President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca addressed a high-level meeting on Maternal Health: Refugees and other Vulnerable Women, organised as a follow-up to a similar meeting held in Malta last March, by Women Political Leaders Global Forum in partnership with MSD for Mothers.
The Malta high-level meeting led to the formulation of a significant outcome document. This document reiterates President Coleiro Preca’s conviction, that “maternal health cannot simply be considered as only a women’s issue.”
“I am sure we all agree that equitable and dignified maternal health is an issue of fundamental human rights,” the President added.
“As parliamentarians and policymakers, you are all in a position to make a real difference”
The President encouraged those present to take full advantage of the meeting held today, to explore how the shared commitment to women’s maternal health can be taken to the next level.
“I believe that now is the time for practical action, from a European perspective, to address the maternal health challenges being faced by vulnerable women,” the President said, whilst appealing to those present to focus their efforts on women caught up in the complex challenges of migration.
President Coleiro Preca reiterated her belief that everyone has an essential role to play, to safeguard the rights of others, especially those who are most at risk of exclusion, exploitation, and oppression. It was here that the President called for action to be taken, for tangible improvements to be made in the lives of women who are pregnant, or raising newborn children, while experiencing the traumas of displacement and migration.
“As Europeans, we are witnessing more and more people who are pushed into migration, to escape conditions of poverty, precarity and conflict”
People are fleeing situations of war, environmental degradation, and of injustice, to find new opportunities, to save their lives, for themselves and their families. President Coleiro Preca said that within this context of migration, there is an urgent need “for us to address the specific concerns of women.”
As a matter of fact, in response to the challenges being faced by migrant and refugee women experiencing motherhood, the Malta high-level meeting focused “on their specific needs, and their experiences, during the dangerous journeys they undertake in search of a better life. “As Europeans, we have a clear commitment, to safeguard and to protect refugee and migrant mothers,” the President said.
This commitment, the President explained, emanates from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was endorsed by all European Union member states, and which clearly commits the Member States to provide effective pre-natal and post-natal healthcare for all mothers.
Apart from the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, the European family of nations has also committed itself to implement the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 3, Target 1, which seeks to reduce the world’s maternal mortality ratio – which necessarily includes a focus on the need for effective strategies, for appropriate maternal healthcare.
President Coleiro Preca said that in light of these commitments and pledges, “it is therefore to realise that, according to data from MSD for Mothers, 1 in 10 women in the European Union still have no access to maternal health care services, during the first months of pregnancy,” a situation which is even worse, when the challenges faced by vulnerable communities, such as migrant and refugee women are considered.
In fact, from the deliberations of the Malta meeting, “we are informed that migrant and refugee women face elevated risks of marginalization and social exclusion, when it comes to accessing even basic maternal healthcare.”
“We must ensure greater synergies between our national, regional and international efforts, to end such risks of marginalization and exclusion when dealing with maternal health”
The President said that the recommendations emanating from the Malta meeting “bring to the fore the need for a harmonisation of our efforts, across the European Union’s external and development policies, to effectively tackle the urgent maternal healthcare needs of migrant and refugee women.” These same recommendations outline the need that maternal healthcare concerns, must also inform the European Neighbourhood Policies, to ensure the most far-reaching and sustainable results”.
Therefore, in Malta, it was agreed that “we need to prioritise safer transit routes, to prevent the threat of abuse, and to safeguard access to dignified healthcare, for women who have faced violence, and other traumas, during their journeys.”
The Malta meeting also recommended that policies, at European Union level, should also include effective and relevant policy instruments to address high-quality maternal healthcare in a holistic way, which should be based on need, and not status.
“Mental and emotional health must be part of a united EU approach, to address the maternal healthcare needs of all women, including migrants and refugees,” the President said. The Malta meeting also recommended that synergies between the migration and health policy agendas, on a European Union level are created, so as to ensure a truly holistic response to the challenges being faced by migrant and refugee women, in our countries.
President Coleiro Preca urged those present to be catalysts in the creation of safe and respectful spaces, where migrant and refugee women are invited to participate in structured processes of consultation and dialogue, adding that migrant and refugee women are best placed to influence the appropriate policies in this context.
“It is essential for us to use the knowledge we gain, from migrant and refugee women, to stimulate the creation of a united European approach to maternal healthcare, which respects the physical, mental and economic wellbeing of all women,” the President said.
“I encourage you to analyse the recommendations of the Malta high-level meeting with a view to foster further discussion during our meeting today”
On concluding, the President encouraged those present to use the follow-up meeting, as an opportunity to share their ideas and their suggestions “of how best we can work together to influence the institutions of the European Union, to embrace these recommendations, and act upon them.”
The President appealed for everyone to work together to make motherhood safer for all women and their children, ensuring the fundamental dignity of all women, all children and all families within the European Family of Nations.
“If we manage to do this, we will be sending a strong message across the globe, that the European Union is truly committed towards social inclusion and effective respect for universal human rights,” President Coleiro Preca concluded.