123. Notes that there continues to be insufficient attention given to sexual and reproductive rights violations that undermine efforts towards fulfilling the Cairo Programme of Action commitments adopted at the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), and to addressing discrimination – including gender discrimination and inequality – in population and development strategies; underlines tha ...[+++]t progress on reproductive health has been limited in some contexts by violations such as child, early and forced marriage and failure to enforce a legal minimum age of marriage, coercive practices such as forced sterilisation or FGM, as well as denial of autonomy to women and girls to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive health free of discrimination, coercion and violence; Calls for the Cairo Programme of Action to be implemented in its human rights and development policy aspects, to promote gender equality and women’s and children’s rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights;

130. Notes that there continues to be insufficient attention given to sexual and reproductive rights violations that undermine efforts towards fulfilling the Cairo Programme of Action commitments adopted at the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), and to addressing discrimination – including gender discrimination and inequality – in population and development strategies; underlines tha ...[+++]t progress on reproductive health has been limited in some contexts by violations such as child, early and forced marriage and failure to enforce a legal minimum age of marriage, coercive practices such as forced sterilisation or FGM, as well as denial of autonomy to women and girls to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive health free of discrimination, coercion and violence; Calls for the Cairo Programme of Action to be implemented in its human rights and development policy aspects, to promote gender equality and women’s and children’s rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights;

142. Welcomes the fact that freedom of religion or belief is included as a subject matter in the training provided to the EU staff; strongly reiterates its call for an ambitious toolkit to advance the right to freedom of religion or belief as part of EU external policy; welcomes, in this context, the EU’s commitment to develop guidelines on freedom of religion or belief in accordance with section 23 of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy; notes that these guidelines should be in line with EU Human Rights country strategies and include a checklist on the necessary freedoms pertaining to the right of freedom of religion or ...[+++]belief, in order to assess the situation in a given country, as well as a methodology to help identify infringements of freedom of religion or belief; stresses the need for Parliament and civil society organisations to be involved in the preparation of these guidelines; encourages the EU to ensure coherence between the new guidelines and the priorities listed in EU human rights country strategies; stresses the importance of mainstreaming freedom of religion or belief in the EU’s development and other external policies;

150. Welcomes the fact that freedom of religion or belief is included as a subject matter in the training provided to the EU staff; strongly reiterates its call for an ambitious toolkit to advance the right to freedom of religion or belief as part of EU external policy; welcomes, in this context, the EU’s commitment to develop guidelines on freedom of religion or belief in accordance with section 23 of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy; notes that these guidelines should be in line with EU Human Rights country strategies and include a checklist on the necessary freedoms pertaining to the right of freedom of religion or ...[+++]belief, in order to assess the situation in a given country, as well as a methodology to help identify infringements of freedom of religion or belief; stresses the need for Parliament and civil society organisations to be involved in the preparation of these guidelines; encourages the EU to ensure coherence between the new guidelines and the priorities listed in EU human rights country strategies; stresses the importance of mainstreaming freedom of religion or belief in the EU’s development and other external policies;

150. Welcomes the fact that freedom of religion or belief is included as a subject matter in the training provided to the EU staff; strongly reiterates its call for an ambitious toolkit to advance the right to freedom of religion or belief as part of EU external policy; welcomes, in this context, the EU’s commitment to develop guidelines on freedom of religion or belief in accordance with section 23 of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy; notes that these guidelines should be in line with EU Human Rights country strategies and include a checklist on the necessary freedoms pertaining to the right of freedom of religion or ...[+++]belief, in order to assess the situation in a given country, as well as a methodology to help identify infringements of freedom of religion or belief; stresses the need for Parliament and civil society organisations to be involved in the preparation of these guidelines; encourages the EU to ensure coherence between the new guidelines and the priorities listed in EU human rights country strategies; stresses the importance of mainstreaming freedom of religion or belief in the EU’s development and other external policies;

We have this morning from the Department of Justice, Mr. Shawn Scromeda, who is a counsel in the criminal law policy section; Paul Saint-Denis, senior counsel in the criminal law policy section; and Simon William, who is a counsel with the strategic operations section.