European & International News

International news globe All the latest news from the European Union, its member states, and beyond.

European & International News
UK Study - l/5 of Homeless Women Tried Prostitution for Survival

Posted on 3 January 2011 |

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com on 23 December 2010
Nearly one in five homeless women has resorted to prostitution to escape a night on the streets, a study revealed today.
The survey commissioned by homeless charity Crisis found individuals were resorting to crime and unwanted sexual relationships to avoid sleeping rough.
The Hidden Homelessness report undertaken by Sheffield Hallam University’s Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research found 19% of women and 3% of men said (...) Read more
European & International News
European Parliament issues Human Rights report 2009 and calls for action on violence against women

Posted on 20 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 17 December 2010] The need for a strong and effective EU human rights policy, which ensures greater consistency among all EU external policies, is the key message of Parliament’s first human rights report since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, approved on Thursday. MEPs criticize the human rights records of, inter alia, China, Russia, Iran and Cuba. With the EU External Action Service now in place, Parliament’s rapporteur Laima Liucija Andrikien? (EPP, LT) called on the EU (...) Read more
European & International News
European Court of Human Rights rules that Ireland abortion ban violates Human Rights

Posted on 20 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 20 December 2010] The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg last Thursday issued its ruling in the landmark abortion case ABC v. Irelans. The ECHR ruled that Ireland’s ban on abortion violated the human rights of a woman known under the pseudonym ’C’, a cancer victim who was forced to travel out of the country to obtain an abortion to protect her life. The Court nevertheless opined that because Irish law allows women to travel outside the country to get an abortion and (...) Read more
European & International News
UNSC adopts Resolution on Sexual Violence in Conflict

Posted on 20 December 2010 |

[New York, 17 December 2010] A new UN Security Council Resolution on Sexual Violence in Conflict WAS ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY, December 16, 2010. This will further strengthen the normative standards on women and peace and security - in particular UN SC Resolution 1888.
It was sponsored by the US and co-sponsored by about 30 countries. Among its many important provisions, this new resolution calls on the Secretary-General to include in his annual reports detailed information on perpetrators (...) Read more
European & International News
OSCE likens trafficking to slave trade on a massive scale

Posted on 16 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 13 December 2010] The Organisation for Security & Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) last week released the annual report of its Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings entitled ’Combating Trafficking as Modern-Day Slavery: A Matter of Rights, Freedom and Security’. According to the UN, trafficking is a heavily gendered phenomenon, with 79% of victims trafficked for sexual exploitation and 80% of these being women and girls. The EWL is (...) Read more
European & International News
Human Rights Day 10 December 2010: Human Rights Defenders Who Act to End Discrimination

Posted on 10 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 10 December 2010] The theme of Human Rights Day this year is ’Human Rights Defenders Who Act to End Discrimination’. Discrimination against women is the most widespread form of discrimination within societies worldwide. As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, notes in her Statement copied below, 70% of those who are denied basic education worldwide are girls. Today the EWL would like to honour all of those who act to defend the human rights of women worldwide.
HUMAN (...) Read more
European & International News
EU Strategy on Violence against Women - the EC Advisory Committee issues its Opinion

Posted on 8 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 08 December 2010] The European Commission’s Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men yesterday adopted its final Opinion on an EU Strategy on Violence against Women and Girls. Over the last six months, the EWL has taken a very active role within the expert Working Group chaired by Andrea Murray from the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission, and is very pleased with the results.
Most importantly, the Opinion gives a clear definition of violence against women (...) Read more
European & International News
Maternity leave: Council disregards Parliament’s position

Posted on 7 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 07 December 2010] European ministers for social affairs meeting yesterday in Brussels took a strong stand against the Parliament’s position on the ’Maternity Leave Directive’, disappointing the EWL and MEPs, who have criticised the Council for ignoring the new role of the Parliament as precribed by the Lisbon Treaty.
Press Release from the European Parliament Committee for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
EP maternity leave rapporteur Edite Estrela criticized the Council of (...) Read more
European & International News
European civil society denounces criminalisation of HIV transmission

Posted on 1 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 01 December 2010] On the occasion of World Aids Day, a coalition of European NGOs have issued a statement calling for a human rights approach to HIV prevention.
HIV and Human Rights - Statement for WAD 2010
‘The impact of criminalizing HIV transmission’
From the UK to the USA, from Sweden to Australia, criminal laws are increasingly being used to prosecute HIV transmission or exposure, even if evidence shows that what we really need is increased investment in HIV prevention, (...) Read more
European & International News
Michelle Bachelet: ’To end Violence against Women, we must all UNiTE!’

Posted on 25 November 2010 |

[Brussels, 25 November 2010] On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet delivered a statement calling on governments, private enterprises, civil society groups, communities - including cultural and religious communities - and individual citizens, men and women, to join together to end violence agsint women. Bachelet also highlighted the lack of sufficient resources (...) Read more