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Human rights and democracy in the world: Assessing EU action in 2023
The latest annual report from the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on EU external action to promote human rights and democracy covers 2023. It highlights a worsening environment marked by multiple crises and conflicts, growing social inequalities, and increasing pressure on multilateral governance and rules-based international cooperation. During its April plenary session, the European Ϸվ is due to vote on its own yearly resolution on human rights and democracy ...
Women in foreign affairs and international security: An increasingly salient debate
In a context of international turbulence, rising armed conflict and other evolving threats, the debate on the participation and role of women in foreign affairs and international security is a timely and relevant one. In particular, growing attention is being paid to imbalances in the representation of women in leadership and other key positions in the area of foreign and security policy, and to the growing body of evidence regarding the positive effect of including women and a gender perspective ...
Zero tolerance for female genital mutilation
As part of broader efforts to combat all forms of violence against women and girls, the European Union (EU) is committed to working collectively to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM) and to supporting its Member States' efforts in this field. The European Commission assesses EU measures to combat FGM every year, on or around 6 February – the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. This publication is a further update of an 'at a glance' note originally published ...
Gender-responsive budgeting: State of play and opportunities for the European Ϸվ's 10th term
Gender-responsive budgeting is a practical tool that can be applied systematically throughout the budgetary cycle to ensure that resources are distributed equitably and that spending supports gender equality. As well as helping to ensure that budgets deliver maximum value for citizens, gender-responsive budgeting supports other policy objectives connected with efficiency, transparency and accountability. Under the Treaties, the EU has an obligation to promote gender equality and a firm basis to use ...
Outcome of the Summit of the Future: Transforming global governance to build peace, promote human rights and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
On 22-23 September 2024, world leaders, including Ϸվ's President Roberta Metsola, convened at the United Nations for a 'Summit of the Future'. The UN Secretary-General presented the summit as a 'once-in-a-generation' opportunity to revive multilateral cooperation to address current and future global challenges. Ϸվ's ad-hoc delegation welcomed the 'Pact for the Future' endorsed at the summit. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/ ...
Accelerating progress on Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5): Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls
Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) – 'achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls' – is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations (UN) that is very likely to be missed by the target date of 2030. This undermines the rest of the goals. The inclusion in the SDGs of a standalone goal on gender equality was seen as a spur to mobilise action and resources to tackle persistent barriers to women and girls' full enjoyment of their rights, which also undermine ...
Women's rights in Afghanistan: An ongoing battle
Since the Taliban regime overtook the country in mid-August 2021, Afghanistan's record on women's rights has been one of the worst, if not the worst, in the world. Despite promises to 'uphold women's rights in line with Sharia law', the Taliban have suppressed the rights of their citizens, with women the main target of restrictions. As well as prohibiting women and girls from travelling without a male relative, the Taliban have denied them post-primary education, banned them from numerous public ...
The EU strategy on Central Asia: Towards a new momentum?
In 2019, the EU updated its strategy on Central Asia, to take account of new developments and opportunities for partnership and cooperation – both with the region as a whole and with its five individual countries (C5), taking into account the differences between them and their interests and requirements. The strategy aims to support sustainable development based on democracy, good governance and human rights and to boost trade and investment between the EU and Central Asia. In 2022 and 2023, the ...
Gender mainstreaming in EU trade agreements
International trade is not gender neutral. Both inside and outside Europe, trade liberalisation has gender differentiated impacts, stemming from women and men's unequal access to resources and their different positions on labour markets, in households and in society. The challenge for EU policy makers is therefore to ensure that both women and men in the EU and partner countries enjoy gains from trade agreements and are protected from negative impacts and, more broadly, that EU trade policy contributes ...
Examples of Ϸվ's impact: 2019 to 2024 - Illustrating the powers of the European Ϸվ
As the European Union's only directly elected institution, the European Ϸվ stands at the heart of European representative democracy, the foundation upon which the EU is built. Since its creation, the Ϸվ's powers have evolved significantly, and it is now a fully fledged legislative body and forum for discussion and engagement, whose influence is felt in virtually all areas of EU activity. This paper offers an overview of the European Ϸվ's main powers, demonstrating how they ...