[Brussels, 21 September 2012] On 18 September 2012 in Tirana, the members of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Network “Women Free from Violence” organised a conference on “Legislators to make freedom from violence a reality”.
Two days later, on 20 September 2012, Monaco became the 22th member state of the Council of Europe to sign the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. During this event, a Handbook for parliamentarians, meant as a tool for the promotion of the Istanbul Convention and other international standards in combating violence against women, was officially launched.
Moreover, on 21 September, in the context of its work in the field of tackling violence against women as one of the highest priorities, the European Parliament Committee for Women’s Rights held an exchange of views on 20 September with representatives of the Council of Europe on the CoE Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
“This conference has very good news to report. Belgium has just signed the Istanbul Convention and Albania is very much likely to ratify it in the coming months according to the commitment made by Ms Topalli during the conference. I am very confident the Convention will soon enter into force” declared Mr Mendes Bota, General Rapporteur on violence against women and Political coordinator of the Network.
The Parliamentary Network “Women Free from Violence” is composed of 49 parliamentarians, belonging to delegations of member and observer States with the Parliamentary Assembly, as well as delegations of partners for democracy. Mr Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD) was appointed General Rapporteur on violence against women by the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination in early 2012.
