Brussels, 06/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Commission is to present a comprehensible and effective directive to combat violence against women, and the EU must ratify the Council of Europe convention to combat violence against women. The call was made by MEPs, academia and civil society representatives, attending a conference organised by the S&D in Brussels on 6 May at the EP. According to EU statistics, one woman out of five in the European Union has been the victim of physical violence and one out of ten sexual violence. This situation is “unacceptable”, the participants said, and must be addressed.
The spokeswoman for the S&D Group on women's questions, Britta Thomsen, said the Commission's proposals “help victims of crime” but “will not sufficiently address violence against women”. She said: “We cannot accept bits and pieces of legislation and coordination mechanisms. (…) We need to see a stronger commitment from the Commission on terror exercised against women”. Carmen Romero, who is EP rapporteur on the European Protection Order (EPO), expects the Council to provide a great deal of support on the question of protecting victims, saying: “Gender violence is a structural problem and it needs a structural response. (…) We need to work on prevention through civil laws, and not just work on post-crime cooperation”. (G.B./transl.jl)