GLOBAL CONFERENCE OF PARLIAMENTARIANS ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT TOWARD THE 2016 G7 ISE-SHIMA SUMMIT
Speech of HON. MS. SANDRA ZAMPA, MP ITALY
TOKYO, APRIL 27TH, 2016
First of all, I would like to thank our welcoming Japanese hosts, and all the organizations, bodies and institutions that came together and made this Conference possible, giving us such an amazing opportunity to meet and share ideas, and helping us in taking our commitment for women’s and girls’ rights one step further.
I would also like to thank all the Ministers, Parliamentarians and panellists who gave inspiring and interesting speeches. It is an honour for me to address this audience.
As you all know, the next G7 Summit will take place in Italy. In line with the priorities already discussed in the occasion of previous summits, the Italian presidency will focus its attention on the following topics: the geopolitical situation in the Mediterranean and international security; health; international cooperation; women’s empowerment; food security (following Italian commitment in this sector and the work implemented in the framework of Expo 2015); energy and the environment (with the aim of adopting solid measures in favour of the so-called “decarbonisation”).
All we know the dramatic moment we are currently facing in relation to refugees and humanitarian contest. I would like to share with you few data: 400 mil. of girls and boys are discriminated by ethnicity and religion. 400 mil. are leaving in extreme poverty. 145 mil. are refugees children and guys and one out of two do not go to school. As parliamentarians we cannot ignore the drama of our country, of our people. We have to take care of our people. We have to face togher the problem.
The complicated issue of migration and refugees will also be addressed, in light of the “migration compact” proposal recently submitted by the Italian government to the European Union in April 2016, that may be a topic of discussion in the G7 framework too. With reference to the migration phenomena, the fulfilment of the right to health for everybody will contribute to improve the quality of life of the population and therefore would also contribute to reduce the forced migration.
Our All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health and Women’s Rights strongly believes in the importance of involving parliamentarians in advocating for women’s and girls’ empowerment and agency, gender equality and the issues highlighted by the Cairo Programme of Action and the Beijing Platform. We also think that the collaboration between MPs and civil society is of great importance, that these synergies are vital to achieve our goals.
In this perspective, and considering that the next G7 Summit will take place in Italy, the group – together with AIDOS and EPF – is working to host the 2017 International Parliamentary Conference in Italy. Several Italian institutions already expressed their support in favour of this initiative, confirming Italy’s commitment for women’s and girls rights. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate will directly cooperate in the Conference, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department for Equal Opportunities and the Regional Committee are showing great interest and will give their contribution to the event.
Taking into consideration the dimension of the phenomenon of the issue not only for Europe but for the international community, our proposal on the subject of the conference could be migration through a gender perspective: health, integration and human rights.
Special attention will be devoted to the specific needs of women during the different stages of migration; for instance, considering all the challenges faced by women asylum seekers from reception to interview, from their stay in reception centres to the integration phase in the country of destination.
Thank you for your kind attention and see you in Italy.
