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The Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform

Working towards equality and peace for women on a local, national European and international level

58 Howard Street, Belfast BT1 6PJ

niwep@btconnect.com

www.niwep.org.uk

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European News  

UK Parliament report: 'Abandon EU constitutional Treaty"

A new report published by the UK's House of Commons urges EU leaders to "face up to the reality" that the Constitutional Treaty is "on life support" and recommends "explicitly to abandon the Treaty as a package".  The report "Developments in the European Union" was published by the parliamentary members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the UK's House of Commons. It looked at recent EU developments such as the UK's Presidency of the EU, the fate of the Constitutional Treaty, the issue of future enlargements and the EU's Foreign, Security and Defence Policy.

Main observations and recommendations of the report are:

• the UK's Presidency of the EU was a success but failed to "generate ... fresh thinking on democracy and reengagement with the public;
• The government was wrong to retract its support for more transparency in the Council and should support the Finnish EU presidency to promote greater transparency;
• no bridging clauses should be used in the field of justice and home affairs;
• the Constitutional Treaty is "not dead, it is comatose and on life support. At some point, Europe's leaders are going to have to decide whether to switch it off"; 
• support for Romania and Bulgaria's joining of the EU but the government should be prepared to agree to the imposition of post-accession safeguards on either country if needed;
• further conditional support for Croatia and Turkey;
• key to the enlargement debate is the "rigorous application of the criteria for membership" and not an "abstruse debate about 'absorption capacity'";
• the Commission "should not develop a diplomatic service or 'embassies' by stealth;
• foreign policy "is and should remain primarily a matter for each nation state to decide for itself", although "there can be real value in co-ordinating foreign policies at EU level".

In June, the EU leaders decided to extend until 2008 the "period of reflection" that was started after the Dutch and French rejection of the draft Constitutional Treaty. It is expected that the German Presidency of the EU (starting from 1 January 2007) will try to pick up the pieces and prepare a salvaging operation for the EU Constitution, which could then be operationalised under the 2008 French EU Presidency.Full report is available at:  UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee:Report "Developments in the European Union" , (26 July 2006)

         Barroso wants Member States to give up Vetoes on

Justice and Security

The European Commission wants to remove national vetoes on security and justice measures and to upgrade the EU Court of Justice's powers to decide on question of asylum and immigration.  With the need to tackle terrorism and organised crime and the increasing challenges of managing immigration flows and controlling Europe’s external borders, the creation of an area of freedom, security and justice is one of the EU’s highest priorities. It is also at the heart of EU citizens’ concerns. 

The Constitutional Treaty, now lingering in suspension, would have enabled qualified majority voting to apply to the areas of asylum, immigration and judicial co-operation in criminal matters, facilitating progress in this field.  Without the Constitution’s entry into force, the Commission is looking for different solutions to take forward this agenda.

The Commission has found that one of the biggest obstacles to creating an area of freedom, security and justice is the lack of implementation of EU policies by Member States and the failure to transpose EU laws into national systems.

Applying the “Community method” to this area, as the Commission is proposing, would mean that, when a Member State fails to implement Community law within a specified deadline, the Commission will be able to launch infringement procedures against the Member State, and if necessary, refer the case to the Court of Justice. 

Decisions in sensitive areas such as police and judicial cooperation, combating cross-border terrorism and introducing a common asylum regime are currently taken by unanimity. The Commission is proposing to use an existing clause in the EU Treaties, known as the bridging clause (article 42 TEU and article 62(2) TEC), to enable the Council to take decisions in this area by qualified majority voting. 

For the time being, the Court of Justice only has limited competences for settling legal disputes relating to visa, asylum, and immigration policy. According to article 68 of the EC Treaty, EU citizens may only refer to the Court of Justice once they have exhausted all legal remedies in their home country.

The Commission is proposing to extend the Court’s role so that any national Court may request the Court of Justice to give a ruling on a matter relating to the interpretation of EU asylum and immigration legislation. Furthermore, the Court of Justice does not currently have jurisdiction to rule on the legality of measures taken by Member States relating to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security. The Commission wants to change this too. 

Positions:

Finland, which will take over the rotating EU presidency next month, is said to view the proposals "positively" and will put them to EU home and interior ministers at a meeting in September. 

However, Günter Gloser, Germany's Europe Minister, has rejected Mr Barroso's suggestion that member states should give up their vetoes to make EU lawmaking easier in the area of justice and home affairs, saying that such a move amounted to “cherry picking” parts of the EU's constitutional treaty, which Germany wants to revive when it takes over the EU’s Presidency in 2008. 

Sweden, Holland, Denmark and Ireland are said to have concerns about the proposals, while Britain is said to be more open to the idea following the London bombings of July 2005. 

