In a resolution adopted on Thursday 24 June (444 votes in favour, 182 against, 57 abstentions), the European Parliament calls for the implementation of the commitments made in 2019 at the Nairobi Summit which marked the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) (Nairobi, 1994) which for the first time recognised sexual and reproductive rights as human rights.
Parliament welcomes and supports the declaration issued at the end of the Nairobi ICPD25 Summit entitled “Accelerating the promises” and its call for intensified efforts towards the full, effective and accelerated implementation and financing of the ICPD Programme of Action and its goal of achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights as part of universal health coverage.
It reaffirms that a human-centred and rights-based approach must be at the heart of any population policy and social, education and health systems that aim to enable women to define their own role in society and respect their dignity and human rights.
The EU and its Member States are called upon to recognise the rights of women and girls to bodily integrity and autonomous decision-making. Parliament condemns the frequent violations of women’s reproductive and sexual rights, including the denial of access to comprehensive sex education, family planning services, contraceptives and maternal health care, as well as safe and legal abortion.
Once again, Parliament calls on the EU, all its Member States and the Council of Europe member countries that have not yet done so to ratify and implement the Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence as soon as possible.
An alternative resolution by the ID group was rejected. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)