Age:28
Country: Poland
MARTA SZOSTAK
I have been coordinating ASTRA Youth Network for over
two years now and I enjoy my work a lot. One of the things which I value the
most is the possibility to meet new, active and dedicated people from the
entire world and also see us, young people, making a change and having an impact
on the surrounding world especially in regards to Sexual and Reproductive
Health and Rights.
One of the actions which we undertook within the ASTRA
Youth Network, in close cooperation with the ASTRA Network, was submitting a
petition to the European Parliament (EP) on introducing mandatory comprehensive
sexuality education classes into schools of the European Union member states in
2011. Another issue raised in the Petition was to support the national
Ministers of Health/Education in implementing such educational programmes by
the EP. The idea was to bring the issue of sexuality education to a different level.
Writing the Petition was quite a long process , the document was finalized at
33 pages! I recieved a lot of support
from my co-workers and other members from ASTRA regarding the content of the Petition.
The rationale and background information on sexuality education was followed by
information on the European Union and what it has already done and said on this
issue as well as case studies from the undersigned countries. The Petition was
signed by seven NGOs from Poland, Romania, Lithuania and Bulgaria.
I sent the document in April 2011 and the first reply,
concerning the receipt of the petition and granting it a register number, was
recieved a month later. In October 2011 we recieved a second letter from the EP
(nice to know they pay attention to keep EU citizents updated on their works)
stating that the Committee on Petitions had begun examination of the Petition
and the European Commission began investigating the various aspects of it. The
Petition was also found admissible and refered to another Committee for more
information, namely the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food
Safety.
After this letter there was a long waiting period. In
March 2012 we recieved a final reply. It was a positive sign in terms of us
actually recieving a reply from Brussels, it also confirmed that the European
Parliament petition mechanism really works. As to the content of the
reply - the EP confirmed the importance of education on sexual health among young people and that it has a positive effect on their health and prevention of unwanted pregnancies and HIV/AIDS. It also showed to the expertise of the Eurydice Network which stated that sex education is often included in the national school cirricula (really?). However, the EU is not in the position to evaluate wether „significant disparities (...) in access to comprehensive sexual health education exist across the EU” as ASTRA Youth described in the Petition (we are however more than sure that such disparities exist, especially considering the New Member States and the older ones). The EU has moreover no power to influence the national school cirricula and hence the case is considered closed.
reply - the EP confirmed the importance of education on sexual health among young people and that it has a positive effect on their health and prevention of unwanted pregnancies and HIV/AIDS. It also showed to the expertise of the Eurydice Network which stated that sex education is often included in the national school cirricula (really?). However, the EU is not in the position to evaluate wether „significant disparities (...) in access to comprehensive sexual health education exist across the EU” as ASTRA Youth described in the Petition (we are however more than sure that such disparities exist, especially considering the New Member States and the older ones). The EU has moreover no power to influence the national school cirricula and hence the case is considered closed.
This petition has proven that regarding Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights issues it can be a difficult task to rely solely
on the intergovernmental institutions. It is also a sign that we must take our
issue into our own hands – which too can be difficult but actions on local
level can grow bigger with time. How can they grow bigger? With the support of
young people who wish to do something for their peers, their community and
themselves. Young people who see the connection between their lives and the
lives of their peers in other countries.
We are currently the largest generation of youth that ever lived on this
planet – we CAN make a change and the process has already begun.
If you wish to
read the full text of the petition and also the three replies from the European
Parliament please click here: http://www.astra.org.pl/youth/advocacy-work/petitions.html
*ASTRA Youth is an informal
group of young advocates for sexual and reproductive health and rights from the
Central and Eastern Europe region and Balkan countries. It was launched in 2004
as a youth wing of the ASTRA Network. ASTRA Youth is especially dedicated to
advocacy for the implementation of comprehensive and reliable sex education in
the school curriculum, access to science-based, free of indoctrination
information on sex, HIV/AIDS prevention and youth friendly services among
adolescents as well as the participation of young people in the policy
development and decision making processes regarding SRHR. - www.astra.org.pl/youth
0 comments:
Post a Comment