Rwanda. Donne, al forum mondiale delle parlamentari

"Educazione, educazione, educazione. Solo così si potranno compiere concreti passi avanti per sconfiggere malattie e prevenire la piaga dei matrimoni precoci, una sorta di pedofilia legalizzata che vige ancora in molti paesi, contro la quale stiamo mettendo a punto una mozione parlamentare".

E' quanto ha dichiarato oggi Pia Locatelli - presidente onoraria dell'Internazionale socialista donne e deputata del Psi - dal Ruanda dove partecipa, in rappresentanza della Camera dei deputati, al Summer Summit 2014 del WIP (Women In Parliaments Global Forum, WIP) in corso dal 1 al 3 luglio a Kigali. Nel corso dei lavori del Summit 2014, Locatelli parlerà dell'esperienza italiana e dell'impatto che una alta rappresentanza femminile può avere sull'approvazione delle leggi. "Non a caso il primo provvedimento approvato da questo parlamento, che vanta per la prima volta una percentuale di donne sopra il 30%, è stata la ratifica della convenzione di Istanbul contro la violenza" sottolinea.

 "Nell'Agenda post 2015 delle Nazioni Unite si è deciso di insistere principalmente su due obiettivi ancora non raggiunti - ha aggiunto la parlamentare parlando dei lavori del Summit -: salute materna e infantile, obiettivi che sono appunto strettamente legati al livello di istruzione, a una nutrizione adeguata e a una corretta pianificazione familiare, un tema controverso, che è spesso messo da parte nelle discussioni proprio per evitare spaccature, ma il diritto alla salute sessuale e riproduttiva, è fondamentale per migliorare la condizione delle donne", spiega ancora  Locatelli, che parteciperà, il 4 luglio, alle celebrazioni per il ventesimo anniversario della liberazione del Ruanda, a 20 anni dal Genocidio del 1994. Il Summer Summit del Women in Parliaments Global Forum (WIP) è stato organizzato in collaborazione con il Parlamento del Ruanda, che per la prima volta nella sua storia apre l'Assemblea Plenaria ad una conferenza partecipata da parlamentari donne di tutto il mondo.

per seguire i lavori del Women in Parliaments Global Forum WIP  attraverso l'hashtag #wiprwanda

il mio discorso 

When the international community was called upon to review progress on the MDGs, the EU position was “Business as usual is not an option.”

The weakest aspects of the whole MDG project can be summarized in three points:

-the centrality of gender equality and women’s empowerment were not recognized as core for development;

-Women were considered as recipients of policies rather than as agents for policies. 

-Some topics were and still are considered too hot to handle. 

Take Goals 4 and 5. How can you address the topic of maternal mortality and under-five infant mortality without also addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights? Yet the topic was left out of the MDGs. Then it was added as MDG 5b on universal access to reproductive health. Note the distinction: “reproductive health” rather than “sexual and reproductive rights and health”!! 

It is much easier and far less controversial to speak of “maternal or infant mortality.” But how can you speak of maternal mortality without tackling prevention/contraception? Let us not forget that the Cairo conference on population affirmed the freedom of women to decide if, when and how frequently to have children. 

First Priority:

Promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights is at the core of sustainable development in each of the three pillars: social, economic, environmental. 

We call for targets and indicators on sexual and reproductive health and rights to be included in the standalone goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

More in general, we recommend to shape the agenda by ensuring that the vision, principles, objectives and goals of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action and the priorities emanating from the review of its implementation are integrated in the post 2015 development agenda.

Second priority:

As it is said in the EFA Report (EFA stands for Education for All and the Report is an independent annual  publication, facilitated and supported by Unesco), Education is a powerful means to  accelerate the achievement of wider goals, but this concept needs to be much better recognized in the post-2015 development framework. 

This lack of awareness has had as a consequence that education has been slipping down the global agenda and some donors have given different directions to ther funds, which I think it is wrong. 

So we stress the need to promote and protect the rights of young people, in particular girls and young women to access to education, to good quality education at all levels, 

Also to support policies that keep the girl child, including married girls and pregnant girls, in school at all levels of education without discrimination, and ensure admission or re-entry to school after delivery.

I have no time to address how education can contribute to reduce poverty, education being a passport to be employed, to improve health, education being a most powerful ways of improving women’s health – and a powerful way of making sure the benefits are passed on to their children. Finally education  promote better democracy, as education helps women overcome gender barriers stregthening their participation and activity in democratic processes, and encourages women to claim their rights and promote their empowerment.

All these are good reasons to evaluate education as top priority.

One final thing: education prevent child marriages. There are 6’ million girl brides in the world, girls who are denied their childhood. 

We have to stop this drama: ensuring girls stay in school can help to averti t.