EWL News

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

EWL News
International Women’s Day 2014 - Mind the Gender Pension gap!

Posted on 7 March 2014 |

[Press release of the EWL and the AGE Platform, Brussels 7 March 2014] Gender inequalities will further increase unless national governments take active measures to combat gender discrimination at every stage of life.
With the ongoing retreat of the welfare state, governments are looking to reduce further pressure on public budgets, including from social protection and pension systems. The current economic crisis has only aggravated the situation obliging governments to introduce further (...) Read more
EWL News
NGO CSW outcome document for the North America and European region is out

Posted on 5 March 2014 |

[Brussels, 5 February 2014] At the eve of the 58th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), NGOs are unveiling their analysis and demands with regards to the priority theme: “Challenges and Achievements in the Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Women and Girls”. Pierrette Pape, Acting Coordinator of the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) has played a key role in bringing the European perspective into the outcome document for the North American and (...) Read more
EWL News
EWL and partners organise side event at CSW on MDGs, prostitution and the most vulnerable women and girls

Posted on 2 March 2014 |

[Brussels, 21 February 2014] In the framework of the 58th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the European Women’s Lobby, CAP International, Apne Aap and the European Network of Migrant Women organise a side event on "Reaching out "the last girl": MDGs, prostitution and the most vulnerable women and girls", on Tuesday 11 March 2014, 12h30-14h (Hardin Room, Church Center United Nations (CCUN), at 777 United Nations Plaza, New York).
The priority theme of the 58th session of (...) Read more
EWL News
For women’s organisations, a historic step forward towards gender equality with the vote of the European Parliament on the Honeyball resolution

Posted on 28 February 2014 |

[Brussels, 26 February 2014] The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) warmly welcomes the vote of the European Parliament today which recognises that prostitution violates human dignity and human rights, and is an obstacle to equality between women and men. The resolution has been adopted with a strong majority (343 for, 139 against, 105 abstentions).
Together with the 200 NGOs from all over Europe, which have signed the Brussels’ Call ‘Together for a Europe free from prostitution’, the EWL sees (...) Read more
EWL News
"No Modern European Democracy without Gender Equality": Unity in Diversity

Posted on 28 February 2014 |

[Brussels, 28 February 2014] On 18 February, the European Women’s Lobby organised a seminar on gender equality and diversity in European Political Life. The seminar "My MEP is just like me?!" was hosted by MEP Claude Moraes (S & D) at the European Parliament in Brussels and was organised within the framework of the EWL 50/50 Campaign for parity democracy in the European Institutions and at national level, and for the integration of gender equality as a priority in all policies. Among (...) Read more
EWL News
EWL congratulates the European Parliament for its stance against violence against women

Posted on 28 February 2014 |

[Brussels, 25 January 2013] The European Parliament has taken today a crucial step towards the end of violence against women (VAW) in the EU adopting a resolution with recommendations to the European Commission on combating VAW. The EWL specially congratulates the Rapporteur MEP Antonyia Parvanova for her work on this report which will be a very important tool for all women’s rights organisations and the EWL in our advocacy to put an end to this persistent violation of women’s rights and to (...) Read more
EWL News
EWL Video-Clip on the Effects of Austerity: now available in 10 languages

Posted on 28 February 2014 |

[Brussels, 28 February 2014] The European Women’s Lobby is proud to announce that thevVideo clip depicting the negative effects austerity measures have had on women in Europe is now available with subtitles in nine different languages.
Thanks to our member organisations, it is now possible to learn about the detrimental effects of cuts in public sector jobs, essential services, parental leave provisions, services to victims of violence and funding for women’s advocacy groups and equality (...) Read more
EWL News
Open letter to AWID: Do you want legalised sex purchase?

Open letter of three Swedish women’s organisations to the Association for Women’s Rights in Development

Posted on 28 February 2014 |

[Brussels, 27 February 2014] Last week AWID, Association for Women’s Rights in Development, distributed a statement written by Mama Cash and several other organisations. The statement was called “Barking up the Wrong Tree: Criminalizing Clients of Sex Workers will Not End Trafficking”. The statement is in opposition to human rights. We are now calling on AWID to clarify their position. Does AWID want legalized sex purchase?
Today, the European Parliament will vote on a report that recommends (...) Read more
EWL News
Bulgarian Women’s Lobby strengthens networking to protect all women from violence

Posted on 28 February 2014 |

[Brussels, 28 February 2014] As a result of the Bulgarian Women’s Lobby campaign on the promotion of the Istanbul convention last autumn, the Alliance for Protection against Domestic Violence, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrant and the Bulgarian Women’s Lobby, co-organised a conference in Sofia on "Networking for Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in the Context of International Protection", on the 27th of February.
Aiming at developing a (...) Read more
EWL News
International NGO Conference of the Council of Europe

Article by Marion Minis - Dutch EWL member

Posted on 24 February 2014 |

[Strasbourg, 20 February 2014] Marion Minis of the Nederlandse Vrouwen Raad attended the INGOs conference of the Council of Europe (January 29-30, 2014).
On the Istanbul Convention, Human Rights & Democracy Representatives of many European NGOs travelled to Strasbourg (France) to meet at the annual sessions of the INGOs conference of the Council of Europe (CoE, 1948), which took place at the end of January. I attended several days as I wanted to learn more about CoE., especially as we (...) Read more