Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Friday (25 November), the Commission called for the smooth adoption of the directive on combatting violence against women and the EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention.

In the EU, one in three women aged 15 or over have experienced physical and/or sexual violence, according to a 2020 factsheet from the Commission. Gender-based violence is chronically under-reported: only about a third of women who are physically or sexually abused by their partners contact the authorities.

During the plenary debate on Wednesday, Commission urged stakeholders to “smoothly” move forward with two proposals to ensure women “stop being murdered in silence”: The 2022 directive on combatting violence against women and domestic violence and the EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention.

The Istanbul Convention is a human rights treaty against gender-based violence of the Council of Europe. It was signed by the EU in 2017, though has yet to be ratified.

The proposals are needed “more than ever”, Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli said during the plenary debate.

While all member states address violence against women and domestic violence in legislation, scope and implementation varies greatly across the bloc. Currently, no specific legal instrument exists at the EU level.

The EU gender equality strategy 2020-2025 found that gender-based violence and harassment have reached alarming levels, and remain under-reported and overlooked.

“The EU condemns all forms of violence against women and girls,” the European Commission and High Representative/Vice President, Josep Borrell, said in his statement on Thursday.

“It is unacceptable in the 21st century that women and girls continue to be abused, harassed, raped, mutilated or forced into marriage,” he said.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s highlighted in her political guidelines for the current Commission’s mandate that “the EU should do all it can to prevent and combat violence against women, protect victims and punish offenders”.

Commission’s proposal

In March 2022, the EU executive proposed its directive on combatting violence against women and domestic violence.

“During both the French and Czech presidencies, intensive work has taken place which enabled the completion of the first reading of the proposal,” Mikuláš Bek, Czech Minister for European Affairs, told European lawmakers on Wednesday.

“The work on the proposal will continue during the terms of the incoming presidency with a view to the swift this possible progress,” he said.

The directive enshrines in EU law minimum standards to criminalise certain forms of violence against women, protect victims and improve access to justice, support victims and ensure coordination between relevant services and work on prevention.

It proposes the criminalisation of crimes such as rape, female genital mutilation, non-consensual sharing of intimate or manipulated material, cyber harassment, and cyber incitement to violence or hatred.

It also proposes to make EU-wide data collection an obligation, as violence is both under-reported and under-recorded, and the data is not easily comparable between EU countries. The latest and only EU-wide survey was published in 2014.

Stakeholders’ take on the directive 

Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE), a network of over 160 NGOs, criticised the proposal on Friday, saying that it “shies away from including femicide as the criminal offence it is”.

The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) released a statement calling the European Parliament and the EU Council to step up their efforts to enhance and swiftly adopt the directive.

“EWL is aware that this directive is a very important piece in the EU legislative puzzle on violence against women. However, the puzzle will not be complete until there is a consistent approach to address the full continuum of violence against women and girls including our demands for strong legislation against sexual exploitation of women and girls,” said Réka Sáfrány, EWL president.

Istanbul Convention

Discussions on full accession to the Istanbul Convention are still taking place in the EU Council’s working party on Fundamental Rights, Citizens’ Rights and the Free Movement of Persons.

“We need urgent ratification of the Istanbul Convention in all member states,” Roberta Metsola, European Parliament president told the plenary. The Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are yet to ratify.

“No more excuses protect women. We need action. Now. We need proper protection frameworks. We need more convictions of those who prey on females and we need to end the remaining institutional blindness to the endemic violence against women,” Metsola said.

Concluding the EU’s accession is a key priority for the Commission. In her political guidelines, Von der Leyen said: “If the accession remains blocked in the Council, I will consider tabling proposals on minimum standards regarding the definition of certain types of violence and strengthening the Victims’ Rights Directive. I will propose to add violence against women to the list of EU crimes defined in the Treaty.”

A new helpline 

On Thursday, the Commission announced the establishment of a common EU helpline number for victims of violence against women – 116 016, as announced in the directive on combatting violence against women and domestic violence.

The number will be connected to national helplines through which support services for victims are provided. So far, 15 member states have committed to connecting their existing helpline for victims of violence against women to this number.

A more extensive directory of national and regional helplines can be accessed here.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]

Source: Euractiv.com