venerdì 5 Maggio 2017

Appello finale della conferenza delle parlamentari del G7/G20

Rome Parliamentary Appeal

The 2017 International G7/G20 Parliamentarians’ Conference

The Challenges of a World on the Move:

Migration and Gender Equality, Women’s Agency and Sustainable Development

Rome, 4-5 May, 2017

 

1. We, members from 45 parliaments from all over the world gathered in Rome, Italy on May 4^th and 5^that the International G7/G20 Parliamentarians’ Conference “The Challenges of a World on the Move: Migration and Gender Equality, Women’s Agency and Sustainable Development, Empowering women and girls to lead self-determined, healthy and productive lives”,
2. We met at a time of greatest humanitarian crisis that the world has recently seen with an unprecedented numbers of migrants, refugees and internally displaced people.  There are over 250 million people in the world living in countries other than in which they were born: 70 million of them are refugees and half of the refugees are women and girls, who are particularly vulnerable when on the move. The average time of displacement among the world’s refugee population has now reached 20 years,
3. Today, we reaffirm the overarching 2030 Agenda forSustainable Development: “Transforming our world” adopted in 2015 and stress that it recognizes the “positive contribution of migrants for inclusive growth,” while observing the “multidimensional reality” of international migration and call for “orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies” (Target 10.7),

 

4. We reaffirm the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development of 1994 and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of 1995, which emphasize the importance of protecting and empowering women and girls; the key actions for their further implementation and the outcomes of their review conferences, constituting regional plans of actions as well as the WHO Global Strategy for Women’s Children’s and Adolescent’s Health (2016-2030),
5. We reaffirm the UN Convention on the Protection of the rights of all Migrant Workers and members of their families, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Protocol of trafficking in persons, especially Women and Children, the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Involvement of Women in Peace and Security and the other relevant documents on the same issues, as well as  the adopted, existing body of international law designed to protect and promote human rights and the final outcomes of the regional parliamentary conferences of the parliamentary networks on population and development,

 

6. We recognize the importance of the Paris Agreement on climate change adopted during COP21 in 2015 as an unprecedented breakthrough for action on migration and climate; it specifically refers to migration and human mobility, calling for respecting and promoting the rights of migrants. We also recognise the need for a comprehensive response to migration and stress the impact that the climate change has on women, girls and their health,

 

7. We reaffirm the previous parliamentary statements addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights, specifically the “2014 Stockholm Statement of Commitment on the Implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development Beyond 2014”, as well as the 2015 Berlin Parliamentary Appeal of the International G7/20 Parliamentarians Conference, and the 2016 Tokyo Declaration and Recommendations to the G7 from the Global Conference of Parliamentarians on Population and Development Towards the 2016 G7 Ise-Shima Summit and that the present Rome 2017 G7/20 Parliamentary Appeal builds upon these previous Parliamentary statements.

 

Whereas we stress that:

 

In regards to harnessing the demographic dividend:

8. Migration is a key enabler for social and economic development in countries of origin and destination and an important vehicle for the human development of migrants and their families. Migrants can boost social welfare systems in many countries that need new labour to support an ageing population,
9. Expanded investments in empowerment and education have lasting effects throughout life; particularly those that focus on the critical juncture of adolescence and that take into account the vulnerabilities that come from gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic/indigenous background, and physical and mental disabilities. When such investments extend broadly across the population groups including migrants, they result in a surge of human capital into society. If young people are realistic about their country of destination and are met with an inclusive society and an economy that offers real opportunities for decent work, accelerated development can occur in the course of a generation,
10. Ensuring that everyone can build their capabilities and shape their future means eliminating barriers that come from the above vulnerabilities and that are faced by countless young people. The chance for millions of girls worldwide to realize their potential and contribute to development is derailed by child, or forced marriage, unplanned pregnancies or poor access to quality health care, with spiraling impacts on educational attainment and labor-force participation,
11. Easy access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights services therefore is essential for women’s empowerment for the health of girls and women, their lifelong prospects and well-being, and their ability to contribute fully, at all ages, to sustainable development,
12. When women and girls have access to sexual and reproductive health and their reproductive rights are promoted, in conjunction with comprehensive relationship and sex education, gender equality and access to voluntary modern contraception, they decide if, when and how many children to have, thus having a direct impact on demographic transition to sustainable development,

In regards to sexual and reproductive health and rights:

