EWL EPACVAW STATEMENT 270409 The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) and the European Policy Action Centre on Violence against Women (EPAC VAW) welcome the start of the Ad Hoc Committee on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (CAHVIO).
During the first meeting of the Committee (6-8 April), delegations of the 47 Council of Europe countries discussed the scope and content of the new Convention. As stated in the CAHVIO Synopsis of the meeting report , the EWL and EPAC VAW support that “the convention should be a human rights instrument with an independent monitoring mechanism focusing on violence against women, including domestic violence, and that the core of the convention would thus cover a wide range of forms of violence typically experienced by women”.
The persistence of all forms of violence against women demonstrates society has not been able to protect all citizens. In all European countries, violence against women has devastating long-term effects, not only on women but on their families and society. The home is the most dangerous place for women, many of them live with fear and the numbers of them being killed by their husband/partner or ex-partner are a shocking reality. Rape and sexual assault, exploitation in the sex industry, forced marriages and sexual harassment, are some of the forms of violence against women: they are directed against women because they are women and they affect women disproportionately.
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Accessibility Statement
womenlobby.org
11 May 2025
Compliance status
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience,
regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level.
These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible
to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific
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Disability profiles supported in our website
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ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
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Notes, comments, and feedback
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to
