Regulation (EC) No 1567/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2003 on aid for policies and actions on reproductive and sexual health and rights in developing countries
Modified by
Regulation (EC) No 2110/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 14 December 2005on access to Community external assistance, 32005R2110, December 27, 2005
Regulation (EC) No 1905/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 18 December 2006establishing a financing instrument for development cooperation, 32006R1905, December 27, 2006
Regulation (EC) No 1567/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 15 July 2003on aid for policies and actions on reproductive and sexual health and rights in developing countriesTHE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 179 thereof,Having regard to the proposal from the CommissionOJ C 151 E, 25.6.2002, p. 260.,Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the TreatyOpinion of the European Parliament of 13 February 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Decision of the Council of 16 June 2003.,Whereas:(1)The Community is deeply concerned by the reproductive and sexual health conditions of women and men, in particular those aged 15 to 49, in developing countries. High maternal mortality and morbidity rates, the lack of a full range of safe and reliable reproductive and sexual health care and services, supplies and information, and the spread of HIV/AIDS undermine all efforts to eradicate poverty, enhance sustainable development, expand opportunities and safeguard livelihoods in developing countries.(2)Individual freedom of choice for women, men and adolescents through adequate access to information, education and services in matters concerning their reproductive and sexual health and rights is a significant element of progress and development and requires action by governments as well as individual responsibility.(3)The right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is a fundamental human right which is in line with the provisions of Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This right is being denied to over a fifth of the world's population.(4)Article 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union calls for a high level of human health protection in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities.(5)The Community and its Member States uphold the right of individuals to decide freely on the number and spacing of their children; they condemn any violation of human rights in the form of compulsory abortion, compulsory sterilisation, infanticide, or the rejection, abandonment or abuse of unwanted children as a means of curbing population growth.(6)Both the European Parliament and the Council have called for greater efforts by the Community in the area of reproductive and sexual health and rights in developing countries.(7)Article 25(1)(c) and (d) and Article 31(b)(iii) of the ACP-EU Partnership AgreementOJ L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 3. signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000 clearly aim to integrate strategies to improve access to basic social services.(8)The Community and its Member States will continue to contribute greatly to the wider effort to support policies and programmes on reproductive and sexual health and rights in developing countries, and undertake to continue to play a leading role in this area, giving priority to health as part of a global strategy to fight poverty.(9)The Community and its Member States are determined to make a full contribution towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals of reducing by three-quarters the rate of maternal mortality, achieving gender equality, and attaining access to sexual and reproductive health care and services worldwide.(10)The Monterrey Conference stipulates that increased official development assistance (ODA) and debt relief schemes should be used for the benefit of better health and education outcomes and the EU has an important role to play in exploring how increased ODA could be used more effectively for improved sustainable development.(11)The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994 and the ICPD + 5 in 1999 set out an ambitious agenda. The Community and its Member States maintain their commitment to the specific reproductive health goal that was agreed at the ICPD, to make accessible, through the primary health-care system, reproductive health care to all individuals of appropriate ages as soon as possible and no later than 2015 (ICPD Programme of Action, point 7.6).(12)The Community and its Member States are committed to upholding the principles agreed at the ICPD and the ICPD + 5 and call upon the international community, in particular the developed countries, collectively to bear the appropriate share of the financial burden defined in the ICPD Programme of Action.(13)Since the ICPD, progress has been made, yet there is still much to be done to ensure that every woman has the chance of a healthy pregnancy and of giving birth in safe conditions, that the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people are met and that the violence and abuse suffered by women is stopped, including in refugee and conflict situations.(14)The sustained supply, availability and affordability of more effective and acceptable methods of contraception and protection from sexually transmitted infection, including HIV/AIDS, is crucial in achieving the ICPD goals; this calls for an adequate supply and choice of quality reproductive-health-related supplies for every person who needs them. This form of security requires not only the commodities themselves, but the capacity to forecast, finance, procure and deliver them to the places where they are needed, when they are needed.(15)The 1995 UN Beijing Conference on Women and the Beijing + 5 Conference reaffirmed the goals of the ICPD Programme of Action, recognising that unsafe abortions threaten the lives of a large number of women, and that deaths and injuries could be prevented through safe and effective reproductive health measures.(16)No support is to be given under this Regulation to incentives to encourage sterilisation or abortion, or to the improper testing of contraception methods in developing countries. When cooperation measures are implemented, the decisions adopted at the ICPD, in particular point 8.25 of the ICPD Programme of Action, according to which, inter alia, abortion should in no case be promoted as a method of family planning, must be rigorously observed. Post-abortion counselling, education and family planning services should be offered promptly, which will also help to avoid repeat abortions.(17)Experience shows that population and development programmes are most effective when steps have been taken to improve the status of women (ICPD Programme of Action, point 4.1). Gender equality is a precondition for improved reproductive health, and men should take full responsibility for their sexual and reproductive behaviour (ICPD Programme of Action, point 4.25).(18)The effectiveness of programmes to support nationally led strategies to improve reproductive and sexual health in developing countries partly depends on the improved coordination of aid at both the European and the international level, in particular with the UN agencies, funds and programmes, and more specifically the UN Population Fund.(19)Reproductive health providers have a major role to play in the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.(20)Council Regulation (EC) No 1484/97 of 22 July 1997 on aid for population policies and programmes in developing countriesOJ L 202, 30.7.1997, p. 1., applicable until 31 December 2002, is rendered obsolete by this Regulation and should therefore be repealed. The experience acquired during its application should be reflected in the application of this new Regulation.(21)This Regulation lays down, for the entire duration of the programme, a financial framework constituting the prime reference, within the meaning of point 33 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedureOJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1., for the budgetary authority during the annual budgetary procedure.(22)The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the CommissionOJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23..(23)As the objectives of the proposed action, namely to improve reproductive and sexual health and to secure respect for the rights related thereto, with particular reference to developing countries, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, and can therefore, by reason of the scale and effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality also set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives,HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: