[Bruxelles, 06 December 2012] Today, the Council of European Union delivered its long awaited Conclusions on Combating Violence against Women, and the Provision of Support Services for Victims of Domestic Violence. The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) warmly welcomes these Conclusions and their strong content, which put back violence against women on the political agenda of the EU and call for urgent action from the EU and its Member States.
The EWL particularly welcome the Council Conclusions’ demands towards the Member States and the European Commission:
- Developing a European Strategy for preventing and combating all forms of violence against women, in accordance with 2010 Council Conclusions; the EWL hopes that these new Conclusions won’t remain declarative and will transform into an EC proposal of EU strategy, before the end of 2013, as foreseen in the Stockholm Action Plan;
- Signing, ratifying and implementing the Council of Europe Convention on violence against women; the EWL strongly supports the current proposal of MEPs to deliver a written declaration on this issue, and calls on all MEPs to sign it as soon as possible;
- Designating 2015 the European Year on Zero Tolerance for Violence against Women; EWL e-petition calling on EC President Barroso to establish such year is gaining increasing support.
The EWL also welcomes the focus of the Council Conclusions on support services for victims of domestic violence. In times of crisis, the EWL reiterates the urgency to maintain and strengthen those services, which are currently under threat of closing or weakening. The EWL/Oxfam report ‘An Invisible Crisis?‘ showed that the crisis leads to increased violence in intimate-partnership, and to a rise of trafficking and attacks against women in prostitution. it also highlighted the growing difficulties faced by women’s organisations providing services to women affected by violence. For example, crisis centers in Hungary saw the number of available places for women halved due to financial cuts and lack of political support.
The EWL hopes that the new Council Conclusions will be the basis for a strong EU policy to end all forms of violence against women, including a strong EU position at the 2013 Commission on the Status of Women, where the priority theme to be agreed upon will be violence against women and girls.
