WomenÂ’s rights in the Balkan accession countries

Although the accession countries in the Western Balkans have adopted much of the legislation on gender equality required to join the EU, many of these laws are not being properly implemented.

In practice too few women benefit from equal access to justice, even though they remain victims of wartime crimes, especially rape.

In addition, women in the Western Balkans are often underrepresented in both political and economic life, even though they could make an extremely valuable contribution towards conflict resolution in the region.

The Greens believe that the Balkan countries should adapt their laws and institutional frameworks, not only to facilitate their EU accession, but most of all to improve the level of well-being in their societies.

We therefore hope that the Balkan candidate countries will step up their efforts to prosecute criminals guilty of all kinds of war crimes, including sexual violence.

The Greens succeeded in mustering majority support for our positions, including on political inclusion, economic inclusion (if necessary by applying quotas) and on reproductive rights, such as access to high-quality reproductive health services.

We also managed to defend passages demanding respect for LGBT rights, fending off efforts by the EPP and ECR to water down the text.