Forum libero

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Zero tolerance and the fight against sexual harassment and sexual abuse in the EU

1. Strongly condemns all forms of sexual violence and physical or psychological harassment and deplores the fact that these acts are too easily tolerated, whereas in fact they constitute a systemic violation of fundamental rights and a serious crime that must be punished as such; stresses that impunity must end by ensuring that perpetrators are prosecuted;

2. Insists on effective implementation of the existing legal framework addressing sexual harassment and abuse, encouraging at the same time the EU Member States, as well as public and private companies, to take further measures to effectively prevent and end sexual harassment in the workplace and elsewhere; stresses that the dedicated legal procedures established to address sexual harassment cases in the workplace should be followed;

3. Welcomes initiatives such as the #MeToo movement that aim to report cases of sexual harassment and violence against women; strongly supports all the women and girls who have participated in the campaign, including those who denounced their perpetrators;

4. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to adequately monitor the correct implementation of the EU directives prohibiting harassment on the basis of gender and sexual harassment, and to ensure that the EU Member States strengthen the human resource capacity of equality bodies supervising discriminatory practices and make sure that these bodies are given a clear mandate and adequate resources to cover the three areas of employment, self-employment and access to goods and services;

5. Calls on the Commission to assess, exchange and compare the existing best practices of combating sexual harassment in the workplace and to disseminate the results of this assessment as regards the effective measures that Member States could take to encourage companies, social partners and organisations involved in vocational training to prevent all forms of gender-based discrimination, in particular as regards harassment and sexual harassment in the workplace;

6. Highlights the central role of all men in committing to change and to ending all forms of harassment and sexual violence, by combating circumstances and structures which enable, even passively, the behaviour that leads to this and challenging any misconduct or inappropriate behaviour; calls on the Member States to actively involve men in awareness-raising and prevention campaigns;

7. Believes that key actions to combat sexual harassment include tackling the issues of under-reporting and social stigma, establishing procedures of workplace accountability, active engagement of men and boys in violence prevention, and action against emerging forms of violence, e.g. in cyberspace;

8. Is alarmed that harassment of women online and especially on social media, ranging from unwanted contact, trolling and cyber-bullying to sexual harassment and threats of rape and death, is becoming widespread in our digital society, which also gives rise to new forms of violence against women and girls, such as cyber-bullying, cyber-harassment, the use of degrading images online and the distribution on social media of private photos and videos without the consent of the people involved;

9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that funding mechanisms for programmes to combat violence against women can be used for awareness raising and to support civil society organisations addressing violence against women, including sexual harassment;

10. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to speed up the ratification of the Istanbul Convention; calls on the Member States to fully implement it, including by setting up a system of disaggregated data collection, which includes data broken down by the age and gender of the perpetrators and the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, and which includes sexual harassment;

11. Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal for a directive against all forms of violence against women and girls and of gender-based violence; reiterates its call for the Commission to put forward a comprehensive EU strategy against all forms of gender-based violence, including sexual harassment and sexual abuse against women and girls;

12. Calls on the Council to activate the passerelle clause by adopting a unanimous decision to identify violence against women and girls (and other forms of gender-based violence) as an area of crime under Article 83(1) TFEU;

13. Calls for better inclusion of women in decision-making processes, in unions and in senior positions of organisations in the public and private sectors; calls on the Commission and the Member States, together with NGOs, social partners and equality bodies, to step up significant awareness-raising measures as regards the rights of the victims of sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination; stresses the urgent need for Member States, employers’ organisations and trade unions to promote awareness of sexual harassment and to support and encourage women to report incidents immediately;

14. Stresses the importance of dedicated training and awareness-raising campaigns regarding existing formal procedures on reporting sexual harassment in the workplace and victims’ rights, thus enforcing the principle of dignity at work and promoting a zero-tolerance approach as the norm;

Sexual harassment in parliaments, including the European Parliament

15. Strongly condemns the cases of sexual harassment that have been revealed in the media and expresses its strong support towards the victims of sexual harassment and abuse; stresses that, in order to be taken seriously, it is crucial for the EU institutions to firmly stand against any form of gender discrimination or any action that hinders gender equality;

16. Calls on the President of Parliament and Parliament’s administration:

– to urgently and thoroughly examine the recent media reports on sexual harassment and abuse in the European Parliament, while respecting the privacy of the victims, to share the findings with its Members and to propose adequate measures to prevent new cases;

– to evaluate and, if necessary, revise the composition of competent bodies so as to ensure independence and gender balance, and to further reinforce and promote the functioning of its Advisory Committee dealing with complaints of harassment between APAs and Members of Parliament as well as its Staff Advisory Committee for Parliament staff on harassment prevention, while acknowledging their important work;

– to revise its rules to also include trainees in all Advisory Committees on harassment prevention and to reinforce interest in strengthening their positive measures, and to avoid conflicts of interest regarding members of those important committee structures; to investigate formal cases, to maintain a confidential register of cases over time, and to adopt the best means to ensure zero tolerance at all levels in the institution;

– to set up a task force of independent experts to be convened with a mandate to examine the situation of sexual harassment and abuse in Parliament, which will carry out an evaluation of Parliament’s existing Advisory Committee dealing with complaints of sexual harassment between APAs and Members of Parliament and the Staff Advisory Committee for Parliament staff on harassment prevention, and propose adequate changes;

– to fully support victims in procedures within Parliament and/or with the local police; to activate emergency protection or safeguarding measures where necessary and to fully implement Article 12a of the Staff Regulations, ensuring that cases are fully investigated and disciplinary measures applied;

– to ensure the implementation of a strong and effective action plan against sexual harassment in the interest of prevention and support and mandatory training for all staff and Members on respect and dignity at work so as to ensure that a zero-tolerance approach becomes the norm; to fully engage in awareness-raising campaigns with all Members and services of the administration, with a special focus on groups in the most vulnerable positions, such as trainees, APAs and contract agents;

– to set up an institutional network of confidential counsellors tailored to Parliament’s structures to support and advise victims, as is the practice for Commission staff;

17. Calls on all colleagues to support and encourage victims to speak out and report cases of sexual harassment through improved formal procedures within Parliament’s administration and/or to the police;

18. Resolves to adopt internal rules on whistle-blowing to safeguard the rights and interests of whistle-blowers and provide adequate remedies if they are not treated correctly and fairly in relation to their whistle-blowing;

19. Recommends that the European Ombudsman provide Parliament’s High Level Group on Gender Equality and Diversity with data once a year as regards complaints about maladministration relating to gender equality in Parliament, with due respect for the decision of the European Parliament on the regulations and general conditions governing the performance of the Ombudsman’s duties;

20. Calls on the Member States to examine the situation of sexual harassment and abuse in their national parliaments, to take active measures to combat it, and to implement and adequately enforce a policy of respect and dignity at work for elected members and staff; calls for the implementation of such a policy to be monitored;

21. Calls on the Member States to provide protective support for parliamentarians engaging with the public, particularly those experiencing sexual abuse and threats of gender-based violence, including online;

22. Calls for exchanges of best practice to be organised at all levels with other institutions and organisations such as UN Women, the Council of Europe, the EU institutions and stakeholders involved in promoting gender equality;

23. Calls on all politicians to act as responsible role models in preventing and combating sexual harassment in parliaments and beyond;