[Brussels, 7 September 2012] The European Women’s Lobby, the European Network of Migrant Women, the Conseil des Femmes Francophones de Belgique and the Nederlandstalige Vrouwenraad are pleased to invite you to the European Premiere of the documentary film This is My Home Now by Saddie Choua on Thursday 13 September at 19.30 at the Galeries Cinema, Brussels.

Saddie Choua’s latest film follows the stories of three women of migrant background living in the Europe. While struggling for their equal rights, these women, like so many others, enrich their host communities in myriad ways. Anna is a gender researcher and poet of Russian background who owns a hotel in Lefkara, Cyprus. Dil from Sri Lanka is a successful stand-up comedian, journalist and radio host as well as an active voice for equality and the rights of migrants and queers in Ireland. Sophie from Tunisia runs a beauty salon and social institute in Marseille, France, an empowering meeting place for women from different (...)

[Brussels, 11 September 2012] Do you believe that women’s rights are human rights and that it is high time equality between women and men was made a reality? You can do your part! By becoming a Friend of the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), you invest in a brighter future of each and every girl and woman in Europe. Every day, the EWL is campaigning for a gender equal Europe. The regular financial support of the Friends of the EWL can ensure the existence of an independent voice for women’s rights in Europe. Click here to befriend the EWL

[Brussels, 29 August 2012] UN human rights experts in Geneva slammed France for dismantling Roma camps this week and evicting hundreds of migrant Roma regardless of international human rights conventions.

At the beginning of last week, France started evicting hundreds of Romani migrants from ‘illegal’ camps and sent several of them back to Romania via a charter plane, providing them with 300 euros compensation for their ‘voluntary return’. While the EU remains silent over French policies, three other camps were dismantled this week near Paris and Lyon, resulting in the new evictions of several hundreds of Roma migrants.

In reply to these abusive measures, the UN’s Special Rapporteurs on minority issues, migrants, housing and racism issued a strong statement in which they urged the French government to comply with international non-discriminative standards banning group expulsions, making it clear that France had failed to meet its commitments towards human rights.

The statement (...)

[Brussels, 17 August 2012] As the members of Pussy Riot sat in a courtroom in Moscow awaiting their verdict, EWL members and EWL Secretariat staff took to the streets in Brussels and across Europe in support of the Russian feminist punk band members who dared to defy their government. Since then, news of a guilty verdict for the three young women has both disappointed and enraged protestors.

EWL members from Belgium and Secretariat staff were joined by other human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, and about one hundred other protestors in their gathering in front of the permanent delegation of Russia in Brussels this lunchtime. Similar scenes were to be seen across Europe. The call to FREE PUSSY RIOT, which has gathered pace across the media over the past months, went unheeded. The band members have been found guilty of religious hooliganism. Their punishment could be as harsh as three years in a work camp.

Three members of the Pussy Riot were arrested five (...)

[Brussels, 10 August 2012] The EWL issued today the following Statement to the attention of the government of Russia. Copies of the Statement are being delivered to Russian embassies throughout Europe.

EWL Statement to Russian Government

The litmus test of working democracy in any country is that the artists have the freedom of expression even when they criticise, make a satyr or openly mock official pillars of social and political power, such as the dominant church or the president of the state.

We want to believe that Russia has a real potential for becoming a democratic country.

We call on all relevant authorities of Russia, to pass this simple test. We are sure that you want the world to believe that democracy in Russia is not an empty word, that you are strong enough to ensure real freedom of artistic expression in your country.

The European Women’s Lobby (EWL), the largest women’s NGO umbrella organisation in EU, uniting more than 2000 women’s human rights organisations (...)

[Brussels, 07 August 2012] Traditionally, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), personally presents the winner of the men’s marathon with his gold medal. This priviledge is not extended to his female counterpart. This blatant case of gender discrimination is an insult to women athletes and to all women everywhere. A petition has been created to gather as many signatures as possible and send a signal to the IOC that the unequal treatment of women is unacceptable.

Sign the petition here: "The President of the International Olympic Committee should present the gold medal to the winner of the women’s marathon, not just the winner of the men’s marathon".

This call was also included in the set of demands of the initiative London 2012: Justice for Women. On 25 July in London, EWL members buried the Olympic Charter to mark the death of Olympic (...)

[London, 26 July 2012] Sonja Lokar, President of the EWL, was invited on 23 July to give evidence to the upper chamber of the British Parliament on the use of legislative measures to enhance equality on the boards of private companies. Ms. Lokar addressed the House of Lords’ EU Sub Committee, giving evidence of the benefits of gender balance on company boards and of experience of quotas in attaining this goal. Sonja Lokar stressed that the obstacles to gender balance on boards are both in the demand and also in the supply side, and explained the EWL position in favour of binding measures at the EU level as the only way to deliver sustainable change and accomplish the same objectives across companies and Member States.

The House of Lords’ EU Sub Committee, responsible for looking at EU employment issues, is currently carrying out an inquiry regarding EU action to improve gender diversity on boards. As a part of the inquiry project, the House of Lords invited Helena Morrissey, the (...)

[Brussels, 25 July 2012] The basic right of women to choose whether and when to have children is under threat in Spain. Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon declared in an interview published on Saturday that the government is planning on tightening the current abortion legislation, considering it as “ethically inconceivable” (interview by La Razon).

As presented by the Minister, the new law would forbid abortion as a general rule, except in some specific cases. Among them, foetal impairment would no longer be considered. Two years after the introduction of the 2010 law liberalising the right to choose on abortion under the Zapatero government, this move represents severe backsliding on a hard-won and key victory for women’s rights.

Until recently, abortion was indeed strictly forbidden in Spain, condemning women to practice unsafe clandestine abortions which caused for example more than 3000 deaths of women in the single year of 1976, according to data from the Supreme Court. (...)

[Brussels, 19 July 2012] The EWL and the Bulgarian Women’s Lobby last week organised in Sofia a European conference on ‘Trafficking in women and prostitution: Bulgarian and European perspectives’. The high-level conference attracted a substantial amount of media attention, ensuring widespread visibility and debate on this important issue.

On this occasion, EWL Policy Officer and Project Coordinator Pierrette Pape presented the European Women’s Lobby’s approach to trafficking in women and prostitution, and expressed the wish of women’s organisations to see Bulgaria strengthen its policies on prostitution, through stronger attention given to procuring and prostitute-users, increased prevention and education to equality, and more funding to women’s NGOs supporting women and girls in prostitution and offering them alternatives. Ms Pape also presented EWL campaign ‘Together for a Europe free from prostitution’, which is supported by 31 MEPs.

Organised on 13 July in the European Parliament (...)

[Brussels, 17 July 2012] Commission Vice-President Catherine Ashton this week took a stance against quotas, in a move which could undermine recent efforts of the European Commission to increase women’s representation on boards.

In reply to a written parliamentary question, Catherine Ashton, High Representative for the Foreign Affairs and Security Policy as well as Vice-President of the Commission, declared that she would not apply quotas to the EU’s External Action Service (EEAS). This stance reflects the internal contradictions of the European Commission, four months after Viviane Reding, her fellow Vice-President and Commissioner responsible for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, asked Member States to ensure a 30% representation of women on boards by 2015, and 40% by 2020, explicitly defending the use of quotas (see interview in The Guardian newspaper here).

Ms. Ashton declared that she was against the use of quotas on the basis that “the basic principle of EEAS (...)