Debate contributions by Mélissa CAMARA

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, when the Pact was adopted, we were already concerned about the lack of solidarity, the weakness of fundamental rights guarantees and the risk that they would remain a dead letter. The first elements of the annual report, as we can guess, on the Solidarity Reserve confirm this: Most Member States are classified as ‘under migratory pressure’ and therefore exempt from hosting. Finally, only nine countries need to show solidarity. This system is neither fair nor sustainable. It weakens solidarity and our ability to welcome with dignity. This is precisely why our group opposed the Pact: because it creates the illusion of a solution while reproducing the same imbalances and shortcomings, and further weakening the right to asylum. We will continue to defend a reception policy based on human rights, solidarity and the creation of legal pathways to end suffering at borders. We will continue to reject a Europe that delegates its responsibility to authoritarian regimes and bases its migration policy on fear and violence. Our line is clear: humanity and dignity. Yours, alas, remains "fear and rejection".

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, protecting women and children? Yes, from the far right. In Poland, restrictions on the right to abortion by the far right have plunged thousands of women into distress. Some died because they were refused an abortion, even when their lives were in danger. In Viktor Orbán's Hungary, maternal mortality reaches 12-15 deaths per 100,000 births. This is twice as high as the EU average. So that's your protection of women! One in seven lesbians has been assaulted in Europe. One-third of trans people who went through conversion therapies attempted suicide. And all over Europe, these tortures are taking place in the wake of your transphobic and homophobic agenda. Two-thirds of LGBT children are harassed at school. Who protects queer children? So, who really threatens women and children in Europe? Those who withdraw rights, turn a blind eye to violence and use their lives for their filthy racist propaganda. To protect is not to exclude. To protect is to guarantee health, equality and freedom. When the far right advances, let us not be fooled, our rights recede. And we feminists will always be there to defend our rights against the reactionary international.

Mr President, EUR 2.9 million – EUR 2.9 million! – this is the total amount of the damage assessed by the Paris Criminal Court at first instance. This 2.9 million is what you, the RN, have embezzled from the European Parliament, it is what you have embezzled from the taxpayer – more than two thousand months of SMIC! The fraudulent use of public money is not your fantasies about NGOs and their indispensable work for democracy, the green transition and social justice. The only fraud, ladies and gentlemen, is to the right of this Chamber. The extremes of the right, which are exemplary, are in reality a caste of privileged people who are enriched on the backs of the citizens. The extreme right, not only rejecting others and spreading untruths, add to this proof that they are playing well against European taxpayers, against society, against all of us. The extreme right does not defend the people, they steal it to finance their hate project.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, during the last debate on the pride In Budapest, I was insulted in this Chamber by a far-right colleague, who asked me if I intended to come to this Parliament on a muzzle and a leash. Since this remark seemed to shock only a few people, let us make it clear: His words were LGBT-phobic, racist, sexist and unworthy of this assembly. We cannot and should not trivialize them. Let's talk about dignity. Ten days ago, in Budapest, 200,000 people marched. They rose, out of pride, out of courage, out of refusal to remain silent, against a regime that governs only through hatred. Meanwhile, in Istanbul, protesters were beaten and arrested simply for wanting to walk. Yet, as every year since 2015, these activists return to the streets, driven by their dignity and their thirst for freedom. To them and to them I mean: You are our courage, a light that nothing can turn off. Europe can no longer remain a spectator while its values are trampled on. It must defend our rights by deeds, not by renunciations. Because the far right is not backing down. She dreams of a world of silence and submission. But there are millions of us. We are proud. We will always fight for our dignity.

The French translation was incomprehensible, but I think that in fact what you meant was incomprehensible and deeply insulting. So it is better that there are small translation defects sometimes.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, Pride Budapest was banned. But in the face of this desire for censorship, civil society and the green municipality have shown courage and resilience in the face of arbitrariness. I will remember my first Pride all my life. Understand that I am not alone, that everything will be fine, feel this pride, this militant joy. All queer young people must be able to live this happiness. To prohibit a Pride is to prohibit the struggle for dignity. It is a deliberate attack on the rule of law and fundamental rights. And if the European Union is silent, if the Commission simply condemns without acting, then we will be complicit. Commissioner, it is time to open new procedures. European money must not serve those who trample on our values. On June 28, I will be in Budapest to walk with pride, to say that our rights are not negotiated. And I want to say this to LGBT youth in Hungary and all over Europe: What you are going through is political. Your existences disturb because they are free, because they are courageous and proud. Hold on, you're not alone, we're fighting for you, we're fighting with you.

