01/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - At the EU Council which took stock of action in favour of the victims of the tsunami in Asia (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.12), the European Women's Lobby calls on the EU to recognise the role of women in “disaster management, relief and reconstruction”. EWL President Kirsti Kolthoff states in a press release that the EU must ensure resources and expertise are allocated to strengthen women's networks, which should take part in the planning and implementation of aid. Women should be responsible for food distribution, the Lobby states, also insisting on the need to foresee: - special facilities in temporary refuge shelters for unaccompanied women; - steps to ensure that women and girls do not need to venture out unprotected to gather food or water; - and immediate treatment and care for the victims of sexual and other forms of violence (with arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of violent attacks against women and children).