Lisbon, 5 July 2022

Inaugural Session of PAM Women's Parliamentary Forum

The inaugural session of the newly established Women's Parliamentary Forum (WPF)  of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) was concluded this afternoon in Lisbon. The Hellenic Parliament was represented by Mr Kostas Zachariadis, while members of parliaments from 15 PAM member countries participated in the session.

The Session’s two main topics were:

- Women refugees in 2022 in the Mediterranean and Gulf region

- Gender equality in the Mediterranean and Gulf countries: perspectives in a post-pandemic era

Mr  Zachariadis, speaking on women refugees’ special problems mentioned the alarming number of more than 100 million displaced people worldwide and the thousands of lives lost both at sea and land routes to Europe, in order to stress the need for states to ensure the unobstructed access of people on the move or stranded en route, found at sea or held in detention centres to humanitarian aid and essential services, also determining international protection needs. In this framework, he called attention to the special needs and conditions of refugee/migrant/ asylum seekers women and girls, which must be taken into account at all stages of the migration process, as being a particularly vulnerable population.

Speaking about gender equality, he said that gender equality remains a hot issue of interest and referred to the multitude of abusive behaviours reported last year in our country. He added that for combating this brutal culture, an institutional framework and a far-reaching policy oriented towards the principles of gender equality and respect for human rights is required. The COVID–19 pandemic has unfortunately exacerbated brutal and abusive behaviours against women. He noted, however, that a legislative framework alone does not suffice for dealing with the phenomenon, which also calls for real change in attitudes and the breaking of stereotype role-shaping for women, to be widely shared by everyone, especially men.

Mr Zachariadis congratulated the head of the Portuguese delegation and all the women parliamentarians who took the initiative to set up the PAM women's forum.

At the margin of PAM work, Mr Zachariadis met with the Ambassador of Greece to Portugal, to exchange views on the two countries' bilateral issues of interest, as well as on current economic and political affairs.

During the session, participants adopted the Forum's Standing Orders and Rules of Procedure and discussed its future course in terms of structure and content. It was agreed that the forum would be open to both genders and meet annually, while it was decided to establish a Bureau consisting of 1 President and 2 Vice-Presidents, with a 2-year term, shifting between the North and South geopolitical groups.

 

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