Update on Violence against Women December 2008

Meeting on Media Watch and data on Violence against Women (VAW): the Spanish coordination of the EWL (CELEM) and EPACVAW organised a meeting in Madrid on 3 and 4 December to share best practices in data collection and visibility of VAW. The meeting gave the opportunity to experts from different countries to discuss with Spanish government representative and NGOs the actions and campaigns developed since the adoption of the Integral Law on gender violence and their impact and to compare with other countries, notably Denmark. This work will be continued in a working group of the EWL Observatory on VAW. More information: centre-violence@womenlobby.org

Council of Europe monitoring body for the anti-trafficking convention to start work in 2009: 13 independent experts will be the first members of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), a new body that will monitor the implementation of the Council of Europe anti-trafficking convention. The experts were nominated for a term of office of four years, beginning on 1 January 2009. 17 countries of the EU have not yet ratified the Convention. More information on GRETA here. 

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women - Council of Europe calls for a convention to combat violence against women. “Too many women in Europe are battered and killed by their partners or former partners, simply because they are women,” Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President Lluís Maria de Puig said in a statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on the 25 November. “I would like to reiterate PACE’s unanimous call, made on 3 October, to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to draft, without delay, a convention to combat the most serious and widespread forms of violence against women, in particular domestic violence and forced marriages.” As part of the Council of Europe’s campaign “Stop domestic violence against women”, PACE together with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities published a book of photographs offering testimonies of victims, local actors, parliamentarians and local and regional elected representatives. The book “Break the silence on domestic violence” is available from Council of Europe Publishing here.  

Violence against women - EU guidelines. The General Affairs and External Relations Council of the EU approved guidelines on violence against women and combating all forms of discrimination against them in the external action of the European Union and its Member States. The guidelines are also intended to encourage the implementation of a greater number of specific projects aimed at women, financed by, inter alia, the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, but also by any other appropriate financial instrument of the EU and its Member States. You can find the draft Council conclusions here.

Action to combat gender-based human rights violations, including abduction of women and girls. Council of Europe countries should do much more to help girls, mostly from immigrant communities, who are forced by their families to return to their countries of origin to be “forcibly married, circumcised or enslaved”, according to a draft report of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) approved on 5 December. The draft report is due to be debated by the Assembly during its April 2009 plenary session. You can find it here.

United Nations Resolutions on women, peace and security - The General Affairs and External Relations Council of the EU approved a comprehensive approach to the EU implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 on women, peace and security. In June 2008, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1820 on sexual violence in conflict, which explicitly links sexual violence as a tactic of war with the maintenance of international peace and security. You can find more information on resolution 1820 here.

United Nations Report on Guidelines for Legislation on Violence against Women – A report issued by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime offers good practices and lessons learned designed to assist States in enhancing existing legislation and developing new laws to address violence against women. Based on an expert group meeting held in Vienna, Austria, from 26 to 28 May 2008, the report -- “Good practices in legislation on violence against women” -- provides guidelines and a model framework for legislation on violence against women, including detailed recommendations, commentaries and examples of good practices.  The 70-page document also summarizes the prevailing approaches for addressing violence against women in different legal systems. You can find more information on and view the full report here.