[Brussels, 25 January 2013] The European Parliament has taken today a crucial step towards the end of violence against women (VAW) in the EU adopting a resolution with recommendations to the European Commission on combating VAW. The EWL specially congratulates the Rapporteur MEP Antonyia Parvanova for her work on this report which will be a very important tool for all women’s rights organisations and the EWL in our advocacy to put an end to this persistent violation of women’s rights and to promote effective gender equality.
The resolution adopted today makes important recommendations to the European Commission and the EU Member States on combating violence against women. It requests the European Commission to table a draft law by 2014 to prevent violence against women and also to present an EU-wide Strategy and an Action Plan to combat all forms of violence against women and girls. The report also calls on member states to introduce prevention measures, education programmes and trainings, exchange of information and best practices, awareness-raising campaigns and better data collection. See the European Parliament Press Release following this link.
The EWL also welcomes the resolution’s recommendation to establish a European Year to End violence against women within the next three years, as it will serve to raise awareness among citizens of this widespread problem which affects all the EU’s Member States. In this regard, the EWL calls on all MEPs to support our campaign asking for such year in 2016. By establishing a European Year to end violence against women and girls, the EU would play a leading role in raising awareness on violence against women, and at the same time propose concrete measures to act against the perpetuation of violence against women.
We want 2016 to be the European Year to End Violence against Women! Women cannot wait any longer!
Violence against women is a gross human rights violation that reflects and deepens the structural gender inequality between woman and men. It is estimated that one-fifth of women in the EU suffer from violence within the home and more than one in ten women is a victim of sexual violence involving the use of force. Seven women die every day from domestic violence in the EU. Estimations also show that VAW cost 1.8% of EU GDP 228 billion1.
The Fundamental Rights Agency has carried out a survey on gender-based violence whose results will be presented on 5 March and that will provide reliable and comparable data on women’s experiences of several forms of violence. The EWL has been calling for EU wide prevalence survey since 1999 as result of the conclusions of the report on European wide data on violence against women: ‘Unveiling the Hidden Data on Domestic Violence in the EU’ (1999).
