Parliamentary questions
4 March 2015
E-010987/2014
Answer given by Vice-President Mogherini on behalf of the Commission
In its relations with Mexico, the EU focuses on key issues underlying the most serious abuses of human rights, including gender violence. The EU aims to bring visibility to this issue and raise it with Mexican authorities through political dialogue and EU-funded cooperation programmes.
The EU-Mexico Strategic Partnership includes a strengthened High Level Dialogue (HLD) on Human Rights. This HLD has allowed an open and frank discussion on core human rights issues. Violence against women was one of the main topics on the agenda of the last HLD held in Brussels, in March 2014. The next Human Rights Dialogue is scheduled to take place in Mexico, in April 2015.
In terms of cooperation activities, the EU plays a prominent role promoting human rights and democracy through specialised technical cooperation with the authorities and non-state actors (NSA), financed by relevant budget lines. Among these, EuropeAid funds over 30 ongoing thematic projects related to human rights and promoting gender equality in Mexico as a cross-cutting issue (EU contribution: EUR 9.4 million). In particular, 10 of these projects directly address gender equality and the fight against gender violence as their main focus of intervention (EU contribution: EUR 3.5 million). These projects are implemented via the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and the thematic programmes ‘Civil Society Organisations & Local Authorities’ (CSO-LA) and ‘Migration & Asylum’ (DCI-MIGR).
Special attention has been given within this framework to promote women’s rights to protection and security, as well as access to a life free of violence.