Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Ordinary meeting

07:28 - 10:45

Lina Gálvez

They get some help in that beautifully organized cafe, and the owner of that cafe is himself in a wheelchair, and then those women who worked for that foundation shared their experiences. It really was so impactful. And for me, as a parliamentarian, it's so important to somehow continue to help them, because it's a democratic country. Everything is nicely written in the constitution. They've got their laws.

But, really, when we talk to them, when we talk to the people there, and when we were preparing for that mission, we had to take into account the consequences of the caste system. I mean it's still there and we in Europe having been born in Europe. When I talk to my friends and colleagues here, I keep saying to them, we're so lucky to have been brought in Europe. So I think that we've got to show solidarity, and I think that we've absolutely got to take the next steps. Now, is my first mandate, my first term. So I would just urge us to continue with these activities, to somehow continue helping these women.

I think that we've also got to show solidarity as much as we can, and I also would like to express my thanks for the organization of this mission, for the possibility of participating in it.

Thank you. Thank you very much. In fact, I think one thing we can do is I could propose to coordinators if we can invite the congresswomen from India here to the parliament and also to work because it's something we said when we were there, and I would like to propose in the next meeting to the coordinators because that will be a way they can also tell us how we can also continue supporting because, yes, I think this mission has marked to all of us that were there because, indeed, is such a diverse, a big, and different, countries, and the violence some women are suffering is really touching very much. And now, I would like to pass the floor to another member of this committee that join us in the mission, Elizabeth, Deringer from Patriots from Austria. So now the floor is yours.

10:45 - 10:45

Thank you.

10:47 - 13:33

Elisabeth Dieringer

Yes. I would also like to talk in German, not in English, for the rest. Thank you. Yeah. Yes.

As my colleagues have already said, we were shocked, really. Of course, there is a great deal of diversity in different situations. But when you talk about the conditions that we saw in houses, in streets, in different accommodations, I mean, it is what it is from the acid attacks that we saw how easy it was to become a victim, that there was no protection available. You can buy this acid in a supermarket. And if this happens to you at night, I mean, there's nothing you can do.

We've also seen just how strong the influence, and this is something we should take back at something which we've discussed in our group as well, the role played the influence of religion. The religion which dictates how women should be treated, the role played by women, and we've said that, yes, there are laws. There is legislation on paper, but they're simply not implemented or respected. And something else that became very clear is that when we talked with different organizations, that was all well and good, but we mainly talked to women. And that women see eye to eye with us, well, that's obvious.

But at the end of the day, we need to talk to men to get to the root of the problem. I think that's what we need to do. And then when negotiating international agreements, this is something which we discuss very often here in Europe, but it's something we cannot lose sight of. It's also very often we come back home, but now we know where the problems are, and we cannot forget that. We don't want to go back and continue to promote the image of a Bollywood country.

But I think we shouldn't just think about the formal discussions we had in India. We had very interesting discussions in the buses and between the meetings, between the different political groups. It was a very unusual mission. It's not the type we normally get to participate in. And I think if we can continue this way of working together, which we developed during our mission, and bring that back home to our commission work, I think that will really help us going forward.

13:33 - 14:45

Lina Gálvez

Indeed. And we have a lot of timing in buses during our mission, because the mission was coincident with a huge artificial intelligence summit. There were many prime ministers from many different countries there. So traffic that, apparently, is already quite bad in Delhi was even worse. And I would like to thank Ghana and our secretary at the civil that is there as well, because they have a lot of patient.

And, we all have a lot of patience, but they were great really to schedule, reschedule, change the agenda when necessary because the traffic really did not allow us to reach in time to many places because it was really awful. But, we manage thanks to them. So I would like also to highlight what Elizabeth was saying and, also to thank at the same time our secretariat. And now, another member of this committee that joined the mission, Avila Al Salani, from Renew. So the floor is yours, Avila.

14:47 - 21:31

Abir Al-Sahlani

Thank you, madam chair, and good morning, colleagues. Sorry for my late arrival. My plane was delayed by one and a half hour without an explanation, but that is the life of MEP. So let me start with thanking the secretariat, but also on our behalf, to the EU mission to India for the excellent organization and their flexibility, but also the warmth and happy, you know, always happy faces that they met us with in every challenge that we had during our New Delhi visit. It was a very interesting visit to India, but it did not go without challenges, both logistical, but also at some point, insightful challenges because some of the things that we saw, they were a little bit difficult to digest.

