This weeks issue of the well-known British magazine The Economist contains an article on the impact of the Mexico City Policy, entitled Pregnant pause.
The article explains how the laudable efforts of the current American administration to step up the fight against HIV/AIDS worldwide is being undermined by the Mexico City Policy which the same administration reinstated in January 2001.
[29/09/03 13:00:00] In her report on policies for the integration of immigrants in Council of Europe member states, Ana Zwerver, Dutch member of parliament and member of the Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, says that all immigrants should be granted the right to vote in local elections. As she told our interviewer, the right to vote gives people the sense of belonging to society. In many countries there is also opposition to the concept of dual nationality. Here we can learn from the example of the United States. Too often, she says, immigrants are seen as a threat and as potential criminals.
The Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men is very concerned by the increasing number of delegations with a very low representation of women and even delegations composed exclusively of male parliamentarians. Therefore, in 2001, I initiated a motion for a resolution on gender-balanced representation in the Assembly, which suggested several changes in the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure aimed at a better respect of the principle of gender equality in the work of the Assembly.
M. Kroupa, Czech Republic, EPP/CD, made the report
Gender-balanced representation in the Parliamentary Assembly
It is a very good report, but I felt that the report could be more explicit.
That is why I wrote the following opinion in which I propose some amendments.
Visiting (former) Dutch senator and member of the Council of Europe, Ans Zwerver, has told New Zealand politicians and policy makers they must invest in sexuality education and services if they want to reduce New Zealand teen pregnancie statistics.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that, every year, over 500.000 women die worldwide as a result of pregnancy related causes; seven million more become ill or disabled. In addition, some 40 million abortions occur each year, often under unsafe conditions – claiming some 70.000 extra female lives. In the developing world, pregnancy and childbirth remain the greatest single threat to a woman’s health in her reproductive years. Contrary to popular belief, Europe is also concerned by this blight.