You talk about protecting children, you see LGBT people as a threat to children in the European Union? Second question on the protection of children: Today, there are 2 million children who end up with one of their parents who is not recognized. For example, if I move tomorrow, I can lose all my rights to my daughter. Do you think it's protecting children to leave children like that, from homoparental families, without the most basic rights with their parents?

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, without healthy oceans, humanity is at risk. The European Commission's announcement of an ocean pact is a positive signal. But there's an emergency. Yes, the oceans suffocate: plastic, pollution, overfishing, disappearance of artisanal fishing, the time is no longer for promises but for concrete action. Today, this pact is a declaration of intent without a clear timetable or involvement of the first concerned, in particular artisanal fishermen. As with the Green Deal, it will only make sense if it leads to binding, ambitious and fair laws. The climate emergency and the collapse of biodiversity demand it. It is unacceptable today that 86% of Europe's marine protected areas are still subject to industrial activities. Protecting means prohibiting overexploitation and not placing a green label on areas open to destructive extraction or fishing. As the right and the far right unravel the achievements of the Green Deal, threatening our collective future, we must show political courage and coherence. We will therefore judge this pact piecemeal and we will mobilize so that it serves biodiversity, territories and artisanal fishermen, not industrial interests. Europe must prove that it is capable of acting for the oceans and therefore for our future and that of our children.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, what is currently happening in Turkey is serious. The arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, the repression of the May 1 demonstrations, the mass arrests, all testify to a worrying authoritarian drift. Yet despite the fear, despite the violence, Turkish society continues to stand. I am thinking of these students, these students, these women, these trade unionists, these citizens who take to the streets, who sing, who resist. I am thinking of those who have spent days in prison, those who are still locked up. I am thinking of those who will be at the Pride in Istanbul when it has been banned for eleven years now. Their courage, their dignity, their determination are not only admirable, they are a call to hope for a better world. A reminder that, even in the deepest darkness, there are lights that never go out. There is, at the heart of repression, a society that resists, that invents, that rises up. A society that, day after day, proves that freedom never really dies as long as there are still voices to defend it. This Turkey is the one we must listen to, the one that fights for democracy, justice and freedom.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is with seriousness that I am addressing you today to defend one of the fundamental values of the European Union: equality between all human beings. Once again, Viktor Orbán and the far right have decided to ignore this value by deciding to ban the Pride march in Budapest next June. It is the entire LGBT community, but also all people who are victims of discrimination, who are still targeted, harassed. Viktor Orbán's illiberal regime has decided to attack equality and love through hatred and rejection. Once again, it is all minorities who see their lives threatened. The extreme right is synonymous with hatred. The extreme right is synonymous with rejection. The far right is synonymous with racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia. No displeasure to the far right, we exist. Then let us rise, let us be indignant. Let us never stop fighting for our rights, for our freedoms, for equality between all. Our loves are stronger than your hatred. If the battle is tough, it is necessary. So I will be on June 28 in Budapest, alongside all the people who have to fight every day for their dignity.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, mayors in prison, a population on the streets and a regime that responds with repression. Since the arrest of its mayor, the city of Istanbul has risen, and with it the whole country. Thousands of young people take to the streets, shouting a simple but powerful word: ‘Justice!’ They ask for nothing but respect for the vote, democracy, the right to a better future. And how does the regime respond to them? With batons, tear gas, arrests. These demonstrators are not criminals. These are the voices of a country that refuses fear, that refuses to see Turkey sink into authoritarianism. The images are intolerable: students dragged to the ground, universities surrounded by police, families crying in the anguish of disappearance. Since when did defending democracy become a criminal? Since when is the defence of one's fundamental rights punishable by imprisonment? These people show immense courage. To those who have the courage to take to the streets and listen to us today, I say thank you. We cannot remain silent. Today, they are shouting ‘Justice’ in the streets of Istanbul. Let's not let them scream in the void!

