By Franco Frattini and - -
ROME, Jul 18 2011 (IPS)

The latest events in the Mediterranean and Middle East are a call for adequate responses to the region’s need for economic and political stability, development, employment, and resolution of migration issues. Such responses should aim to optimise potential synergies, coordination, and mutual support for initiatives already under way and for new ones – essentially, a sort of coherent and broad-based Marshall Plan capable of gathering together all the key international actors to address the political, economic, cultural and social (migration) dimensions of the “Arab Spring”.

Italy, for years the region’s top European trade partner, is engaged in a considerable flow of investments to and from the region and has crucial energy interests there. In an effort to jumpstart economic and social growth, we recently launched an initiative to establish a “Mediterranean Partnership Fund” (MPF) to finance those projects deemed most significant through public, private, sovereign, and even extra-regional sources. The MPF would be a trust fund capable of acting as a catalyst mainly in the development of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises that could increase and stabilise employment levels. The MPF was introduced at an international workshop in Palermo on May 20. The Annual Assembly of the Union of Arab Banks (UAB), held from 23-24 June in Rome, dedicated a work session to it that confirmed the interest of Arab banks and the Association for Italian Businesses Operating Abroad (SIMEST).

The European Union, in turn, has been developing for decades a Mediterranean policy based essentially on privileged trade relations and financial protocols through a network of association agreements and Euro-Mediterranean dialogue. Despite recent revisions, the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy is clearly in need of further reinforcement if it is going to achieve a model founded on reciprocal rights and responsibilities, as well as of an adequate redistribution of resources. In this regard, Italy has stated its position in a request for a reinforcement of financial allocations for the countries of the region, particularly through the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a reasonable and balanced willingness to further deregulate imports, especially in the agricultural sector. We have also asked for effective European immigration policies.

Moreover, despite its current difficulties, the experience of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) has led to opportunities for generating the best possible Euro-Mediterranean economic integration through the development of major common-interest projects with the countries of the region, particularly in infrastructure (the “Mediterranean Ring” project) and energy networks already equipped with their own financial plan (INFRAMED PROJECT, created by Italian, French, Egyptian, and Moroccan banking investors).

We are, therefore, closely following the possible strengthening of the UfM planning component, with a view to cooperation based on concrete actions already under way or under consideration as well as potential new synergies -in keeping with the Deauville Partnership and the G8’s recommendations on the MENA (The Middle East and North Africa countries) – with Italy’s MPF initiative and with what we foresee as the EBRD’s enlargement of operations to include the MENA region, as well as reinforcement of the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP) and the EIB mechanisms.

Next in line in terms of strategic content and progress status are the “Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation on Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises” project run by PROMOS (Special Agency for the Chamber of Commerce of Milan), for which a prestart-up phase is in the process of being launched and which has my full support and encouragement, and the “Mediterranean Solar Plan”, which is garnering the interest of all the principal Italian actors in the energy and environmental spheres. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

(*) Franco Frattini is the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Excerpt:

By Franco Frattini and - -
ROME, Sep 22 2010 (IPS)

Promoting women’s rights at the global level must aim to enhance women’s role as pro-active individuals and as the essential and most effective channel for development and peace. However, to achieve this requires protecting women’s fundamental rights, first and foremost the right not to be subjected to violence.

Italy has always been particularly active with a number of initiatives and projects aimed at preventing violence against women, which is a veritable global pandemic. I am personally committed as a member of the “Network of Men Leaders” launched last year by the UN Secretary General within the scope of the campaign “Unite to End Violence Against Women”.

One of Italy’s main priorities in protecting and promoting human rights worldwide was combatting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). This practice is still a huge challenge in many parts of the world. In Africa, some traditional cultures consider it to be beneficial to women and their families, believing that it ensures girls a proper marriage and promotes chastity and family honour. Other countries in Europe, once unaffected by this practice, have become familiar with FGM over the last years, including Italy, where we have now an estimated 35,000 cases of FGM.

Female genital mutilation has been neglected for centuries. It was considered a kind of taboo, and the fact that it was often associated with ancestral traditions or religious myths complicated any open form of discussion or challenge. Illiteracy, poverty, and a lack of information have contributed greatly to the problem.

Luckily, over the last decade, the interest in and commitment to end this practice has reached a new level. FGM is now generally considered a violation of the human rights and physical integrity of women and girls. We are now more capable of addressing the problem at the global and not only the regional or local level.

Since the 1980s Italy has been actively engaged in programmes to combat and prevent FGM, starting in Somalia. In 2004 we initiated a partnership with UNICEF aimed at the creation of a political, legal, and social framework for the abandonment of the practice of FGM. We are now one of the key donors to UN programmes in this field, including the UNICEF/UNFPA Joint Programme on FGM.

We are keen to reinforce our global partnership on this issue. The challenge is huge and requires a comprehensive approach and a wide range of strategies to be addressed effectively. One element is crucial to guide our action: understanding the social and cultural dynamics related to FGM. Trying to simply impose behaviours by law is not enough: we have to go to the roots of the problem and work on positive actions as well, especially in the fields of education and public awareness campaigns.

I wish to clarify that there is no paternalism in our attitude nor have we any desire to impose “western standards” on traditional cultures. Our objective is simply to support African ownership of this initiative and strengthen a process that Africa itself started a long time ago.

