Socintern Letter to Mironov

TO: Hon. Sergey Mironov, MP

Leader, Party « Just Russia »

Chair of the political group « Just Russia » in the State Duma

Chair of the Chamber Council of the Parliamentarians – Members of the « Just Russia » Party

By fax: +7 495 692 42 77

By fax: +7 495 787 85 20

CC: Socialist International

By fax: +44 20 7720 4448

By fax: +44 20 7498 1293

6 September 2011

Dear Hon. Mironov, MP,

RE: Anti-women amendments to the draft law "About basics of health protection of the citizens of the Russian Federation" presented by a member of “A Just Russia” Party

It has come to our attention that the State Duma of the Russian Federation will consider a draft law "About basics of health protection of the citizens of the Russian Federation" this September and that a member of the party you preside, Hon. Yelena Mizulina, MP has presented a series of amendments which would seek to limit women’s rights in the field of health, among them in accessing a safe a legal abortion. All of us who have signed this letter are Members of Parliament from Socialist parties across Europe with specific experience in women’s rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

While we recognise the right of national parliaments to legislate in the area of health in full sovereignty as well as the independence of individual members of parliament in matters related to their personal religious beliefs, we do also find that the amendments proposed by Hon. Mizulina, MP for “A Just Russia” Party are also in grave contradiction with socialist values as we understand them.

We believe that the amendments proposed by Hon. Mizulina, MP for “A Just Russia” Party which would:

• require written agreement from the husband of any married woman wishing to have an abortion;

• require women wanting an abortion to wait a fixed period, for pregnancies less than 11 weeks this “silence time” would be 1 week, but for any more developed pregnancies this would be 48 hours;

• force women seeking an abortion to go through a mandatory counselling session where the counsellor would attempt to convince the woman to keep the pregnancy and listen to the heartbeat of the foetus;

would represent a serious contravention of women’s right to health and privacy. When we see that the well-being of millions of Russian women is in peril and this because of the actions of a fellow socialist, we feel compelled to act.

Article 3 of Ethical Charter of the Socialist International, adopted at the XXII Congress of the Socialist International, São Paulo stipulates that the Code of Conduct of the Socialist International includes respect of private life, fostering gender equality in every area of private and public life, as well as fighting against all forms of discrimination, including based on gender.

We hope that you can take this into consideration. While we understand that the demographic challenges in Russia are of paramount importance, we do not believe that they will be overcome by sacrificing women’s rights. In recent decades, a number of European countries have been able to reverse declining birth rates by investing in women and their health and rights. We will be pleased to share these examples from France, Belgium, Sweden and other countries so that a sound approach to overcoming population decline can be found which is based on Socialist values.

Yours sincerely,

Hon. Christiane VIENNE, MP

Member of the Belgian Chamber of Deputies

Member of the (French-speaking) Socialist Party / Parti socialiste

Former Health Minister for the Walloon Region of Belgium (2004-2007)

Mother of nine children

BELGIUM

Hon. Thierry GIET, MP

Member of the Belgian Chamber of Deputies

President of the (French-speaking) Socialist Party/ Parti socialiste in the Belgian Chamber of Deputies

BELGIUM

Senator Marleen TEMMERMAN

Member of the Belgian Senate

Member of the Flemish Social Democrat Party / Vlaamse sociaaldemocratische partij

Former President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Belgian Senate

2010 winner of the British Medical Journal “Lifetime Achievement Award”

Member of the Executive Committee of the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development

Chair of the HIV/AIDS Working Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union

Director of the International Reproductive Health Centre of the University of Ghent

Gynaecologist by profession

BELGIUM

Hon. Françoise Castex, MEP

Member of the European Parliament

Member of the French Socialist Party

European Parliament Working Group on Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS and Development

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Hon. Carina Hägg, MP

Member of the Swedish Riksdag

Member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party

Member of the Swedish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Former Chair of the Swedish All-party Parliamentary Group on sexual and reproductive health and rights

Former President of the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development

SWEDEN

Hon. Luísa Salgueiro, MP

Member of the National Assembly of the Republic

Member of the Portuguese Socialist Party

Member of the Portuguese All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population and Development

PORTUGAL

Hon. Petra Bayr, MP

Member of the Austrian Parliament

Member of the Social-Democratic Party of Austria

Chair of the Committee on Development

Member of the Committee on Human Rights

Member of the Executive Committee of the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development

AUSTRIA

Hon. Danielle Bousquet, MP

Member of the French National Assembly

Member of the Socialist Party of France

Former Vice-President of the French National Assembly

Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development

FRANCE

Hon. Doris Stump, MP

Member of the Swiss National Council

Member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland

Member of the Swiss Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

President of the Swiss Delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union

SWITZERLAND

Hon. Karin Roth, MP

Member of the German Bundestag

Member of the German Social-Democratic Party

Member of the German Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Former Parliamentary State Secretary for the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Urban Development

GERMANY

Hon. Karine Lalieux, MP

Member of the Belgian Chamber of Deputies

Member of the (French-speaking) Socialist Party / Parti socialiste

Member of the Committee on Economy, Scientific Policy, Education

Co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Working Group on MDGs

BELGIUM