Open Day in the EP 20105 - Debate on Empowering women and girls; dignity and development for all - Festival of Europe - 9 May 2015 - Open Doors Days of the European Institutions in the EP in Brussels. Statements by Denis MUKWEGE, Hauwa IBRAHIM, Sakharov Prize laureates, Sylvie GUILLAUME, EP vice-president and Ulrike LUNACEK (Greens/EFA, AT)
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Brussels

debate

Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought 2005 (T)

LUNACEK, Ulrike (Greens/EFA, AT)

open doors day of the European Institutions

GUILLAUME, Sylvie (S&D, FR)

IBRAHIM, Hauwa (CU)

Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought 2014 (T)

MUKWEGE, Denis

Open Day 2015 (T)

Open Day in the EP 2015 - Empowering women and girls; dignity and development for all: extracts from the debate with Denis MUKWEGE and Hauwa IBRAHIM, Sakharov Prize laureates

Arrival of Denis MUKWEGE and Hauwa IBRAHIM, Sakharov Prize laureates (3 shots)

Roundtable with Sylvie GUILLAUME, EP vice-president (3 shots)

Arrival at the Hemicycle and family picture (5 shots)

SOUNDBITE (French), Sylvie GUILLAUME (S&amp;D, FR), Europe has a difficult history and that reminds us about struggles against oppression and our fight for freedom. The two Sakharov Prize laureates, Denis MUKWEGE and Hauwa IBRAHIM, they know very well this struggle in their daily lives and I warmly welcome them here on this extremely symbolic day.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ulrike LUNACEK (Greens/EFA, AT), The EU is - and the EU and its member states are - all together for humanitarian aid and development cooperation spend around 60 billion euro every year, which is more than 50 percent of everything that is given from the rich countries on these two areas every year.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ulrike LUNACEK (Greens/EFA, AT), Women have to be - and women's empowerment  - have to be at the centre of development efforts because without empowerment of women this world will not become a better place.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE , Sakharov Prize laureate, In some countries all of us, does not necessarily mean all men and all women and that is particularly the case in my country. Women are still a separate class and they are excluded from the process of development, and in that way their human dignity is affected.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, Sakharov Prize laureate, This balance of power which gives men all of the rights, right from the beginning of their lives. A man is entitled to everything at birth, whereas women have to work hard to try and get those rights from themselves and to have some hope of achieving what men have achieved without making any effort at all, simply because he was born a man.

SOUNDBITE (French), Denis MUKWEGE, Sakharov Prize laureate, It is awful to think that two thirds of those who are illiterate on the planet are women. 65 percent of those who are poorest are women too. Systematic rape and rape using extremely violence, sexual enslavement, forced pregnancies, all those taking place during armed conflict affect women much more and thus constitute gross violations of the fundamental rights of individuals and of international humanitarian law.

SOUNDBITE (English), Hauwa IBRAHIM, Sakharov Prize laureate, Access to education, and let me say that this access to education from what I understand in documentation is irrespective of the child identity, irrespective of where they come from, and irrespective of the religion they practice.

SOUNDBITE (English), Hauwa IBRAHIM, Sakharov Prize laureate, And I think one of the voices that we should raise today, is that no child should be stigmatised because of their gender. The world would be a better place if we do not stigmatise them.

SOUNDBITE (English), Hauwa IBRAHIM, Sakharov Prize laureate, I realise that the oxygen of a terrorist is the media. Now, when you take away that oxygen from the terrorist, you decapitate him, you make him less effective. So, as we remove the oxygen from the terrorist can we invest that oxygen back into the issue of empowerment of women and children. And so how we could actively get the media's attention to be focused on less Islamophobia, which is so common in some of our societies, less fear, more of empowerment, more of girl child education. I think we are better off for it.  

SOUNDBITE (English), Hauwa IBRAHIM, Sakharov Prize laureate, For the past 10  years I have acquired a bigger voice because of this prize. And somehow I relish in the fact that the EP is behind me, so because of that I tend to wake up every morning to see that i can do what I'm doing even much more and even better.

SOUNDBITE (English), Hawa IBRAHIM, Sakharov Prize laureate, But the bigest challenge is from the extremist islamists, actually from Boka Haram. // My parents will move out of the place because of the workl I do.// It is the cost you pay, but for me the biggest benefit of this cost is that we are making the world a better place. one person, one day, one issue and one time.// We cannot change the world, but we can play our part.