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, do you know this face? This is Justyna. I met her two weeks ago in Poland. Why show your face today? Because, like many women around the world, Justyna shows extraordinary courage to protect women’s human rights. She is an outstanding abortion rights activist, convicted in 2023 for helping a woman to have an abortion in her country. In Poland, it is almost impossible to have a legal and safe abortion. Everywhere, sexual and reproductive rights are at risk. Everywhere, our lives, our bodies, our families, our choices are called into question. It can never be repeated enough, but where it passes, the extreme right does damage, for years. The right to abortion is a fundamental right. Women like Justyna put themselves at risk every day to acquire, preserve and restore it. However, the Commission did not consider it appropriate to mention this in its roadmap on women’s rights. We can never repeat it enough: our bodies, our choices. Commissioner, I am counting on you to defend this right courageously during this term of office, with as much courage as Justyna. For Justyna and everyone who fights every day, thank you!

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, democracy in Turkey is being trampled on. Since 2016, 149 elected mayors have been removed and replaced by government-appointed administrators. In 2024 alone, ten new mayors suffered the same fate, accused without foundation of terrorism, because in Turkey being elected does not guarantee being able to govern. I came back from Istanbul, where I met women and men who fight every day for their rights. Today, I would like us to think of these women who open shelters to welcome women victims of violence, of these LGBT activists who resist despite threats, of these journalists, these lawyers, these activists who know that one word too many can lead them to prison and who speak anyway. Repression is everywhere, in the streets, in the courts, in prisons where thousands of opponents languish. But in the face of fear, there is courage. Faced with the imposed silence, there is resistance. The European Union cannot remain silent. We must demand respect for the rule of law. The fight for freedom does not stop at a border, because solidarity has no passport.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, barriers, barbed wire, divisions. This is the obsession of part of the European political class. Wherever states have erected walls, they have sown only suffering and despair. Today, about sixty walls dot the globe with concrete scars. Over the past twenty years, physical barriers have multiplied at the borders of the European Union, in Hungary, Spain, Greece and Bulgaria. 13% of the EU's land borders are now closed. Walls, therefore, as the only political perspective, everywhere. Look at this wall between the United States and Mexico erected under Bush, ever higher under Trump, more than 1,000 kilometers of steel and mistrust. This wall that, every year, hundreds of thousands of people seek to cross, driven by the hope of a better life. And here in Europe, it's the same story. Ceuta and Melilla, for example. A closed door, looking away. These barriers don't solve anything. They break lives, they extinguish dreams and kill. Let us remember 24 June 2022 in Melilla: tear gas, rubber bullets, migrants trapped between fences, wounded, abandoned, without care... 23 lives mown. And how many others in Europe? The walls don't stop the footsteps. They're stretching out the roads. They push the exiles towards more perilous paths where the shadow of the slave trade lurks. Nor do the walls stop the humanitarian and climatic disasters, the wars, the persecutions that are taking place all over the world. I said it yesterday in another speech and I would like to reiterate it today: No one leaves their country, their landmarks, their family and loved ones by choice. Walls do not protect, they separate, they dig ditches between peoples. They feed fear and hatred. Since walls are not enough, now cameras, surveillance drones and a whole digital arsenal are deployed at Europe's borders. But people will keep trying. Allowing them to cross borders is only a question of humanity and solidarity. This fortress Europe is not mine. My Europe is one of a dignified and unconditional welcome, of human rights and equality. We will never accept the escalation of security measures against exiled people, as the right and the far right of this Parliament demand. Billions going up in smoke every year, for what protection? For what result, if not death and despair? Let's finally stop moral apathy. Europe must choose humanity, solidarity, bridges and reject walls.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today I wanted to send a message to those who refuse to see the truth. I want to remind you of one truth: The exiles do not leave their country for pleasure. They don't leave because they want to. They're fleeing. They are fleeing war, misery, persecution. They are fleeing because to stay is to die. On 19 July 2023, Fati and Marie, her six-year-old daughter, are found dead of thirst in the Libyan desert. They were trying to reach Tunisia. The father, separated from them in the chaos of exile, said "I would have preferred to die with them. I would have preferred three corpses to be found in the desert.” Is this our humanity? Is it this fatality that we accept by looking away? The only dignified response is the creation of safe humanitarian corridors. The only answer is legal and safe routes, which provide an escape route to deadly crossings and break the chains of criminal networks. The only effective response is to ensure that EU money spent in third countries in the name of migration management is not used to finance human rights violations. We have a duty to act. We have the power to act, to choose between indifference and action. Never again must we allow men, women and children to die of hope.