China: forced abortions a flagrant violation of human rights.

The European Parliament passed a Resolution (on Thursday) condemning the practice of forced abortion and sterilisation in China, pointing to the abduction and forced abortion of a seven-months-pregnant woman, Feng Jianmei, on 2 June 2012.

"We condemn the implementation of coercive abortions in China since it is a flagrant violation of human rights", said Alojz Peterle MEP, who negotiatied the final text on behalf of the EPP Group. "This practice is unacceptable for the European Parliament."

The EP's strong condemnation of human rights abuses is the result of succesful coordination of EPP Group MEPs Alojz Peterle and Anna Záborská who effectively defended human dignity in accordance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Notably, the Resolution urges the European Commission to review its funding of projects in China to ensure that no EU money is allocated to coercive reproductive health policies and programmes. During the debate on this Resolution, Mr Peterle said: "European taxpayers must know where their money is going. The Commission must set up a full-scale investigation of the organisations and programmes that receive its funding for reproductive health and family planning purposes in China."

The Resolution also emphasises the rights of all women to public healthcare and notes that the aim of family planning programmes is to enable people to make free and informed decisions about the number and spacing of their children. The Resolution also highlights the gender imbalance created by China's one-child policy.

Following this Resolution, the topic of forced abortion shall be discussed at the next human rights dialogue between the EU and China.