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Parliamentary Network Women Free from Violence
Preventing and combating violence against women with disabilities| April 2023
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A new General Rapporteur
A new General Rapporteur

In January 2023, Mr Even Eriksen (Norway, SOC), was appointed General Rapporteur on violence against women by the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, taking over from Ms Zita Gurmai (Hungary, SOC) for a renewable one-year term. His role is to contribute to raising awareness on the prevalence of violence against women, call for political action to prevent and combat gender-based against women and girls, and to promote the Istanbul Convention amongst the public, fellow parliamentarians and institutions. The General Rapporteur also ensures the political co-ordination of the Network.

The Network is grateful to Zita Gurmai for her leadership in combating gender-based violence during her two-year term of office and is confident she will continue her work in the future, in particular in the context of the Istanbul Convention for which she is Rapporteur.

Upcoming event
Upcoming event

25 April – Hearing – Preventing and combating violence against women with disabilities

On 25 April, the Parliamentary Network Women Free from Violence will hold a joint hearing with PACE’s Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination on preventing and combating violence against women with disabilities. The hearing, which will take place in Strasbourg during the Spring part-session of PACE, will feed into the report currently being prepared by Ms Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo (Monaco, ALDE).

Guest speakers will include Ms Ana Peláez Narváez, Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and Ms Iris Luarasi, President of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO).

Motion for a resolution on Preventing and combating violence against women with disabilities

Recent events
Recent events

13 March – Parliamentary seminar – The role and responsibility of parliamentarians in supporting the Istanbul Convention

On 13 March at Westminster Palace, London, members of the Assembly were invited to join a parliamentary seminar organised by the Network in cooperation with the British delegation to the PACE on “The role and responsibility of parliamentarians in supporting the Istanbul Convention”. The event saw the participation of high-level speakers such as Ms Luarasi, President of the GREVIO, key NGOs such as IC Change and prominent members of the Assembly and of the United Kingdom Parliament.   

 See the article published on the event

 

6 March – CSW side-event – Towards a green and digital future: opportunities and challenges for women and girls in public life and the workplace

On 6 March, the Network organised a joint side-event at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) in New York. The event was co-organised by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Network Women Free from Violence, the Netherlands and Estonia. It focused on the theme of innovation and technological change, as well as education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

Read the article here

Parliamentary Assembly's work
Parliamentary Assembly's work

At its Winter part-session in January 2023, the Parliamentary Assembly adopted four resolutions prepared by the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, on topics of interest to members of the Network.

Resolution 2476 (2023) on Conflict-related sexual violence seeks to encourage Member States to work on the prevention as well as prosecution of such violence and identifies it as a phenomenon which can be effectively combated.

Resolution 2479 (2023) on The Istanbul Convention: progress and challenges stresses the importance of the convention, which remains the best international framework for protecting women against gender-based violence and preventing domestic violence. The text urges those Member States that have not yet done so to ratify the convention, and those countries that have ratified it to implement it fully.

Resolution 2480 (2023) on The role and responsibility of men and boys in stopping gender-based violence against women and girls calls on men to be allies in the fight against gender-based violence, by rejecting harmful masculinities, being positive role models and considering themselves as part of the solution.

Resolution 2481 (2023) on Finding solutions for marital captivity highlights a little-known phenomenon that affect tens of thousands of people – mostly women – in Europe every year. It calls on all States to step up their efforts to raise awareness and take preventive measures.

Publications
Publications
  • The revised Handbook for parliamentarians is now available in four additional languages: Ukrainian, Spanish, Lithuanian and Czech. The Handbook is already available in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Dutch, Swedish and Finnish on the Network’s website.
  • If the Handbook does not yet exist in your language, proposals for translation are welcome, and assistance in managing the publication can be provided. Our aim is to enable this indispensable practical tool to be widely used in Europe and beyond. Please contact [email protected] for any enquiries.
 
All the publications ›
The Istanbul Convention
The Istanbul Convention

France, the Netherlands, Finland, Italy and Serbia have recently submitted their report forms on the implementation of the recommendations previously issued by the Committee of the Parties to the Istanbul Convention. These reports follow the baseline evaluations published by the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO). The Committee will adopt its conclusions on the implementation of the Recommendations at the upcoming meeting of the Committee of the Parties in June 2023.

Read the report forms: France, the Netherlands, Finland, Italy and Serbia

Read more ›
Other news

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) recently published a report on “Improving legal responses to counter femicide in the European Union: Perspectives from victims and professionals”, highlighting flaws in the legal system surrounding family members of victims of femicide as well as insufficient response following reports of violence and insensitive media coverage. The report calls, among other key points, for a strengthened and better coordinated legal response to femicides and gender-based violence in general.

Read the report here

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