Ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Wednesday 25 November, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy reiterated, on Monday 23 November, their commitment to “end all forms of violence against women and girls” - a phenomenon that has been on the rise since the beginning of the pandemic (see EUROPE 12464/23).
In their declaration, the Commission and Mr Borrell once again called on the six Member States that have not yet done so (see EUROPE 12379/19) to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on fighting violence against women, known as the Istanbul Convention.
This call comes at a time when Poland has recently announced its intention to withdraw from the Convention (see EUROPE 12536/7) and only a few days after Hungary’s hostility to the text was strongly criticised in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (see EUROPE 12606/21).
“The scale of the problem remains alarming: one in three women in the European Union have experienced physical and/or sexual violence”, the Commission and Mr Borrell said, pointing out that “violence against women exists in every country”.
A reality that the new Action Plan for Gender Equality in the EU’s External Relations (see EUROPE 12587/7), which will be presented this week, will seek to better address. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)