The Committee on International Trade Committee
on Womens Rights and Gender Equality adopted an
own-initiative report on gender equality in EU trade agreements
drafted jointly by Eleonora FORENZA (GUE/NGL, IT) and Malin
BJÖRK (GUE/NGL, SE).
Members argued that EU trade and investment
agreements and policy are not gender-neutral, meaning that they
have different impact on women and men due to structural
inequalities.
Gender equality is a universal goal enshrined
in many international instruments, such as the UN Charter. The
Union is firmly committed to promoting and ensuring gender equality
in the framework of its fundamental treaties, including the Charter
of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Members insisted that the new generation of
trade agreements should promote relevant international standards
and legal instruments, including on gender equality, such as
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action, the core
ILO Conventions and the sustainable development goals
(SDGs).
The report argued that binding and
enforceable provisions in EU trade agreements are necessary to
ensure respect for human rights standards, including gender
equality.
The Commission, the European Union and its
Member States were invited, inter alia, to:
- ensure that the objectives of the SDGs, in particular
Goal 5 on gender equality, and the Strategic engagement for
gender equality 2016-2019 are fully reflected in EU trade
policies;
- take into account the gender dimension in its mid-term
review of the Trade for All strategy, and ensure that gender
equality is mainstreamed into trade and investment
policy;
- ensure that public procurement provisions have
a positive impact, especially from a gender perspective, when
included in EU trade agreements; the Commission should support the
access of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to public
procurement and develop specific measures for such enterprises run
by women;
- support the inclusion of a chapter on the
gender dimension in EU trade and investment agreements, building on
existing examples such as the Chile-Uruguay and Chile-Canada
FTAs;
- promote multilateral agreements to extend the
protection afforded by EU legislative acts that take into account
gender equality issues such as the Conflict Minerals
Regulation;
- include a reference to CEDAW in trade
agreements and take steps towards the EUs accession and
ratification of the Convention;
- continue the work of the ILO in implementing
the Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention and Convention No.
156 on Workers with Family Responsibilities and reinforce
international labour standards for decent work on global value
chains, with particular focus on women;
- find ways to improve the GSP and GSP + systems
by means such as reinforcing their conditionality to the removal of
legal discrimination against women;
- ensure, in negotiations at WTO level, that due
consideration is given to gender equality when preparing new rules
and agreements, and implementing and reviewing existing agreements,
included in the WTO Trade Policy Review
Mechanism;
- strengthen corporate social responsibility and
due diligence, and encourage the WTO to take gender equality into
account in its trade policy;
- promote, in trade agreements, the commitment to ensure
an improved participation of women in decision-making
bodies, both in the public and in the private sector;
- ensure that the gender equality objective is given
special attention in development cooperation, and that it is
part of all aid programs, including programs related to the Aid for
Trade strategy;
- explore how EU trade policies and agreements can
promote women's economic empowerment and participation in
areas such as science, technology, engineering and
mathematics.
The report also made concrete recommendations
as to what the Union can and should do to strengthen its commitment
to the issue of gender inequalities in various sectors with a
gender-specific cause and effect such as services, manufacture,
agriculture, clothing, and intellectual property rights.