393 Members of the European Parliament from diverse political and geographical backgrounds have signed the Written Declaration 39/11 in support of an International Day of the Girl. Edite Estrela, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, submitted the successful Declaration along with the co-submitting MEPs Véronique Mathieu, Jean Lambert, Katerína Neved’alová and Roberta Angelilli. The eclaration of the European Parliament in favour of the initiative sends a powerful message to European leaders of the support that exists within Europe; and it does so one week before it is voted upon at the United Nations.

Between 16th and 21st October EPF led a delegation of European journalists to India, where we visited a range of population projects in both urban and rural settings. The journalists came from DAPD press agency (Germany), De Volkskrant (Netherlands), Le Monde (France), El Mundo (Spain), Politiken (Denmark) and Twoj Styl (Poland).