Petition

Send a Letter or an Email to Policy-makers

THIS FUNCTION HAS BEEN DISACTIVATED.

ILLUSTRATION USE ONLY

We demand that the European Union:
- develops a gender-sensitive European Policy on Asylum;
- mainstreams gender into all its asylum policies;
- recognises specific forms of gender persecution* as legitimate grounds for granting asylum in all EU member states.

*eg. the use of rape as a weapon of war; female genital mutilation; 'honour' killings, forced marriage and stoning women to death for presumed adultery.


First Name :
Last Name :



Country :
Other:

Activities carried out in the framework of the Campaign

Promoting the Campaign and disseminating the postcards

Dissemination of post cards: this was carried out through the EWL own membership and through contacts with ORGANISATIONS working specifically on asylum and refugee issues, as well as at high level conferences, at an information stand set up in the European Parliament on 8 March 2001 by the EWL on International Women's Day and by means of individual requests for cards.
Web site and electronic petition.
Some EWL member organisations promoted the Campaign at national level and organised specific events, such as the annual conference of the Wales Women's Euro Network at which recommendations to address the specific issue of women asylum seekers were formulated and addressed to the UK, European and Welsh decision-makers.
A press release was issued on 20 June 2001 to mark the first World Refugee Day.

Input into policy

The EWL was called upon to assist in the policy developments and in particular by the European Parliament's Women's Rights Committee as well as an invitation to contribute to the Commission's draft Directive on ""minimum standards for Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status".
The EWL was also invited to a consultation by the Commission prior to the drafting of its draft Directive on "laying down minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals and stateless persons as refugees, in accordance with the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees and the 1967 protocol, or as persons who otherwise need international protection " (in other words, the definition of a refugee), which will be the major piece of European legislation before the institutions in 2002 of most significant to the Campaign and its objectives. In January 2002, the Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC) invited the EWL to its working session on the draft Directive with the aim of contributing to strengthen the gender dimension of the opinion from ECOSOC to the aforementioned Directive. (link with this text - to find)
The EWL also provided data for the European Parliament's Rapporteur for a Resolution on Female Genital Mutilation "(link with resolution - to do) which calls for, inter alia, that FGM be recognised as legitimate grounds for seeking asylum. This Resolution was adopted by a large majority in September 2001.
In the timeframe of the Campaign, significant changes were made in Germany relating to gender-based persecution as legitimate grounds for seeking asylum and more recently (beginning of 2002) in Sweden.