EWL News

News typewritter Latest news from the European Women’s Lobby in Brussels

EWL News
EWL calls for action to tackle inequalities in access to healthcare for undocumented migrant women and children

Posted on 9 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 09 December 2010] On the eve of Human Rights Day 2010 - focusing this year on the theme of ’Human Rights Defenders Who Act to End Discrimination’ - the EWL co-organised a Public Hearing in the European Parliament to help raise awareness on the issue of inequalities in access to health care services for undocumented migrants - including pregnant women and children - in many EU countries. Following the event, the EWL and its partners issued a joint press release calling for action. (...) Read more
EWL News
Cyprus - MIGS calls on government to support strong EU maternity leave provisions

Posted on 9 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 9 December 2010] EWL member organisation in Cyprus, the Mediterranean Institute for Gender Studies (MIGS) has issued a Press Release expressing disappointment at the outcome of this Monday’s social affairs Council meeting in Brussels when ministers rejected a legislative proposal of the European Parliament giving 20 weeks fully paid maternity leave tor new mothers and 2 weeks to fathers. MIGS is calling for transparency from the Cypriot government and a public dialogue on the (...) Read more
EWL News
NGO Coalition on Intergenerational Solidarity welcomes EPSCO decision to declare 2012 European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations

Joint Press Release

Posted on 8 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 8 December 2010] We are pleased that the EPSCO Council supported our call and has decided to extend the title for the proposed European Year 2012 to “Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations”.
We welcome the objectives of the Year, i.e. “to encourage and support the efforts of Member States, their regional and local authorities, social partners, civil society and the business community to promote active ageing and to do more to mobilise the potential of the rapidly growing (...) Read more
EWL News
Way Cleared for EU to Join Human Rights Treaty

Posted on 6 December 2010 |

[Brussels, 06 December 2010] EWL member organisation the European Disability Forum (EDF) has issued a joint press release together with Human Rights Watch celebrating the agreement by the Council to a Code of Conduct that will allow the EU to accede to the Disability Rights Convention and ensure implementation in all EU countries.
PRESS RELEASE - The European Disability Forum & Human Rights Watch
’The agreement by EU Member States to remove the last legal barrier to EU accession to the (...) Read more
EWL News
EWL demands Commission implement commitments on violence against women

Posted on 30 November 2010 |

[Brussels, 30 November 2010] In the aftermath of a disappointing high-level conference on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women last week, the European Women’s Lobby has launched a call for the European Commission to clarify its commitment to drawing up a Strategy to combat and prevent violence against women in the EU.
PRESS RELEASE
For women’s rights advocates who attended a high-level conference on the occasion of the International Day for the (...) Read more
EWL News
30 years is about time to take violence against women seriously, says European Women’s Lobby

Posted on 24 November 2010 |

[Brussels, 24 November 2010] On the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the European Women’s Lobby has launched a call for the European Union to take action to eliminate the most prevalent human rights abuse within its borders.
It is estimated that almost every other woman in Europe suffers gender-based violence at some point in her life, with one in five falling victim to domestic violence and one in ten to rape or forced (...) Read more
EWL News
Public hearing: "Preventing undocumented women and children from accessing healthcare: Fostering Health Inequalities in Europe"

European Parliament, 8 December 2010, 16.00-18.00

Posted on 24 November 2010 |

This hearing, hosted by Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Greens, GUE/NGL political groups and carried out in partnership with the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), Médecins du Monde, Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), and the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN), will bring together experts from EU institutions and civil society to discuss the main barriers faced by undocumented migrants to accessing health care in Europe, with a special focus on (...) Read more
EWL News
UN Women and Civil Society Engagement

Posted on 23 November 2010 |

[New York, November 2010] Recently, Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign representatives met with the new USG and head of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet. We took this opportunity to explain the evolution of the GEAR Campaign and its membership, and outline key messages regarding the importance of civil society organizations (CSO) engagement and the participation of global to local grassroots organizations in UN Women. Ms Bachelet stated she viewed the meeting as the start of a (...) Read more
EWL News
Poverty - Mind the Gap

Posted on 19 November 2010 |

The EWL on 19 November took part in forming a Human Ring around the European Parliament in solidarity against poverty. Writing in the Parliament Magazine, EWL Secretary General Myria Vassiliadou explains how the EU must address gender inequality issues if it is to have any chance of tackling poverty and social exclusion .
Poverty affects 85 million, or almost one in five, Europeans. The result of inequalities, of which gender inequalities continue to be the most pervasive manifestation, it (...) Read more
EWL News
Pensions: a social right for all, says EWL

Posted on 16 November 2010 |

In a joint Press Release with the European Youth Forum (EYF) and the AGE Platform Europe, the EWL has called on the European Union to increase coordination on all pension schemes and to ensure any reforms include a gender perspective and work towards adequate and sustainable pensions for all.
"Most reforms proposed or introduced recently will lead to greater risk of poverty of women in old age as nothing is done to address the discrimination that women suffer both in employment and (...) Read more