Motion for a resolution B7 0615/2011 was tabled for debate, which seeks to combat the rising number of HIV infections in the European Union and its neighboring countries.
The UNAIDS report counted 2.7 million newly detected cases worldwide last year. Around 390,000 of them are children. There are 34 million people living with the virus on the planet, and 1.8 million died from the immunodeficiency disease in 2010. In Germany, the number of new infections is decreasing and will amount to around 2,700 this year.
The proposed resolution also notes that there have been a total of 161,000 new infections in the EU and neighboring countries, bringing the total number to 2.2 million. The rate of increase is “alarming, especially in Eastern Europe”. People in whom the virus has not yet been detected are 3.5 times more likely to infect other people. Women aged between 15 and 24 also account for around 45 percent of all new infections.
However, Thursday’s vote was preceded by a lobbying campaign which, according to the European Humanist Federation (EHF), was initiated by the organization European Dignity Watch. This aimed to create a new distinction in EU policy between activities against HIV and reproductive health issues. Among other things, the inclusion in the draft for the promotion of the distribution of contraceptives and information on abortion should be removed.
The EHF then called on the humanist organizations in Europe to vote the parliamentarians to adopt an unchanged resolution text. The HVD joined the appeal at short notice, which is why the association’s president, Frieder Otto Wolf, sent an appeal to the 99 German MEPs the day before the vote. It said:
“Unfortunately, we have found that some religious organizations are lobbying Members of the European Parliament to vote against Articles AA, 14 and 22 of the resolution. Their aim is to separate the fight against AIDS from the issue of reproductive health. This is an attempt to attack previous resolutions – in particular the European Parliament’s resolution of February 10, 2010 on equality between women and men in the European Union – which emphasize the need to provide women with easy access to contraception and abortion. If the three articles are not adopted together with the rest of the resolution, it will be a further step in the direction of curtailing, if not preventing, women’s control over their sexual and reproductive rights.”
On behalf of the association, Wolf urged the politicians to “stand up for the resolution in its entirety, and thus fend off efforts that ultimately do not benefit Europe’s health, but undermine it.”