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I shall now read you a few lines. These are the amendments proposed to this resolution by far-right MEPs, and these are just a few examples: “Recognizes that the ideology of transgenderism poses a threat to the status of women in the EU and globally by blurring women’s identity, allowing a man to freely appropriate a woman’s identity; [...] opposes the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports competitions; ... provide a precise definition of women and girls as biological realities. Hatred as a driving force, again and again. More than an ideology, it is an example of a real obsession. And this backlash Transphobic has an impact on the lives of trans people in Europe and around the world. For example, the risk of making a suicide attempt for trans people is eight times higher than for a cisgender person. As a reminder, this resolution aims to establish Parliament's priorities for the negotiations that will take place in the framework of the 69th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. But now, every file, every subject in this Parliament is a pretext to unfold the worst-case agenda for the far right. Together with my progressive colleagues, we wanted this resolution to be inclusive, intersectional, protective of sexual and reproductive rights. You wanted it to be an identity and an exclusionary one. Everywhere, you go against the rights of women, migrants, LGBT people and minorities in general. That is why I am proud of the text we are proposing to you today, and I invite you to support this resolution and to continue our fight for equality.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to say a word to the far right: Our kids are fine. Their only problem in life is your hatred. Today is a special day for the European Union. We LGBT people see the bulwark that Europe must be for the guarantee of our fundamental rights weakened by the arrival of the far right to the vice-presidency of the Commission. We LGBT people know more than anyone else what the extreme right in power means, and today's speeches have shown it to us again. This means questioning our families, the filiation of our children; stigmatization, violence, the backsliding of our hard-won rights. Neofascism has no place in a Commission that is supposed to protect our rights. The European Agency for Fundamental Rights sounded the alarm this summer: Violence against sexual and gender minorities is increasing in Europe. So I would like to say here that I will fight, for five years, for all the Italian lesbian mothers who have had their rights questioned, for the Hungarian activists who are victims of anti-LGBT legislation, for those who suffer the torture of conversion therapies, and for all the victims of homophobia and transphobia. We won't bow our heads. Compromise with the far right sends a clear signal today: Our rights, our lives are not your priority. It is time for Europe to act for our rights.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen: “Patriarchy no longer exists.” These are the words of the Italian Minister of Education in a tribute to Giulia Cecchettin, the victim of a femicide in 2023. Unleashing its xenophobic agenda, the European far right presents us with a European society rid, finally, of patriarchal society and patriarchal arbitrariness. This propaganda puts women and girls at risk. Yet the numbers are there. In Europe, one in three women has experienced or will experience physical violence, sexual violence or threats. In Europe, one in six women has experienced sexual violence, including rape. In Europe, one in five women has experienced physical or sexual violence from their partner, family member or other household member. Male violence is everywhere, all the time. This violence is systemic. Seven years after #metoo, gender-based and sexual violence is still pervasive. They strike all circles, in all countries. The emergency? Building a society where being a woman is no longer a factor of physical risk or discrimination. The emergency? Shifting from a culture of rape to a culture of consent. The emergency? End impunity, finally! Shame must finally change sides.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, in recent years, Poles have mobilised massively, they have risen up against the Constitutional Court’s decision to reduce access to abortion. They stood up against the deaths and imprisonment of women who wanted only one thing: to be able to fully enjoy their sexual and reproductive rights, in complete safety. What happened in Poland with the black protests and the women’s strikes should inspire us. They demonstrated that by means of mobilisation it was possible to reverse the situation. By going to the polls on a massive scale, the Poles have succeeded in overthrowing an illiberal regime that has been in place for eight years. Why did it have to come to this? How is it that one of the most open and forward-thinking countries on abortion since its 1956 law has been able to switch in this way to become one of the most restrictive? This is due to the rise to power of the architects of an illiberal regime. When far-right leaders come to power, they attack women’s and minorities’ rights first. We have had evidence of this in Poland, and we have had evidence of it in other European countries on other topics relating to the rights of women, minorities, LGBT people, such as conversion therapies, sex and emotional education, sexual and reproductive rights. In this regard, Simone de Beauvoir said: “Nothing is ever definitively acquired. It will only take a political, economic or religious crisis for women’s rights to be called into question. For the rest of your life, you will have to be vigilant." We will be vigilant.