On Wednesday 18 February, the European Commission published its response to written questions submitted on 26 November by a group of MEPs ranging from the Greens/EFA to the EPP, on the fight against harmful practices targeting women and girls.
The Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, points out that the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 and the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025 cover practices such as female genital mutilation, forced marriages, forced abortions and sterilisations, and “so-called honour-related violence”.
Two of these practices, female genital mutilation and forced marriage, have been classified as criminal offences at EU level by the 2024 directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence (see EUROPE 13431/33). The text provides victims with greater protection, better access to justice and more support and prevention measures. It also establishes as an aggravating circumstance the fact that an offence is committed to preserve or restore the “supposed honour” of a person or group.
The Commission would undertake to organise workshops with the Member States to ensure that the directive is fully transposed on time by June 2027.
Hadja Lahbib is also preparing the 2026-2030 equality strategy, which is due to be adopted around the next International Women’s Day.
Written questions: https://aeur.eu/f/ksu
The answer: https://aeur.eu/f/ksv (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)