The Finnish Presidency will put the Commission’s proposals to the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council in September. They would have to be approved unanimously by all 25 EU member countries.

Local News

World Rural Women’s Day

Women into Politics will be offering a residential training course and conference in celebration of World Rural Women’s Day at the An Creagán Centre (Omagh District) in October 2006   If you would like to pre-register and receive further information as it becomes available, please contact Susan M Kelly, Dialogue & Development Co-ordinator M: +44 (0) 79 8139 6446

Women's Virtual College

Information days were held throughout N.I. to explore the concept of a virtual Women's College which would   This is being put forward as a maximise the use of existing resources, provide learner support  and programmes designed to meet the distinct needs of adult women returners.

The concept would be a virtual college for women would operate on a regional basis with women’s centres and organisations providing campuses around which activity would take place in collaboration with women’s groups on an outreach basis.  The virtual college would work towards mutually beneficial partnerships crucially with one another and also with Colleges of Further Education, Open University, Open College Network, Universities, Training and other Adult Learning Providers.  The virtual college would not preclude groups and organisations forming independent and autonomous relationships with local colleges and Adult Learning and Training Providers.

The faculties could include:

Ø       Emotional Health and Well Being

Ø       Women and Social Enterprise

Ø       Community Development

Ø       Non-traditional Skills

Ø       Justice, Equality and Citizenship

Ø       Management and Leadership

Ø       Hospitality and Tourism

Ø       ICT

Ø       Childcare

Ø       Community Safety and Victim Support

As a provider of a part-time based curriculum the virtual college would provide a clear pathway to women returning to full time education, training and employment.  The virtual college would target women normally excluded from participating in mainstream educational/training provision and women in employment seeking to enhance their career progression.

The virtual college would provide learner support resources and programmes designed to meet the distinct needs of adult women returners including:

Ø       Childcare

Ø       Access to Library/Resource facilities

Ø       ICT skills

Ø       Study/Learner support

Ø       Essential Skills

Ø       Personal Development

Ø       Structure

The virtual college will be made up of a membership supportive of the ethos and values of the college.

A virtual college committee will be elected by members to oversee the management of the college.  A trading arm will be set up in order to generate income that will support the long-term sustainability of the college as well as protecting its autonomy.

Financial Management and Administration

TWN will be employed by the Virtual College to administer the financial management of the organisation.

Intern Position - GAPS: Gender Action for Peace and Security

If you require a copy of the job description contact niwep@btconnect.com

Part-time Director

The National Women’s Alliance Organisations are seeking the above to work 20 hours per week, initially on a 12 month contract.  NAWO, an important umbrella for women’s organisations based in England, acts as an advocacy voice to government, the EU, UN and NGOs and has developed a focus around Europe. 

NAWO is a key member of the UKJCW (UK Joint Committee for Women), the recognised UK national co-ordinating body for the European Women’s Lobby (EWL). 

This is an opportunity for a creative person with initiative to shape the future of a growing organisation of vital importance to women.  A key task for the Director will be to take NAWO forward in achieving the goals set out in its strategic plan. The ideal candidate must have a commitment to and understanding of gender equality issues, and significant experience of working in the not-for-profit sector.  The first task of the Director will be to recruit a new Administrator.

Salary is circa £28,000 per annum pro rata.  The job description is available from the website – www.nawo.org.uk. To apply, please send cv with covering letter by email to Zarin Hainsworth, Chair: info@nawo.org.uk or by post to NAWO, 1-3 Berry Street, London EC1V 0AA.

Closing date: 14th August 2006.  Interviews will take place on 4th & 5th September – Job description can be obtained from niwep@btconnect.com

International News

UNHCHR - Birth of UN Human Rights Council

The United Nations General Assembly created a new U.N. human rights body (15 March 2006).  The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said that there needs to be a change of culture and institutional reformation and political will to defend human rights must go above narrow interests.

Plans are underway for the First Session of the Human Rights Council which will be held for two weeks from 19-30 June 2006. 19 June will also be the start of the annual meeting of the special rapporteurs, who will therefore be present in Geneva for the first session, although it is unclear what role they will play. The Council's second session will be held in September for three weeks from 11-29 September 2006. A third session of two weeks may be scheduled for 20 November-1 December 2006. Mexico has been elected president of the Human Rights Council for its first year.   

Election results http://www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc/

Update - UN Study on Violence Against Women

Violence against women and girls continues to be a major human rights concern in all parts of the world. The United Nations requested the Secretary-General to conduct an in-depth study on all forms of violence against women (resolution 58/185) which will be presented at the UN General Assembly in September 2006.

For more information: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/index.htm

Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur/complaints.htmNewsletters