13. Women on the whole still lack satisfactory access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and displaced women and girls are particularly vulnerable to high-risk and unplanned pregnancies, miscarriages, perinatal complications, unsafe abortions, unsafe deliveries, and resulting poor health outcomes and sometimes deaths. In humanitarian settings one in five women of childbearing age is likely to be pregnant and thus complications that occur during pregnancy or childbirth in these settings can prove fatal without timely assistance,
14. Even where these services exist, women may have difficulty accessing them as a result of poor information or lack of financial means, even more so women who are from indigenous population, of foreign descent, and/or living in rural and remote areas. Many pregnant women and girls end up giving birth without assistance from a skilled health worker. In order to survive and thrive, women and girls of reproductive age need quality, age appropriate and culturally sensitive sexual and reproductive health services, as well as information, support and supplies to prevent sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS,
15. Providing family planning information, services, and free supplies to the more than 200 million women who have the right and who want to use family planning but do not have access could reduce maternal mortality by up to one-third and infant mortality by one-fifth, while significantly reducing maternal and newborn healthcare costs. This also means decreasing health expenditure,
16. Women with choices, taking informed decisions about their reproductive health are better empowered to seek and keep better jobs and contribute more to their families, nations and global prosperity, thus reducing the cycle of poverty. Their families are better-off financially and their children receive better education, helping trigger a cycle of prosperity that carries over well into future generations. This produces demographic dividends and enhances global prosperity,
17. Child marriage threatens the lives and health of girls. It compromises a girl’s development by resulting in often coerced sexual relations, early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement and placing her at increased risk of domestic violence,

In regards to human capital and migration:

18. Migration is a key enabler for social and economic development in countries of origin and destination. It is also an important vehicle for the human development of migrants and their families, enlarging their capabilities, opportunities and choices that can improve their lives and those of their family members,
19. The key is to promote the productive engagement of people in home countries, as well as abroad, and to promote a circular flow, rather than a one-way emigration. In this light, it is important to empower, educate and employ people at home, enlarging their opportunities, giving them tools, and giving them hope to make a productive contribution,
20. Settling internal and external disputes presents a major contribution to tackling the root causes and challenges of migration,

 

We Parliamentarians are determined to fulfill our role as legislators in particular to strengthen our monitoring role to ensure that gender equity and equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights become pillars of day-to-day policies on humanitarian action. Therefore today, we the Parliamentarians commit and call upon G7/G20 Heads of State:

 

21. To adopt coherent policies that strengthen development focus in the countries of origin, while stressing the co-responsibility of European Union countries and of the ones who are receiving high number of migrants,

 

22. To work on adopting policies that embrace the contribution migration makes to the political, economic, social and cultural fabric of countries of origin and destination alike, as well as to the global community, and build better systems for monitoring the development benefits of migration,
23. To promote, protect and fulfill human rights and fundamental freedom of all migrants effectively, regardless of their migration status, especially those of women and children by incorporating a gender perspective and the human rights based approach into policies and strengthening national laws, institutions and programmes to prevent and combat gender-based and sexual violence in particular increased cooperation to combat human trafficking and to support victims especially women and girls and all types of sexual violence,
24. To create an environment where girls and women are no longer excluded from building a less vulnerable, safer and more resilient world, but are key part of the solution to achieving sustainable development,

 

25. To recognize that the detention of migrants and refugees including women and children is a violation of human rights. Such imprisonment is an affront to the integrity of a person and must end. Migrants and refugees must have access to quality health services including mental health services and legal aid,

 

26. To facilitate the recognition of migrant women’s previous study and the work careers they had in the countries of origin, in the moment in which they pursue new study or look for a job in the destination country,

 

27. To promote training and organizing of migrant women in countries of destination and of origin (pre-departure and after-return) with a focus on enhancing their economic independence, e.g. with activities to foster independent and informed management of remittances and savings,
28. To promote cooperation and collaboration on all areas of migration to develop policies and procedures (such as memorandum of understanding on female migrant workers, ethical recruitment code, ecc) also involving and supporting diaspora networks or encouraging repatriation of knowledge and skills,

 

29. To strengthen health systems to achieve greater equity in delivering health care including sexual and reproductive health and rights whose achievement is at the core of sustainable development, contributing to each of its three pillars: social, economic and environmental,

 

30. To guarantee access to integrated, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights services including legal, psychological and medical – gynecological, information and education to any person regardless of their gender and sexual orientation, legally or illegally arriving in host countries and to recognize that these are crucial for people to protect themselves from harm and should be made available to everyone.   We also call upon decision makers to implement measures to eliminate gender based violence, including harmful practices such as child and forced marriage and female genital mutilation and / or cutting,

 

31. To support the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) politically and financially to fulfil a leading role in ensuring universal access to SRH and the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for sexual and reproductive health in order to build resilience and readiness for safeguarding maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health services regardless of the changing political circumstances,

 

32. To recognize women’s organisations and women’s movement as a key actor to achieve women’s rights and gender justice and to guarantee the coproduction of public policies and to actively promote good governance with full participation of civil society,

 

33. To provide age appropriate relationship and sex education and establish a universal health coverage system that focuses on universal access to full sexual and reproductive health services including family planning and information for young people, addressing the negative social consequences of gender stereotypes,

 

34. To build a continued evidence base (data disaggregated by migration status, gender and age) in order to:
35. inform decision makers,
36. regularly evaluate policies and programmes,
37. ensure political commitment,
38. address the challenge of financing and create an enabling environment at all levels for sustainable development,
39. in the spirit of global partnership, using international public finance, including ODA, to catalyze additional resource mobilization from other sources, both public and private,

 

35. To support the G7 roadmap for a gender responsive economic empowerment and the gender task force.

 

We, members of parliaments from 45 countries urge the G7 and G20 to take into account the above issues at the G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy on 26 and 27 May 2017.