The Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić underlined that to achieve gender equality, men should make more effort to promote equal pay for equal work and work of equal value, but the average gender pay gap remains at 13% (EU-27, 2020).
The Secretary General also made a statement on the war in Ukraine: “We face the sombre fact that war is always associated with distinct forms of violence against women and girls. As they try to escape conflicts, women and girls become even more vulnerable, threatened by violence, sexual assault, and rape. Women and girls fleeing the conflict require specific support and protection.”
The Chair of the Committee of Ministers, Luigi Di Maio, made a statement: “In these past few months, […] we decided to include the promotion of women’s empowerment and the struggle against gender discrimination among our priorities and we are unrelentingly working to primarily promote the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention, the most advanced international instrument to prevent, combat and punish gender-based violence.”

Council of Europe Side event to the UN Commission on the Status of Women

During the 66th Commission on the Status of Women, the Council of Europe organised with the Italian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe an online side event on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education as a stepping-stone towards gender transformative climate change policies.
The event was co-sponsored by Austria, the United Kingdom and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Speakers included Elena Bonetti, the Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities and Family, ministers from Austria and the United Kingdom, representatives of the Council of Europe and UNESCO, civil society and academic specialists on the topic.

The Working Group on the place of men and boys in gender equality policies and in policies to combat violence against women held fruitful discussion during its first meeting on 31 March. The Working Group was established by the Gender Equality Commission further to its mandate given by the Committee of Ministers to draw up by the end of 2022, Guidelines on “The place of men and boys in gender equality policies and in policies to combat violence against women”.

The GEC held its plenary meeting from 11 to 13 May 2022, in Strasbourg and online. GEC members had the opportunity to exchange with the President of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO). The impacts on women of the war in Ukraine were also addressed in an exchange with a representative from the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, and the Director of the NGO La Strada-Ukraine. The GEC discussed its ongoing and future activities under the six priorities of the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Strategy.

In 2021, grants were awarded for projects aimed at raising awareness in Armenia on the issues of gender equality, gender-based violence and domestic violence. These projects achieved substantial results in providing information on existing support and protection services. On 18-19 February 2022, judges, prosecutors and investigators participated in a interactive training of trainers. On 10-11 March 2022, Staff members of the Compulsory Enforcement Service participated in a two-day training. From 23 to 25 March 2022, social workers of 12 newly-established domestic violence victims and survivors support centres were also trained.

In 2021, the project delivered a series of webinars dedicated to specific articles of the Istanbul Convention. In the words of one participant: “I believe that Azerbaijan should join the convention, because it is a very comprehensive document for protecting women’s rights and fighting against violence. When I familiarised myself with the text of the convention, I saw that it indeed covers all spheres where violence against women is happening”.
A video was which helps viewers understand  what the Istanbul Convention really says.

On 25 March 2022, the Embassy of Italy in Tbilisi and the Office of the Council of Europe in Georgia in co-operation with the Government of Georgia organised a conference aimed at raising awareness and fostering action to end violence against women and girls.
The conference was an opportunity to take stock of the progress achieved by Georgia in its implementation of the Istanbul Convention, to discuss the remaining challenges and possible targeted actions to strengthen women’s rights. The speakers highlighted the need to continue with the efforts to develop and implement measures aimed at ending all forms of violence against women.

A Council of Europe delegation of independent experts visited Kosovo* from 21 to 25 February 2022. This visit was a key step in the co-operation activity aiming at assessing the alignment of Kosovo* with the Istanbul Convention. In September 2020, the National Assembly of Kosovo* adopted an amendment to the Constitution that gave direct effect to the convention. The above co-operation activity follows the methodology of the GREVIO, and will culminate in the publication of an assessment report in the course of 2022, offering a tailor-made roadmap for strengthening the response to violence against women and domestic violence. On 11 May, the project held a roundtable on violence against women in its digital dimension.

On 13 April 2022, the Council of Europe launched this new project which will be implemented until December 2023. After the launch, the first meeting of the project’s Steering Committee took place, which provided the platform for project partners and observers to discuss ways forward for the planned activities. On 1 May 2022, the Istanbul Convention entered into force in the Republic of Moldova, bringing the number of States Parties to 35.

In the light of the war in Ukraine, in May 2022 adjustments to the COVAW project were made, in agreement with Ukrainian authorities, in order to reflect needs expressed by stakeholders and assessed as urgent by the Council of Europe. All new activities fall under Intermediate Outcome 1 of the COVAW project: Awareness raising. Five new outputs have been developed, including expanded support for local NGOs to protect and promote women’s and girls’ rights, awareness raising support to the National Social Service of Ukraine, support for gender-sensitive reception procedures and support services for women on the move, and countering violence against women and domestic violence in emergencies. The Council of Europe will further support ongoing efforts to raise awareness regarding the Istanbul Convention in Ukraine.

The Istanbul Convention aims at putting an end to the many different forms of violence against women, to address the difficulties in getting protection and support, and the obstacles women face in seeking justice. However, it has been the target of criticism based on deliberate misrepresentations and misunderstandings about its aims and standards. In this context, the multi-country programme was conceived to generate knowledge and tools for the benefit of all States, whether or not they are Parties to the Istanbul Convention. It is open for voluntary contributions from member states or other sources.

On 16 March 2022, at its 1428ter meeting, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted Resolution CM/Res(2022)2 on the cessation of the membership of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe. As of that date the Russian Federation ceased being a Council of Europe member state.
Projects implemented by the Council of Europe Programme Office in Moscow are discontinued.
The office will not be maintained.

On 31 January 2022, the first Steering Committee meeting of the joint project was held in Ankara 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, and three civil society organisations. HELP Training-of-Trainer’s sessions took place on 14 and 15 February 2022 for 30 participants from Turkish universities, bar associations and NGOs. On 29 March 2022, a kick-off event to launch the HELP course on “access to justice for women” was organised for legal professionals. 270 legal aid lawyers from four bar associations undertook the course, raised their awareness on gender-sensitive legal practices. On 8 March 2022, a grant agreement that will strengthen access to legal aid for women was signed between the Council of Europe and the Union of Turkish Bar Associations. On 18 May 2022, the project also held the first of a series of multi-stakeholder meetings in the province of Ordu. Four civil society organisations were awarded grants to increase women’s legal awareness.

On 10 March 2022, the EEA/Norway Grants’ SYNERGY Network held a conference focusing on the digital dimension of violence against women. Building upon the first General Recommendation on the implementation of the Istanbul Convention, it focused on the ways to combat online and technology-facilitated violence.
Given the fastest-growing refugee flow in Europe since World War II, how can refugee, migrant and asylum-seeking women and girls be protected from abuse, violence and exploitation when crossing borders? This was the central question  at the 30 March 2022 Conference of the SYNERGY Network, through an accompanying video. The aim of the conference was for receiving countries to discuss and share experiences regarding the refugee flow from Ukraine and to build upon earlier experiences.