On the occasion of World Refugee Day, the Council of Europe and the UN Refugee Agency emphasise that anyone fleeing war, conflict or persecution or risking violence, abuse or exploitation, has the right to seek safety and protection.
”Human rights are central to safety and protection. The Council of Europe standards apply to everyone in need, with particular attention to the rights of those in vulnerable situations, such as migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls, unaccompanied and separated children, and elderly persons”, said the Council of Europe Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees, Leyla Kayacik.
“Every person has the right to seek safety and to have access to human rights, whoever they are, wherever they come from, and whenever they are forced to flee. Together with the Council of Europe and its member states, UNHCR continues working to safeguard the rights of forcibly displaced persons.” said Andreas Wissner, UNHCR Representative to the European Institutions in Strasbourg.

Presenting gender equality as one of the Council of Europe’s major policy goals, Andreia Lourenço Marques, the Chair of the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Commission (GEC), recalled some of the international standards adopted by the organisation. She spoke of the European Convention on Human Rights and the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe Convention  on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention), the Anti-human trafficking Convention and the European Social Charter. She also referred to multiple Committee of Ministers’ recommendations adopted on such subjects as education, media, sexist language, sport, political participation, audio-visual policy and health.

The Council of Europe Recommendation on preventing and combating sexism, adopted in 2019, is now available in 26 languages, in addition to the official English and French versions.
The Campaign “Sexism: See it. Name it. Stop it!” aims at raising awareness about the causes of sexism and its various forms, and at identifying ways to prevent and combat it. The action page on sexism is now available in 23 languages and the brochure is now available in 6 languages.
The Council of Europe awarded a grant to the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) to conduct national campaigns within the project “Mobilise against sexism!”. These campaigns were conducted by EWL member organisations in Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Spain in 2020-2021 to raise awareness and combat sexism in key sectors of society.

As first-responders to domestic violence calls, police officers occupy a unique position to lead the response of criminal justice to domestic violence and violence against women. It is therefore useful to consider the perspectives of police officers themselves.
The project has supported the production of articles on better understanding the context of police work and challenges it faces in dealing with domestic violence cases.

In May, the project, in co-operation with the State Committee on family, women and children affairs organised an awareness-raising event on the role of national Parliaments in preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence on Council of Europe standards and the role of national parliaments in this field, and, in co-operation with the Faculty of Law of Baku State University, organised an event to raise awareness of the European Court of Human Rights case law on violence against women and domestic violence targeting law students and professors.
In June, the third meeting of the Project Board offered a platform to share results, as well as discussing ongoing and potential future activities.
The project is organising four capacity-building sessions on multi-agency co-operation taking place this autumn.

The Council of Europe Office in Georgia teamed up with the Tbilisi Open Air festival. This year the visitors had a chance to discover more about equality and non-discrimination at the Human Rights Corner. This collaboration was first introduced by the Council of Europe in 2019 in the framework of the ‘I Choose Equality’ campaign, aimed at promoting equality and diversity at the festival through innovative and creative actions. This year, various games, quizzes on women’s rights, gender equality, diversity and freedom of speech will be offered to participants. The Organisation also organised a competition on equality and diversity, and discussions on women’s rights and Internet governance and data protection.

The roundtable report available in English, Albanian and Serbian aims to expand the discussion on this alarming phenomenon, raise awareness and initiate dialogue among stakeholders into taking action in providing a holistic response to digital violence against women.

 *All reference to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions, or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.

In May, the project, together with the National Institute of Justice, launched the HELP course on violence against women and domestic violence for legal professionals. The course aims to build the capacity of participants to, on the one hand, understand and use the existing standards on violence against women and domestic violence, including the Istanbul Convention, and on the other hand, be better equipped to deal with cases of violence against women, including by putting the victims’ rights at the centre.

In June, the project celebrated the approval of the Istanbul Convention by the Ukrainian Parliament, and on 18 July, Ukraine ratified the Istanbul Convention. The convention will enter into force on 1 November 2022 in Ukraine. The project issued a series issued a series of NGO grants to protect and promote women’s and girls’ rights, tailored to the context of armed conflict and the specific vulnerabilities of women and girls. In July, the project organised its mid-term steering committee meeting, and, during the week of 18 July 2022, the project provided professional training to support sexual violence victims’ access to gender-sensitive and victim-centred social, psychological, medical and legal assistance. Hundreds of professionals who provide services to victims participated in a webinar to discuss violence against women in conflict-affected Ukraine.

The Council of Europe, WAVE and UN Women developed a new methodology and toolkit to help civil society organisations run awareness-raising campaigns on the Istanbul Convention. In September, this new methodology was presented during an online event with the participation of around 70 civil society representatives from 28 countries.
Four civil society organisations from Bulgaria, Hungary and Lithuania received grants to implement awareness-raising campaigns on the Istanbul Convention from November 2022 to May 2023 by using this methodology and toolkit.
The project also launched the HELP course on violence against women and domestic violence in Latvia. For three months 30 Latvian judges will follow the seven online modules of the course with the practical help and guidance of a national tutor.

In June, the project held its second Steering Committee meeting, with the participation of representatives of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Delegation of the European Union to Türkiye as well as civil society organisations. The second multi-stakeholder meeting was held in Muğla aimed to create local and sustainable support networks to address the needs of women, particularly those in vulnerable or disadvantaged situation. In September, four civil society organisations kicked off their activities targeting women and legal professionals in Türkiye. Their activities intend to empower women to claim their rights and to develop networks and capacities of legal professions to facilitate women’s and girls’ access to justice. 
In October, one of the main conclusions of an international seminar was “Adopting a gender-sensitive approach when measuring and monitoring access to justice highlights the challenges that women and girls face in accessing justice and paves the way towards developing justice policies and practices that address the needs and rights of women.”