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DGII-Democracy - Gender Equality Division
Gender Equality No 2021/1 - January 2021
Version française
High-level seminar “Advancing Gender Equality: The role and situation for gender equality mechanisms in the context of COVID-19”
21 October 2020

Greek President H.E. Ms Katerina Sakellaropoulou, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis and Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović-Burić, opened this seminar organised by the Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe, in partnership with the Greek Presidency of the Committee of Ministers.
Institutional meetings
18th meeting of the Gender Equality Commission and 2nd meeting of the Drafting Committee on Migrant Women
The GEC reviewed ongoing work to promote the implementation of the Recommendation on preventing and combating sexism. It also discussed and took note of progress made at the 1st meeting of its Drafting Committee on Migrant Women (GEC-MIG).The GEC-MIG drafting Committee started its concrete drafting work on the preambular and operational paragraphs, as well as on the structure of the appendix to the future recommendation, during his second meeting on 14-15 December 2020.
Gender Equality Strategy: 6 Strategic Objectives
Prevent and combat stereotypes and sexism
Awareness raising campaign and tools on combating sexism
The Council of Europe Recommendation on preventing and combating sexism adopted in 2019, is now available in 24 languages. The Campaign Sexism : See it. Name it. Stop it! with tools aims at raising awareness about the phenomenon and at eliminating it, is now available in 20 languages.
Prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence
European Union, Council of Europe and UN Women co-operation
15 October 2020

The European Union, the Council of Europe and UN Women organised a series of webinars "A thousand ways to solve our problems: Preventing and responding to violence against women from an intersectional perspective in the Western Balkans and Turkey”.
Webinar on combating online violence against women and girls
12 November 2020

This webinar attracted more than 100 participants from all over the world, including officials and policy makers responsible for cybercrime and cybersecurity, as well as violence against women and domestic violence, criminal justice authorities (judges, prosecutors, law enforcement agencies), non-governmental organisations and researchers/academia with an interest in the subject.
UN International Day for the elimination of violence against women
25 November 2020

“We cannot allow the home to become a place of fear, again”.
To mark this International Day, the Secretary General stressed the need to learn lessons from the first lockdowns this past spring, to face increasing calls to domestic violence hotlines since new restrictions have been put into place in much of Europe. In parallel, all Sectors of the Council of Europe joined the Orange the World! Campaign to mark the 16 Days of Activism to Eliminate Violence against Women 2020.
National Action Plan for combating domestic violence in Armenia
20 November 2020

The Council of Europe supports the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of Armenia and national stakeholders in developing the Action Plan by providing expertise on international and European standards and promising practices to prevent violence against women and domestic violence.
Better data can save women’s lives: webinar on administrative data in Turkey
30 November 2020

The webinar aimed to increase understanding of the need to collect better data on violence against women in line with European standards, including the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention).
Administration of Justice on sexual violence crimes against women in Georgia
8 December 2020

A first ever research study analyses legislative gaps as well as barriers in investigation, prosecution and judicial proceedings of sexual violence crimes in Georgia after the ratification of the Istanbul Convention and its entry into force in 2017 in Georgia. The study proposes recommendations for enhancing the legislation and the criminal policy.
Georgian investigators embarked on HELP distance learning on violence against women
17 November 2020

The Council of Europe in co-operation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia launched the HELP online learning course on violence against women and domestic violence for 20 investigators.  In times of COVID-19 pandemic, the HELP platform offers a unique opportunity to increase capacities of investigators safely by using modern teaching methodologies and technologies.
Final results of the Project in Ukraine
4 December 2020

The final results of the Project “The Istanbul Convention: a tool to advance in fighting violence against women and domestic violence in Ukraine” have been presented at the final online meeting of its steering committee.
Participants included the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the National Police of Ukraine, the Office of the Commissioner of Gender Equality, the National School of Judges of Ukraine, the Coordination Centre of Free Legal Aid, the National Bar Association of Ukraine and other stakeholders.
High-Level Conference in Kosovo* - Applying the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention
9 December 2020

The Council of Europe Office in Pristina and OSCE Mission in Kosovo* organised an online High-Level Conference with the aim to enhance the local knowledge on the steps needed to implement of the Istanbul Convention in Kosovo*.

* "All reference to Kosovo, whether the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nation’s Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo."
Ensure the equality access of women to justice
Webinar for legal aid lawyers on access to justice for women victims of violence
1-4 December 2020

Legal aid lawyers from Georgia and the Republic of Moldova discussed international standards on access to justice and violence against women, including the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Istanbul Convention standards, gender sensitive approaches in dealing with cases of violence against women, and this approach  is crucial for their legal aid work with victims.
Webinar “Gender mainstreaming law schools’ curricula”
7 December 2020

How can gender mainstreaming strengthen women’s access to justice?
What are the promising practices in Europe on ensuring gender equality in academia and research? How gender mainstreaming law schools contributes to addressing gender bias among legal professionals?'
Achieve a balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision-making
2020 Report on European judicial systems
22 October 2020

It shows increasing number of women judges and prosecutors, but the glass ceiling remains firmly in place for managerial positions.
This report, prepared by the Council of Europe’s European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), and which evaluates the judicial systems in 43 European countries, encourages additional measures to facilitate the career development of women in the justice sector and to promote gender balance in the higher and highest justice functions.
Protect the rights of migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls
For information on the meetings of the Drafting Committee on Migrant Women, see above (under “Institutional meetings”).
Achieve gender mainstreaming in all policies and measures
Ambassadors for change: Online training course on gender equality and gender mainstreaming
9-10 November 2020

The Gender Equality Division organised its annual training session for Gender Equality Rapporteurs (GERs). 15 GERs from sectors as diverse as media, artificial intelligence, hate speech, anti-doping, national minorities, education and governance participated in the training.
Just published
Sexism
  • Brochure about what sexism is and how to prevent it -> Consult here
Violence against women
  • Infographics - Brochure on the four pillars of the Istanbul Convention: prevention, protection, prosecutionand co-ordinated policies
  • Toolkit - Participation of young women and girls from disadvantaged groups in political and public decision-making processes at local level in Ukraine -> Consult here
  • Reports and recommendations - Risk Assessment Methodologies and Restraining Orders in Ukraine -> Consult here
  • Study-Advancing towards the ratification and implementation of the Istanbul Convention: good practices from states parties –> Consult here
 Gender Equality 
  • CEPEJ evaluation report on European judicial systems - 2020 -> Consult here
  • New gender equality indexes at the European and global level confirm that gender equality remains a long way ahead –> Consult here
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