EU Report on Refugee Gender Issues Slammed as Hypocritical

With women and children refugees for the first time outnumbering men in the route to Europe, the European Parliament passed a resolution — criticized as hypocritical by leftists organizations — urging more gender-specific asylum legislation, acknowledging that “very significant shortcomings remain.”

While the resolution, passed 18 to 10, says it aims to rectify the many difficulties that women face, some lawmakers called out the parliament's hypocrisy on the topic.

"We are here in the Parliament discussing a report which is asking to support women refugees in a humane way. Yet, at the same time, the European Council said that Austria and other countries quite rightly closed down their borders and some governments are now openly racist, saying that they won't accept muslims on their territory," said Kostadinka Kuneva, member of the Greek SYRIZA party.

"What we ask for is safe and legal pathways for refugees and migrants. Meanwhile, the Council is creating some kind of inhumane trade-off with Turkey so that for each woman refugee who is granted asylum, we will have a woman migrant who will be obliged to return to Turkey," Kuneva said.

The body, which held a photo exhibit and a debate on refugee women — this year’s theme for International Women’s Day — also released a report that highlighted how women are more vulnerable during the asylum procedure, detention and integration.

RELATED: Refugee Babies Suffer Inhumane Conditions in Greek Border Camp

“They have fled persecution in their home countries, undertaking a perilous journey in order to reach a place of safety. On arrival at reception centres these already vulnerable women, who may be victims of sexual violence, trafficking or other violent crimes, face additional barriers which exacerbate their already vulnerable positions," said lawmaker and report author Mary Honeyball.

The report touches on issues from “survival sex” to pay smugglers, female genital mutilation, day care, family reunification and abortion.

PHOTO GALLERY: The Kurdish Female Guerrillas Fighting the Patriarchy

To rectify some of the gender disparities and protect women, the resolution recommends policies like gender-segregated facilities, free sexual health and reproductive rights education, labor integration programs, and an end to the detention of all children, pregnant women and sexual assault survivors.

It also recommends extra protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender asylum seekers, who face violence both in their home countries and in reception facilities. Staff must be trained on gender sensitivity, since “mere administrative convenience violates the right to liberty,” the report states.

The text puts much of the blame for gender-based violence on closed borders and aims to make complaints against border control officers easier and more effective. The same day it passed, the European border control agency, Frontex, celebrated its female workers for International Women’s Day.

Frontex celebrates women border guard officers standing tall at Europe's borders #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2016 pic.twitter.com/Xe8PJc9JXV

— Frontex (@Frontex) March 8, 2016

A similar resolution was passed in 2010, but a dramatic rise in the number of women fleeing violence has exacerbated issues that were not addressed back then. The journey across the Mediterranean is dangerous and expensive, so many women have left their families behind.

Men, setting out to find work and later send money back to their families, made up about 70 percent of refugees to Europe in 2015, but as of this week, women and children are almost 60 percent of the refugees arriving in Europe.