In a speech at the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday 1 March, Council of Europe human rights commissioner Nils Muižnieks spoke about women’s rights and gender equality, a subject to which he had paid ‘particular attention’ during his six years of office, he explained in a speech scheduled a few days ahead of international Women’s Day (8 March).
There has been progress in this regard in the 47 Council of Europe member nations, including the 28 EU member states, but unfortunately there have also been backward moves, he said. In terms of positive changes, there are voting rights, provision of contraception, the creation of organisations working on gender equality in a number of member states, but on other issues, society has not advanced or has even moved backwards.
The Commissioner noted a degree of complacency, even in EU member states, none of which has completely introduced equality between men and women, as shown by the 'Gender Equality Index' published by the European Institute for Male/Female Equality based on data relating to work, money, knowledge, power, time and health.
Nils Muiznieks said this discrimination is stronger against women from immigrant or minority backgrounds, particularly those wearing the veil. He regretted the under representation of women among the business world’s leaders and politicians.
Full equality would require a change of culture, which can only come about with a raft of measures, he said, welcoming, in this regard, the EU's work-life balance directive unveiled by the European Commission in parallel with the European social rights package in April 2017.
Another positive point was the European Union’s signing in June 2017 of the Council of Europe’s convention against violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention. At present, it has been individually signed by 11 EU member states, while 17 have signed and ratified it.
Nils Muižnieks says that in a number of countries, there is deep resistance to change because of the risks it might bring to the traditional family. He responds to this that it is violence that endangers families, not the fight against gender stereotypes.
He therefore called on each MEP present in the hemicycle to fight in his or her own country against fake ideas about the convention in order to overcome unjustified resistance.
At the end of his speech, the Commissioner talked about sexual and reproductive rights, an area where progress has been blocked because a number of member states are putting up barriers to women such as requiring authorisation from a third party, refusal to reimburse fees, extremely restrictive rules and regulations and the like, not to mention the fact that some healthcare professionals refuse to carry out abortions on the grounds of their religious faith and governments refuse to introduce legislation to ensure the provision of healthcare.
Nils Muižnieks recommends that each member states aligns itself with international standards and calls for rapid ratification of the Istanbul Convention by the European Union, for which Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Parliament, promised Parliament’s backing.
The Istanbul Convention came into force in 2014, and has been signed and ratified by the following EU member states: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden. It has been signed but not ratified by Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)