Besides, we are not starting from scratch. We can now build on several initiatives that have taken place over the last months: in September 2009 we held in New York the first ministerial meeting on FGM, which brought together an initial group of 14 countries committed at the national and international level to support the fight against FGM; two months later, the government of Burkina Faso, together with Italy and the NGO “No Peace Without Justice” organised a high-level regional meeting in Ouagadougou entitled “Towards a Global Ban of FGM”; in March 2010, an event at the margins of the Commission on the Status of Women was co-chaired by the Ministers for Gender Issues of Egypt, Italy and Senegal, and a resolution on ending female genital mutilation was adopted by consensus, tabled by the African Group, and endorsed later by ECOSOC. Last but not least, in May 2010 an Inter-Parliamentary Conference took place in Dakar, with representatives of parliaments and civil society from 28 African countries, and a declaration was adopted urging, inter alia, the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution banning FGM in the world in 2010.

In our view, all these initiatives have created a unique momentum that the international community should be able to seize. We believe that the time has come to present an ad-hoc resolution on FGM at this session of the UN General Assembly. Such a resolution should be brief and touch on a selected number of priorities: a solemn ban on FGM, a reference to the main legal and cultural instruments underlying that goal, an appeal to the international community and the UN system, and a light follow-up mechanism.

The main point, however, is that this would be the first time the supreme body of the United Nations had spoken out on this matter -a major achievement in itself. This is one of the goals that we have set for this upcoming session of the General Assembly and I trust that the international community will be able to achieve it. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

(*) Franco Frattini is the Italian foreign minister Picture credit: Antonio Scattolon

Excerpt:

The promotion of women’s rights at the global level should not be limited to treating the female population as a gender that is discriminated against and must be protected.

Franco Frattini Credit: Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Rather it should focus above all on the value of women as pro-active subjects, irreplaceable and effective vectors of development and peace. Thus, while there is an emergency agenda dictated by dramatically negative developments, there is also a positive agenda, which constitutes the best way of calling attention to the structure role already played by women socially, economically, and politically.

In many areas of the world – the African continent, for example – it is the women who are at the centre of the processes of production and who guarantee the minimal levels of food and social security, in addition to the concrete prospects for development and well-being for their families as well as entire communities.

This is the dimension that Italy has sought to encourage for years in the context of its own development initiatives, promoting women’s access to work and entrepreneurial activities, in part through microcredit and job- training programmes.

Women also play an important role in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and the pursuit of lasting peace, as recognised by resolution 1325 of the UN Security Council, approved in 2000, which called on member states to guarantee a greater presence of women at all levels of decision-making, particularly in crisis prevention, management, and resolution.

It was with a view to the centrality of women in these processes that an original initiative was recently launched by a group of solidarity associations: a call to award a “collective” Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 to all African women, who organise and fight tirelessly for peace and who sustain life even in the most tragic situations.

In fact, African women are increasingly the protagonists and driving force whether in daily life or in the social and political arenas: they constitute a network of informal economic activity and for decades they have been in the forefront of the creation and growth of thousands of small businesses. In addition, African women are making a growing contribution to the defence of health, especially in terms of HIV and malaria.

However, recognition of the role and potential of the female gender and its specific characteristics on different continents, should not make us lose sight of how much remains to be done on the other side of the equation: protection of the fundamental rights of women, and especially the right not to be the target of violence.

Resolution 1325 also recognises how women are the population hardest hit in armed conflicts. But unfortunately it is not only this: violence against women is a blight that convulses the world at every latitude, in peace and war, rich and poor alike, at home and away from home.

Italy is particularly active in this area as well. As President of the G8, for example, we organised on September 9-10 a conference specifically dedicated to violence against women. Italy has carried out numerous projects to call attention to this issue in many areas of the world, particularly the Balkans and the Mediterranean basin, as well as Afghanistan, Mozambique, and West Africa.

Among the numerous actions taken by our country in this context, there is one that Italy has been committed to since the mid-1980s, beginning with Somalia, and which has involved us recently at the United Nations: female genital mutilation. In addition to launching, together with the UN agencies, an international campaign to prevent this practice, last September, at the fringe of the 64th General Assembly, I presided over an initial meeting attended by cabinet ministers from countries which, like Italy, have espoused this cause. And on Nov. 24, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon invited me to be part of a newly established group of political leaders set on fighting violence against women.

It is issues like this, in which violence has cultural components, that demonstrate how crucial the media are in such an effort, through the grass- roots dissemination of information on the risks of certain practices, reaching people whom it would be unimaginable to reach even through targeted projects or prevention campaigns. Journalists thus have a significant responsibility to shun sensationalism and describe the facts with clarity and accuracy, avoiding stereotyping by nationality, culture, or religion. This responsibility extends to every form of violence perpetuated against women.

In addition to  this challenge, the media have an equally important opportunity to present and publicise concrete examples of the contributions women make daily to building a better society on a global level, a more human form of government that is more sensitive to people’s lives and their communities truly obeys the motto: “people first”.

The international seminar organised by IPS in Rome for November 26 and sponsored by the City of Rome and the Italian Foreign Ministry provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on an issue particularly dear to Italy: the close correlation between the Third Millennium Development Goal and the responsibility of the media.

It is for this reason that, among the conclusions reached by the G8 conference, we wanted to include an appeal to the media to carry out to the fullest their central role, such that they can, on the one hand, contribute to the elimination of denigrating social stereotypes and, on the other, promote with intelligence and persistence a greater understanding of the role played by women as protagonists in the advancement of progress in world communities.

*Franco Frattini is foreign minister of Italy.