e-zine nEUws, 36th edition

Development: 10th anniversary of 'Cairo conference' reaffirms sexual health as top development priority

A decade after the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo put sexual and reproductive health on the global agenda, the issues it raised remain an international priority. In a meeting with UNFPA's chief, the Commission vowed to redouble its commitment.

Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Poul Nielson recently held talks with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. On the tenth anniversary of the landmark ICPD – which took place in Cairo, Egypt – they discussed ways of promoting sexual and reproductive health in developing countries.

Since the Cairo gathering in 1994, which put reproductive health issues on the political map, the EU has been strongly committed to furthering the ICPD's agenda. Commissioner Nielson expressed his continued support and confidence in the important work carried out by the UNFPA in this framework. The fund is an important strategic partner for the EU and has received over €32 million from the European Development Fund.

Mr Nielson has repeatedly stressed that improving sexual and reproductive health services are key to enhancing the lot of women – i.e. half the human population. Without these services, “poverty reduction would not be possible”, he explained.

Human numbers and human beings? Although progress has been made over the last ten years, there are still major shortcomings. For instance, shortages in condoms have left millions of women in poorer countries vulnerable to unwanted pregnancies – which could hamper their educational and economic prospects – and sexually transmitted diseases, such as the AIDS epidemic sweeping across Africa and other parts of the developing world.

The Union has allocated nearly €74 million between 2003 and 2006 to back programmes promoting sexual and reproductive health in developing countries. Nevertheless, Mr Nielson said he was willing to consider finding more financial support to address this problem.

Despite the relatively slow progress, Cairo has left an important legacy. The gathering – during which 179 countries signed up to a far-sighted 20-year plan – was an important milestone in the history of population and development, as well as women's rights. As Ms Obaid, herself, put it: "[It] changed the international debate about population from human numbers to human beings".

Source: European Commission

For more information
Commission press release:
http://www.europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/04/535|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display =
Background on tenth anniversary of Cairo conference: http://www.unfpa.org/icpd/10/index.htm
UNFPA: http://www.unfpa.org

UK House of Lords report on "EU Development aid in transition"

EU aid has undergone substantial changes over the past few years, aimed at improving its effectiveness. These changes were reviewed in 2002 by the House of Commons International Development Select Committee. Its general conclusion was that, whilst in many respects the changes were to be welcomed, there remained a great deal more to do in terms of implementation.

The full report, including diagrams with the organization structure of EU development aid is available at:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldselect/ldeucom/75/75.pdf

At the eve of further reforms it provides a good overview of the history and current structure of EU development assistance.

Source: European Commission

EuropeAid issues a SUPPLY PROCUREMENT NOTICE "First Phase - Equipment for the Reproductive Health Programme Turkey"

It calls for the provision of basic supplies and equipment in kit form and individual items of equipment for various services, including Ante Natal Care, Birth, Obstetric Emergencies, Family Planning and infection prevention, provided by various health care facilities of the Ministry of Health and for related training institutions and laboratories, including training equipment and furniture.

Participation is open on equal terms to all natural and legal persons [participating either individually or in a grouping (consortium) of tenderers] of the 25 Member States of the European Union and the beneficiary countries or territories of the MEDA programme: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Gaza and the West Bank. All goods supplied under this contract must originate in these countries, except the items specified in Article 10 of the Special Conditions.

The tender dossier is available from the following Internet address: http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/tender/index_en.htm. The tender dossier is also available for collection from the Contracting Authority. Tenders must be submitted using the standard tender form included in the tender dossier, whose format and instructions must be strictly observed.

Tenderers with questions regarding this tender should send them in writing to

Could HIV endager EU-Libyan reconciliation?

In recent months, Libya seemed to have been fully accepted on the European diplomatic floor. When Colonel Gaddafi's visited Brussels at the end of April escorted by his good-looking female bodyguards, European leaders were keen on shaking hands with him. As Khaled Diab describes in the latest issue of the "European Voice": "The Brussels visit marked a major watershed on Libya's path back into the international fold. Since a decade-old UN-embargo was officially lifted in 1999, Libya has worked hard to restore frozen economic and political ties." However, "the largely positive 'buzz' surrounding Gaddafi gave way to disquiet (…) as a Libyan court sentenced to death five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor accused of masterminding the deliberate infection of more than 400 Libyan children – 40 of whom have died – with HIV. According to Luc Montagnier, the French doctor who discovered the virus, the Benghazi epidemic emerged in 1997, a year before the condemned arrived in the country. (…)

Along with Syria, Libya is the missing link in the EU's ambition to forge a Euro-Mediterranean (Euro-Med) free-trade area by 2012 (…)". The verdict given on 6 May might not halt this process. It, however, has certainly taken some dark clouds back into EU-Libyan relations.

Source: European Voice 13-18 May 2004, see "Libya's rocky road to reconciliation" by Khaled Diab

EU entry hits Czech sex trade

The number of prostitutes lining the main truck routes through the Czech-German border has plummeted since the Czech Republic joined the EU on 1 May.

The Czech press says truck drivers - the prostitutes' chief clients - are now passing through the border swiftly without needing to spend hours in traffic queues.

"The inhabitants of the border areas can finally breathe a sigh of relief," says Pravo.

EU entry has at a stroke solved a huge problem which the local authorities have been unable to tackle for years, it adds.

The mayor of Cesky Tesin in north Moravia, Jindrich Sznapka, told the daily that prostitutes had profited mainly from the truck drivers.

And the town's police chief, Jan Hruza, said: "In the past, drivers used to wait here for several hours, which naturally attracted prostitutes. But now drivers have no time... Hardly any of them stop for prostitutes."

"Most of them are now hanging around at bus stops and petrol stations," a driver from Ceske Budejovice told Pravo.

Sex tourism wilts

Prostitutes along the highway from Teplice in north Bohemia to the Czech-German border crossing at Cinovec are also disappearing due to dwindling customers, the paper says.

According to local people, this decline is also due to a longer term fall in the number of cash-rich German "sex tourists" visiting the poorer former communist country.

A spokesman for Dubi Town Hall in north Bohemia, Jindrich Pech, told the daily that many brothels in the town were now up for sale or had closed.

With their business facing tough times, prostitutes might concentrate along another ill-famed route - the international E55 road which crosses the Czech Republic from Austria to Germany, Mr Hruza said.

Moves to legalise

Last month the government gave the go-ahead to a new law that would legalise prostitution.

Under such a bill, offering sexual services would become a profession regulated by the state, possibly defined as freelancing rather than as a business. Such laws already exist in Austria and Germany, the bill's authors say.

According to estimates cited by the internet magazine Czech Happenings, up to 25,000 people earn their living as prostitutes in the Czech Republic.

But the move has already drawn criticism from abroad.

Pravo carried a story this week saying President Vaclav Klaus and the heads of both chambers of parliament had received a letter from the US Southern Baptist Convention warning against the planned legalisation of prostitution.

Source: BBC Monitoring, go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3703387.stm