Brussels, 9 December 2021
The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) welcomes the European Commission’s proposal to add hate speech and hate crime, including those committed against women and girls, to the list of Eurocrimes in Article 83 (1) of the TFEU.
The initiative by the European Commission comes as the first of a series of proposals to combat violence against women and girls. Indeed, sexist hate speech and hate crime against women and girls are part of the continuum of male violence, and impact all women while perpetuating gender inequality. Sexist hate speech is disproportionally used to silence young women, women of colour and female politicians, particularly through the use of online tools. This tendency has been exacerbated during the pandemic, along with hate speech and hate crime towards lesbian women, based on their sexual orientation. Therefore action by the EU institutions on this form of violence as well on all others is urgently needed.
As a great first step in the direction of combatting all forms of violence against women and girls, this initiative must be followed by a strong and ambitious Directive to tackle all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG). We believe that the inclusion of VAWG to the list of Eurocrimes and the proposal of a strong and ambitious EU Directive on all forms of violence against women and girls would guarantee a better Europe for women and girls.
We call on the European Parliament and the European Council to support the European Commission’s proposal and to act swiftly to ensure the inclusion of hate speech and hate crime in the list of crimes in Article 83(1) of the TFEU.
Réka Sáfrány, President of the European Women’s Lobby said: “We warmly welcome the European Commission’s initiative to add hate speech and hate crime to the list of Eurocrimes. This is a chance for the EU to combat the silencing of women and girls. However, it is not enough on its own. Soon, we are expecting a comprehensive legislative proposal from the European Commission to combat all forms of violence against women and girls and we are counting on the upcoming Council presidencies to push for an EU accession to the Istanbul Convention. We have high hopes that this package of ambitious actions will bring the EU one step closer to achieving equality between women and men.”
ENDS
Contacts:
Claire Fourçans, Policy and Campaigns Director EWL
claire.fourcans@womenlobby.org
For media enquiries:
Adriana Paradiso, Communications & Media Coordinator EWL
paradiso@womenlobby.org
+32 465576876