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I wanted to talk to you this evening about this trial in Mazan, France, about the strength of Gisèle, a 72-year-old woman who will face 51 of her attackers for four months, after having lived through hell for almost ten years. Men aged 26-73, firefighters, nurses, bakers, engineers, neighbors, friends, colleagues, husbands, fathers. What this trial shows us is what feminists have always said: Gender-based and sexual violence is the work of gentlemen from all walks of life. Men who are the pure product of patriarchal ideology and rape culture. Men who question the very notion of rape, because her husband supposedly consented for her. Because if it's his wife, he can do whatever he wants. Because there would be rape and rape: the one with the intention to commit it and the one without the intention to commit it. This trial is that of a system. Today, I'm thinking about her. I also think of Rebecca, Philippine, Alicia, Giulia. Too many brutal news stories, unbearable violence, reminding us of the urgent need to fight against gender-based violence, because this violence is systemic, because patriarchy is destroying, everywhere in the world and on our continent too. I welcome the adoption, at the end of the last mandate, of a first common European framework on sanctions. But these news stories remind us of the importance of going further and having clear tools and definitions, especially when it comes to the definition of rape. The time of patriarchal domination must be over. So today, let's join forces to protect the victims and finally ban the aggressors.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in the time available to me, I would like to speak to you about Zakia Khudadadi, an Afghan athlete who won a medal at the Paralympic Games for the refugee delegation. Zakia had to flee the Taliban regime three years ago because she was a woman, because she had a disability, because Hazaras, but also because she wanted to live her passion fully: Taekwondo. You will also hear about Parwana Ibrahimkhail, a feminist activist arrested, abducted and tortured by the regime for participating in a demonstration. Parwana, whom we met yesterday here in this Parliament. There are many women politicians, teachers, activists, artists fleeing the patriarchal hell established by the Taliban. Since 2021, they have been waging an infamous war against women and minorities, be they ethnic or gender. Dehumanized, erased, oppressed, deprived of dignity, women are relegated to a status of things. It is urgent that we collectively fight against gender apartheid. The European Union must address this issue in international forums by allowing its recognition as a crime under international law. The lack of a regulatory framework in this area is a major gap in our European and international law. As successive generations of women and girls around the world are subjected to institutionalised and systemic violence, domination and oppression, we must act on behalf of oppressed women and minorities around the world by welcoming them unconditionally into the European Union. I hope that the applause we gave to these women yesterday will be the starting point for full and concrete support in their struggle. Now is the time for us to change the things we cannot accept.

Mr President, Commissioner McGuinness, ladies and gentlemen, the attack on the synagogue in La Grande-Motte, the increase in anti-Semitic acts, death threats and bomb threats in front of mosques in Lyon, Madrid and Munich, LGBT-phobic attacks everywhere, and the ever-increasing number of such attacks, such is the Europe that is emerging before our eyes. And these are just some examples among many others. In my first speech to this House, I wanted to stress the urgency of the situation, the urgency to act in an increasingly fragmented Europe. When hatred and rejection hover over us, we must fight them. What we want is a European project promoting coexistence and equality, a project in which everyone can be him, without fear and without hatred. The trend is towards hostility and inward-lookingness, with a far right increasingly present in this Chamber, unfortunately, feeding on this growing hatred, a far right ready to spread its venom all over Europe, criminalizing LGBT people here, exiles there, pacting with Putin's Russia and unfolding its project of a deeply unequal and exclusionary society. In order for the motto of the European Union, 'united in diversity', to be respected, I expect this Parliament to apply strict rules on hate speech, for you, the Commission, to be intransigent towards states that do not respect our common rules and the fundamental rights of each and every one, and for those who exploit hatred for political ends to be swiftly punished in order to feed a deadly project for our continent.