Not only so, but also heard. And, of course, a big thank you to the head of the delegation, our own chair, for her excellent leadership during the visit. What's truly stayed with me from this visit was the gap between legislation, rights on paper, and lived realities. And, if there is one example that I want would show where words on paper and lived realities how they differ, it would have been India because as many of my colleagues already pointed out, India has been a democratic country for a very long time. It is considered to be the biggest democracy in the world, with a very strong constitutional defense of women's rights.

But still, when you go to real life, the picture is very different. And this is also for us to reflect on the anti-gender movements that are gaining power in Europe and how they impact also this gap and increase it when it comes to words on papers and lived realities. And that's a growing gap, and we really need also within the EU gender responsive policies and laws, and to keep an eye on that also inside. One other maybe more of a positive note inside that stayed with me was the vibrant civil society organizations and the representatives that we met, and how fearless they were in taking some terms and saying some words that for us as Europeans are still sensitive to address. It was very openly spoken about abortion rights and SRHR rights in a way that has become less common in the EU sphere, unfortunately.

But also, the kind and the amount of work that they are doing were really inspirational. Women in India are fighting for their own survival, and that was really very clear, in the exchanges that we have. And, no matter how much political promises they've got, civil society organizations or women, and no matter how many governmental initiatives they have, EU projects that they are, and these very impactful civil society organizations. The support for gender equality is shrinking in India. And that also means the funding.

So we have, as the EU, must invest in those projects and in those people. We must invest in India and all around, and it is urgent. Where funding is cut, voices are turned down, and they are silenced, and political will is shrinking. So the EU really must double down and not back down. And I think that this is a moment where the EU must show real leadership.

And one of the concrete examples that I can give is that many of the actors we met from civil society asked us not to post their pictures or names on our social media. So, I took note of that very strongly because the fear was really there, for repercussions, for threats, and these women should not fear being active in civil society. One another thing that I want to point out is maybe not very particular to this committee, but in the committee where we are discussing the gender targets in all your EU development aid, that is being maybe rolled back or, you know, reformulated. I don't have any problems with the different names, but the aim should be the same, that we should have gender targets because that will make our institutions globally more aware, but also they have something to measure towards when they are dividing the EU aid, development aid to different NGOs. And if we ensure that we have gender targets there, then we can also make sure that these organizations that we met at least have EU to go to and get funding for the important work that they are doing.

And gender equality must be considered in all policy areas, as I said. And it doesn't really apply to the historic trade agreement that we have with India that we signed for not so long time ago. And we have to make sure in all ways that gender equality and human rights in general are respected and implemented. So I hope that the FAM Committee will take our key learnings from the mission and set them into practice. For example, we must keep aiming too high to have a, to ensure that in the global Europe instrument, gender equality is a priority and not left on the sidelines.

21:31 - 21:32

Thank you so much.

21:33 - 23:35

Lina Gálvez

Thank you. Thank you very much. In fact, it is a lesson learned. We really need to keep, include the, gender actions in our, external, action on budget. Again, this is important on the language that we really need to adopt the international language and not inventing new things.

And, also, of course, we were very touched of what was happening there. I'm very lucky to be European, but as Sabir and other colleagues said, we have learned also a lot from them as well, very much. And, so we are tiny compared to India that it is, is huge. And there are a lot of things also to learn, from them, especially for this very vibrant, civil society. And now, we still have a couple of minutes if there are other members that would like to take the floor very shortly.

If not, I will, thanks again to the secretary Anna Civile and, obviously, also Susana for the great job they did there, to thank the interpreters for today's, or this morning session, all the members that went to the mission, and they have participated in this morning session. And let's move really with this collaboration with the Indian parliamentarians because that will be also a way to keep collaborating with the Indian civil society and also with these great women we met during our mission. So, thank you. Thank you very much, and see you at 02:00? 04:00.

23:35 - 23:35

Thank you.