, she said. “Civil society needs to be on the centre-stage”, said her colleague, Grace Attard.
And it is urgent that action be taken because the situation of women is deteriorating. “Women's rights are in danger. They are going backwards”, said Fouchier. “We have returned to base after the Arab Spring. Things are getting worse”, said Hermes Ghibril. “We are at zero. We are going backwards. We are facing great danger, with the loss of women's rights. The socio-economic policy of our governments is not marked by positive results but by failure”, Kennou Sebei went on (our translation throughout). (CG/transl.fl)