Debate during the plenary session of January in Strasbourg on the the report by Mary HONEYBALL (S&amp;D, UK) on the situation of women refugees and asylum seekers in the EU. Statements by Mary HONEYBALL (S&amp;D, UK), Rapporteur, Vera JOUROVA, Member of the EC in charge of Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Barbara MATERA (EPP, IT), Iratxe GARCIA PEREZ (S&amp;D, ES), Beatrix von STORCH (ECR, DE), Angelika MLINAR (ALDE, AT) and Malin BJ&Ouml;RK (GUE/NGL, SE)

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

JOUROVÁ, Věra (EC)

MATERA, Barbara (EPP, IT)

migration and refugees in Europe (T)

GARCÍA PÉREZ, Iratxe (S&D, ES)

BJÖRK, Malin (The Left, SE)

HONEYBALL, Mary (S&D, UK)

International Women's Day (T)

MLINAR, Angelika (ALDE, AT)

von STORCH, Beatrix (EFDD, DE)

The situation of women refugees and asylum seekers in the EU:  extracts from the debate on the report by Mary HONEYBALL (S&D, UK)

SOUNDBITE (English), Mary HONEYBALL (S&amp;D, UK), Rapporteur, I have heard horrifying reports of women being exploited and abused. Research shows that women and girls refugees face this kind of violence, assault, exploitation and sexual harassment at every stage of their journey, including on European soil. Women, and indeed children, who are entitled to claim asylum, are being coerced into transactional sex and forced into prostitution to pay for travel documents or a place in a boat or on a lorry.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mary HONEYBALL (S&amp;D, UK), Rapporteur, I very much welcome the news in the past few days, that the European Commission has proposed accession of the EU to the Istanbul Convention. The Istanbul Convention is the most comprehensive treaty on violence against women in the world today.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mary HONEYBALL (S&amp;D, UK), Rapporteur, Women have specific integration and inclusion needs, such as child care and language training. Many will not have been active in the labour market so we need to look at properly matching skills and training provision with labour market shortages.

SOUNDBITE (English), V&#277;ra JOUROV&#193;, Member of the EC in charge of Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 20% of Mediterranean sea arrivals since 1 January 2016 are women and 33% are children. The EU has international obligations to provide protection and humanitarian support to those who need it.I fully support your general recommendation that safe and legal routes to the EU must be made available or those who flee conflict and persecution.

SOUNDBITE (English), V&#277;ra JOUROV&#193;, Member of the EC in charge of Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, The Commission is working to address the challenge of protecting women from violence, the risk of exploitation and enslavement. As regards the fight against migrant smuggling the Commission has already presented an action plan last year. In this context, we will propose this year to strengthen existing legal framework.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Barbara MATERA (EPP, IT), As the EPP Group, we decided to propose an alternative motion for resolution, designed to stress the need for a humane approach to the migratory crisis, which does take into account specifically the needs of vulnerable women and children who might be vulnerable to violence and exploitation during their travels.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARC&#205;A P&#201;REZ (S&amp;D, ES), If we look at the statistics, we see that 55% of the migrants that are reaching the EU are women and girls. These are women who have lost everything, they have lost their dignity, they have to sell their bodies in order to pay for the journey to reach the dream of Europe. There are women that are being raped, they are victims of traffic smugglers and we cannot resign ourselves, we cannot turn the other way. We must respond.

SOUNDBITE (German), Beatrix von STORCH (ECR, DE), This report is a wish list that far exceeds the remit of the women's committee,and which is not in line with realities and for that reason like many other reports from that committee we would reject it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Angelika MLINAR (ALDE, AT), When in crisis mode it is more difficult to see the gender perspective but it doesn't mean that we can tolerate that the EU is not protecting fundamental and human rights. Women seeking asylum do need specific support. Since we do know that many reception centres are overcrowded; lack the adequate lighting and separate spaces for single women and families with children. I hope that this report will be perceived as a guideline for the Commission at the Council, in order to have a truly holistic approach tackling also the causes of violence against women, including smuggling and trafficking.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Malin BJ&#214;RK (GUE/NGL, SE), On family reunification, various countries have really undermined the principle of family reunification. This is a blow to families, and to women and children in particular that are stuck in unsafe countries. It is inhuman to separate children from their parents, and parents from their children. This must cease.