The Romanian NGOs from The Coalition for Gender Equality along with organisations working on sexual and reproductive health and rights in fourteen national contexts across Europe and at EU level, have endorsed the submission of a joint statement under the umbrella of the Center for Reproductive Rights and made recommendations to the European Commission ahead of the launch of the first EU Civil Society Strategy.
The submission highlights the specific challenges and threats faced by human rights defenders and civil society organisations working to advance gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights across the EU.
The signatories call on the European Commission to ensure the new Civil Society Strategy responds to these challenges and needs. The submission provides 6 recommendations to ensure EU efforts to support, protect and foster an enabling environment for civil society across the EU are gender-sensitive.
Recommendation 1: An effective protection mechanism that is gender-sensitive
Recommendation 2: A gender-sensitive early warning system
Recommendation 3: Public support for SRHR organisations and defenders
Recommendation 4: Support for enabling environments for SRHR organisations and defenders
Recommendation 5: Diverse and inclusive channels for civil society engagement, participation and consultation
