Statement by the European Commission and the High Representative
“Ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we reaffirm our commitment to ending violence against women and girls”.
Violence against women is a grave violation of human rights and yet it is still widespread across the world. The perception that harassment or being violence towards women is normal and acceptable is wrong and must change. We all have the responsibility to say no, openly reject acts of violence or harassment, and stand by the victims.” Read the full statement here.
The European Commission is running the NON.NO.NEIN’ campaign – Say NO! Stop violence against women from 2016 to end 2018, providing 15 million euros in funding for Member States, local governments, relevant professionals and civil society organisations across Europe to intensify their actions and campaigns to combat violence against women. To wrap up this year of focused actions, the European Commission is hosting a high-level conference for representatives from Member States and international organisations, together with civil society actors and activists. The conference will take place on 4 December 2018 in Brussels.
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights published a statement expressing that ”All women and girls have the right to live free from violence. Unfortunately, this is not the reality. One in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence – 22% at the hands of their partner. More than half of all women have been sexually harassed with 20% of young women reporting online sexual harassment”. Gender-based violence against women is a human rights violation and must be combated vigorously.
The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (“Istanbul Convention”) was drawn up with exactly this purpose in mind. It is the most comprehensive and far-reaching international treaty to address violence against women laying out state obligations to prevent violence, protect victims and prosecute the perpetrators. Read the full statement here.
EIGE launches its findings to improve data collection by the police and justice sectors on intimate partner violence
Reported cases of violence against women reveal only the tip of the iceberg. Most women in the European Union who are abused by their partner do not call the police. Only one in three women (33 %) who are physically or sexually abused by their partner contact the authorities. Reported figures of intimate partner violence conceal how widespread it really is.
Data from police and the judiciary is a valuable source of information on violence against women. It can help Member States check if their actions to prevent violence, protect victims and punish perpetrators are working and help them design more effective measures in the future.
To help Member States improve the quality, availability and comparability of data on intimate partner violence collected by the police and justice sectors, EIGE has prepared a number of resources:
- Country-specific recommendations, based on an analysis of the situation in each EU Member State;
- Country factsheets for each Member State;
- Factsheets explaining the role of the police and the judiciary in collecting administrative data;
- Policy and technical recommendations for Eurostat to strengthen the efforts at the European level;
- Thirteen indicators proposed for the police and justice sectors to uniform data collection across the EU and assist Member States with their reporting obligations under the Victims’ Rights Directive and Istanbul Convention.
You can access all the resources here.
