Brussels, 24/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Roberta Angelilli (EPP, Italy) and other female MEPs, speaking to the press, issued a call to the European Commission to bring forward a comprehensive directive on violence, both physical and psychological, against women. This directive should form part of the gender equality strategy, said Silvia Costa (S&D, Italy). The MEPs also called on the European Parliament (EP) in its December plenary session to adopt the report on the protection of victims of stalking. They would like to see a European year for tackling violence against women and said that they had already obtained 402 signatures in support of their call.
Eva-Britt Svensson (GUE/NGL, Sweden) called for victims to be given adequate protection through closer cooperation with police authorities. A solid legislative framework is required at both European and national levels, it was argued. The law on stalking should be the same in all the countries of the EU, added Barbara Mattera (EPP, Italy). Only nine countries deem stalking to be a punishable crime, Angelilli said.
EU female ministers, holding a summit in Brussels on the same day on the initiative of Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Joëlle Milquet, added their voices. Violence against women is a major obstacle to achieving gender equality and carries with it serious physical and psychological problems for victims and their children. Female ministers from the EU member states, then, signed a statement pledging to back a European strategy that will serve as a reference framework for national policies, defining common principles and appropriate instruments and guaranteeing measureable and long-overdue progress.
It is estimated that millions of women across the whole of Europe are victims of violence. This is a key problem in our society, the most widespread violence of human rights, Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding told the summit. Violence against women also has a financial cost for society and the individual - €16 billion per year. To try to eliminate this violence, the European Commission's Daphne Programme must be given a higher profile, Angelilli argued.
Both the EP and the Commission commented on budget cuts. Barbara Mattera noted with annoyance that, when there is talk of budget cuts, “there is a tendency to play down the importance of programmes” such as Daphne. “For €1 invested in resolving the problem of violence towards women, there is a return of €87! That is an excellent reason for making sure that there is good prevention, so that the problem can be avoided,” Reding said. She noted that, at EU level, much work had been done to tackle violence against women, human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children, all areas where girls are the main victims. To erase these forms of violence, Reding said, it is vital to work on children's rights, social policies (for prevention) and human rights (in our external relations). The difficulty comes from the fact that there are only estimates in this area. For that reason, during her visit to Vilnius (see EUROPE 10261), Reding asked the Institute for Gender Equality for clear, objective figures that could be used as a basis for drafting plans to solve these problems. (G.B./transl.rt)