The delegation of 12 European Parliamentarians returned home after their one-week study tour examining the unmet needs of SRHR in Ethiopia. The MPs are from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, France and the European Parliament. The visit was jointly organised by EPF, UNFPA the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE), and DSW.

They met people living with HIV/AIDS and learned about deeply rooted harmful traditions such as early child marriage, abduction of girls and female genital cutting/mutilation (FGC/M). “Girls and women need to learn their rights to their own body,” stated Carina Hägg, Member of the Swedish Parliament and Vice President of IEPFPD. Veronique Matthieu, French Member of the European Parliament and Vice President of the Working Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health in the European Parliament, stated “Through field visits and meetings with officials we have been concretely introduced to the big challenges this country is facing with regard to SRH&R, and what potentialities Ethiopian women represent. However, a lot still needs to be done to ensure women are educated and healthy actors in the development process."

The 12 MPs joined with women Parliamentarians from Ethiopia to sign a Call for Action that demands the following: unleashing the potential of women through the recognition in government planning of the pivotal importance that women must play in a country’s advance towards development; creating and supporting sexual and reproductive health services; planning by all local, regional, State/ Federal actors and the international donor community in ensuring through budgetary mechanisms the necessary health and reproductive supplies which are required to guarantee sexual and reproductive health; strengthening domestic and global partnerships for development and empowerment; setting firm goals for advancing the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of US$34 per capita in national health expenditure; supporting national education and training policies and mechanisms for health workers; orienting international development aid from donor countries towards countries, multi-lateral organisation and civil society which contribute to and take up the above emphasis on women, equality, education, democracy and health.