ECHO Gender Strategy under Way
On 19 November 2009, DG ECHO organised a stakeholder consultation to discuss an ECHO-commissioned review of policies and methods used by selected government donors, humanitarian agencies and NGOs for addressing gender in humanitarian settings, including gender-based violence. This marked the launch of a process aimed at developing an ECHO Gender Strategy. DG ECHO is now writing an issues paper which will be open for consultation around April 2010.
Denmark Announces New Funds for Population and Climate Change
The Danish Government, fully aware of the linkages that do exist between population growth, women’s health and the effects of climate change, has decided to fund family planning programmes as part of strategies to address the impacts of climate change. The Danish government has committed 30 million DKK to fund the UNFPA.
2010 EU Budget Adopted
On 17 December, the European Parliament adopted the 2010 EU Budget which amounts to €141.5bn. The Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) through which the EU's aid is channelled to developing countries reaches €2.5bn (+3.9% compared to 2009). Following active advocacy from the EPWG and its partners, the DCI health budget line amounts to €46mn, instead of €38mn in the draft budget. More information on the EU Budget can be found here.
Landmark Irish abortion case heard by European Court of Human Rights
On the 9th of December 2009, the Republic of Ireland’s strict abortion ban was challenged in the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg. Three Irish women, who have travelled to Britain to have abortions, have challenged the country’s restrictive abortion legislation which affords unconditional protection to ‘the life of the unborn’. The legal action brought by the three women says that the effective ban on abortion in Ireland violates the European Convention on Human Rights. Ireland has one of the most restrictive abortion legislation in the world. Abortion is prohibited in nearly all cases, except when there is real risk to the life of a woman. Due to these restrictions, each year thousands of women travel abroad to access abortion services. It is estimated that between 1980 and 2008, over 135,000 women travelled from Ireland to Britain for the procedure. The ruling is expected next year. More information on this case can be found here.
Consultation on the EC Communication on Global Health
The European Commission is in the process of adopting a Communication on the EU role in Global Health. This Communication, whose adoption is foreseen in early 2010, is aimed at addressing all aspects of global health, in particular aspects related to global health equity, coherence and knowledge. On 14 October, DG Development has launched an online consultation to involve civil society organisations in the process. An issues paper has been put online along with a 28-question questionnaire that can be accessed here: http://ec.europa.eu/development/how/consultation/index.cfm?action=viewcons&id=4765. The consultation is open until 9 December.
Euromapping 2009 - EU surpasses US as top donor in population assistance
The German Foundation for World Population (DSW) and the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) published the Euromapping 2009 report, reviewing European development aid and population assistance. According to the Euromapping 2009 report, in 2006 the EU spent nearly $ 2.7 billion on population programmes and activities, compared to the US with $ 2.5 billion. More information on Euromapping can be found here: http://www.euroresources.org/ euromapping.html
Attempts to introduce an ‘EU Kemp-Kasten amendment’ successfully defeated
The adoption process of the draft EU Budget for 2010 in the European Parliament has so far been marked with several attempts made by MEPs from the EPP and ECR groups to introduce the equivalent of the US Kemp-Kasten amendment at the EU level. Several amendments were tabled in the course of September and October, both at committee and plenary levels, reading as follows: ‘Community assistance should not be given to any authority organisation or programme which supports or participates in the management of a programme which involves human rights abuses such as coercive abortion, involuntary sterilisation or infanticide; this implements the specific Cairo ICPD prohibition on coercion or compulsion in sexual and reproductive health matters’. If adopted, such amendments could lead to cutting EC funding to independent agencies which promote a rights-based approach to SRH, especially in authoritarian countries where such agencies might be held responsible, by association, of the SRH-linked human rights abuses of the regime in place. Those amendments have been rejected so far thanks to the vigilance of progressive MEPs, many of them members of the EPWG. We need to continue monitoring such attempts very closely in the future, as chances are high that similar amendments will be tabled again in the legislative process.
53rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women
The 53rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) took place in New York on 2-13 March and discussed the issue of “The equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including care-giving in the context of HIV/AIDS.” For further information: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/53sess.htm
The European Court of Auditors' Special Report No 10/2008 on "EC Development Assistance to Health Services in Sub-Saharan Africa"
On 14 January 2009, the European Court of Auditors published a Special Report on “EC Development Assistance to Health in Sub-Saharan Africa”. The main findings of the report are that: overall, EC funding to the health sector has not increased since 2000 despite the EC’s commitment to MDGs; the Commission has made little use of Sector Budget Support (SBS) although this is a key instrument in improving health services; the EC has preferred using General Budget Support (GBS) much more widely whereas the links of this instrument to health systems strengthening and improvements in health spending are unclear; in contrast bilaterally funded projects have proved reasonably effective although, as is often the case with projects, their sustainability is often not guaranteed. Overall, the report concluded that the EC has not paid sufficient attention to ensuring a coherent use of the different aid instruments by taking into account the health sector policies of individual countries.
The report’s main recommendations are that the Commission should: consider increasing its aid to the health sector during the 10th EDF mid-term review; make more use of SBS and focus its GBS more on improving health services; continue to use projects, especially for support to policy development and capacity building; establish clearer guidance on when each instrument should be utilised and how they can best be used in combination; review how its assistance to the health sector is distributed to ensure it is primarily directed to its policy priority of health systems support and that it contributes to the development of well defined health sector policies in beneficiary countries; ensure each Delegation have better health expertises and; work more closely with the Global Fund in beneficiary countries. The report can be accessed at the following location: <cite>www.eca.europa.eu/products/SR08_10 </cite>
