Modulasetulo, maloko ao a hlomphegago a Palamente ... [Chairperson, hon Members of Parliament ...]
As we conclude the debate on the 125th Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, Assembly topic, we need to look at how the topic was decided upon and what were the critical areas which were forcing or making the third Standing Committee of the IPU to decide on this.
When hon P Turyahikayo from Uganda proposed this subject, it was taking into consideration the challenges that are faced by women and children, especially on the African continent. These are challenges of access to health and the many challenges of women and children dying because of the lack of health facilities.
Today, women and children in countries faced with conflict are bearing the brunt of those conflicts as their right to health is infringed. You take a look at the women and children of African countries such as Somalia, who can't access health to survive. This has led to many fatalities.
We need to commend the good work done by the South African team that is currently in Mogadishu, ensuring that women and children in that country get access to health care. They are working under difficult conditions, trying to save lives with limited resources and medical equipment. Their bravery and dedication to their call to serve indeed inspires many of us.
I am hoping that many of us in the House are contributing to the initiative and supporting pledges towards the work being done by the Gift of Givers and the South African government in supporting the Somalian people.
The results of the conflicts lead to migration and refugees. The refugee and migration rights are human rights. A number of challenges and bottlenecks still hamper access to health care for many migrants women and children. More women die each year due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
Co-operation with the international community is needed, to reinvigorate their efforts aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals, thus contributing to the elimination of conditions that force people to migrate, such as poverty; the negative impact of human activities on the environment; the failure to apply international law; the continued existence of agricultural subsidies; the lack of official development assistance; and the deficit of good governance and of the rule of law.
International migration requires a holistic and coherent approach based on shared responsibilities, which also and concurrently addresses the root causes and consequences of migration for women, as for men, such as inadequate potable water, sanitation and waste disposal in urban and rural areas in Africa which leave populations vulnerable to waterborne diseases and other environmental diseases such as malaria, lung and other respiratory diseases, which are still major killers in Africa.
These conditions are compounded for women by some unhelpful or even dangerous religious norms and practices centred on their reproductive and productive functions, their heavy workloads, high birth rates and sociocultural factors that limit their dietary intake.
Maternal and infant mortality remain high, which is a concern. Gender inequality affects each individual's opportunity of labour, market participation and migration; and the gendered effects of states, migration policies make women more vulnerable to the violation of their human rights.
While reproductive health issues are important, there is also a need to focus on women's general wellbeing. For instance, infertility is a problem in some parts of Central and East Africa, where 20% of women aged 45 to 49 are estimated to be childless.
Insufficient housekeeping money, desertions and divorce, stress and the insecurities of daily life also threaten women's mental health. Parliaments should use their legislative roles to remove barriers and facilitate access to health care by amending existing laws. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
It is parliaments that rectify international conventions, pass legislation and monitor government programmes. In 2001 during the World Conference against Racism, the IPU declaration pledged that parliaments and their members would work with the United Nations and other organizations to eliminate all forms of discrimination. It then urged parliaments to adopt laws that ensured this, and called on the IPU to follow up on the programmes of action adopted by the World Conference against Racism.
States are obliged to guarantee that all individuals, without distinction of any kind, whether immigrant or refugees, enjoy the rights enumerated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Political Rights of Women; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Unesco Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice; the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children; and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.
One of the direct negative consequences of the lack of a broad and comprehensive multilateral approach to migration policy, and of restrictions on legitimate migration, is an increase in rejection, abuse, ill-treatment, aggression and marginalisation of migrants. This in turn results in criminal behaviour such as human trafficking and xenophobic hate crimes, and many who suffer or bear the brunt of this are women.
Parliaments must pledge to increase budget allocations to health sectors and press for a clear budget line for maternal health. Removing inequalities gives societies a better chance to develop. When women and men have relative equality, economies grow faster and children's health improves.
In conclusion, I want to respond to some of the issue raised by members. Firstly, hon Waters raised the issue that the South African government has failed the women of this country, which I think is completely untrue. When you look at the past, women were not able to get some of the benefits that they are getting today.
When you had to go to hospital for your antenatal clinic, you had to pay, had to travel long distances, had to go to hospitals where facilities were either not available or not adequate to give birth.
Today, under the ANC-led government, these health care facilities are there for women, even in rural and remote areas. Today, even where there are difficulties in accessing facilities or where there is no infrastructure and buildings, there are mobile clinics to support these women. [Applause.]
It is the ANC-led government that has done the majority of this work. We have to understand, we acknowledge that there are challenges in the health care system, hence the proposal for the National Health Insurance is on the table.
The Green Paper is there, let us engage with it because it is one of the ways of improving an integrated approach to health care. [Applause.] You are in the portfolio committee; you should know better. The issue here is that when we talk about ... [Interjections.] You just shut up! The issue of ...