LoudUnited European Campaign to end violence against women and girls

Published onDecember 13, 2017

[Brussels, 13 December 2017] During the 16 Days of activism to end violence against women in 2017, the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) and many of our members engaged in several campaigns and activities at national and European level to raise awareness and to call for action to end violence against women and girls. As part of our project Loud and United to end violence against women and girls, in partnership with the Council of Europe, the EWL conducted a very succesgul social media campaign: from the 25th of November, the international day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to the 10th of December, the International Human Rights Day, the EWL and its members used social media platforms to raise awareness about violence against women and girls and to highlight the importance of women’s organisations in providing support for victims and survivors and in raising awareness and advocating for change. The campaign also promoted key provisions and the importance of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, the Istanbul Convention. Check out all our social media visuals more by following the hashtag #LoudUnited.

EWL LoudUnited

Many EWL members and EWL Observatory experts engaged in the campaign #LoudUnited to end violence against women and girls and developed key actions at national level. See below a description of several of the EWL members actions in Czech Republic, France, Greece and Portugal. Czech Women’s Lobby The Czech Women’s Lobby joined in the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence worldwide campaign. From 25 November until 10 December, the Czech Women’s Lobby and its members were united in international solidarity to galvanize action to end violence committed against women and girls and the weak around the world; to achieve a future in which violence will no longer be tolerated. See their full press release here.

Czech Women s Lobby Orange the World

French Coordination for the EWL, CLEF Three days ahead of the 25th of November, the French Coordination for the EWL launched a press release “We won’t wait another century”, engaging with the EWL Campaign for the European Commission Annual Colloquium on Fundamental rights, which focused this year on “Women’s rights in Turbulent times”. With this press release (see here), the French Coordination for the EWL sent a solidarity message to all women in Europe and call for a change. The French Coordination for the EWL also issued the french version of the EWL facthseet on Disrupting the Continuum of violence against women and girls, “Mettre fin au continuum des violences contre les femmes et les filles”. You can download the french version of the facthseet here. As you can see in their facebook page, CLEF has also been highly engaged in the #LoudUnited social media campaign. Greek Coordination for the EWL On the 25th of November, the Greek Coordination for the EWL organised a High Level Conference, in the European Parliament’s offices in Athens, as part of the EWL campaign Loud and United end violence against women and girls. The Conference was highly successful and counted with the paticipation of more than 150 persons, including S. Pavlopoulou, wife of the President of the Greek Republic, members of the Greek and the European Parliament, government officials, representatives of the organizations – members of the EWL, academics, experts and journalists.

Greek Coordination for EWL event 25 Nov 2017

The main speakers of the conference were Mrs Eliza Vozemberg, greek member of the European Parliament, the President of the Athens Bar Association Mr Vasilios Alexandris and the General Secretary for the Gender Equality of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Mrs Fotini Kouvela, who also made a great announcement: the Greek Ministry of Justice has recently set the ratification of the Istanbul Convention and the consequent adaptation of the Greek legislation; and they had opened an official Public Consultation process online (from 17th November until 1st December). The Greek Coordination for the EWL has contributed to the official Public Consultation for the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. They have congratulated the Greek Ministry of Justice for their initiative and have proposed several key amendments to the Greek Penal Code. Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights, PPDdM The Portuguese Platform for women rights organised several initiatives during the 16 days of activisim to end violence against women and girls. They highly engaged in the #LoudUnited social media campaign launching key visuals in Portuguese explaining the situation and their key demands to end violence. Find all their visuals here.

PPDdM LoudUnited visual in Portuguese

As detailed in their press release, PPDdM took part in the march calling for the end of violence against women on the 25th of November in Lisbon and organised an informative session on the Istanbul Convention on the 4 of December.

PPDdM Protest

PPDdM also issued the Portuguese version of the EWL facthseet on Disrupting the continuum of violence against women and girls: “Interrompendo o continuum da violência contra mulheres e raparigas” The Portuguese Platform for women’s rights took part at the EWL high level conference on “The Istanbul Convention: What policies transform commitment into reality?” at the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the EU. You can read more about the the event here!

Greek Coordination for EWL event 25 Nov 2017

Reports

CEEBBS Report

WEBINAR: Towards a Safer Digital Space for Women and Girls Combatting Cyber Violence

EWL Contribution to the EU Civil Society Strategy

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