Brussels, 18/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Ministers for Equal Opportunities of the Fifteen and/or their representatives, as well as of the candidate countries is meeting informally at Sant-Jacques-de-Compostelle on 18 (in the evening) and 19 February, chaired by Juan Carlos Aparicio, to debate violence towards women, and more specifically this type of violence from school, the protection of victims and sentencing of aggressors, moral harassment at work and awareness-raising campaigns. The Commission is being represented by Anna Diamantopoulou.
During this meeting, Juan Carlos Aparicio was to set out two initiatives by the Spanish Presidency for combating violence against women: a study of measures implemented in all EU Member States to combat this phenomenon, an the decision by the Presidency to draw up a guide of good practice to reduce the effects of violence towards women and its eradication throughout the Union.
At the beginning of work, Anna Diamantopoulou called for "an end to the silence, to prevent violence towards women in Europe", while recalling some figures, and notably that: 1) one European woman in five suffers from violence on the par of her male partner at some point in her life; 2) in the United Kingdom, one woman dies every three days due to domestic violence; in Austria, half the divorces are caused by violence towards women. Stressing that this type of violence is a "crime from a legal point of view", Ms. Diamantopoulou declared: "We must act. We must focus on tackling the causes, and not only the effects. Backing our words and commitments with money, with public funding". The Commissioner asked for assistance for the most vulnerable women, encouraging them to exercise their choice and sending out a clear signal of a refusal of violence and discrimination. "This is a challenge for policy makers, for social partners, for civil society. We must act together to ensure that, ultimately - we stamp out violence against women and girls in Europe today", she aid. "I am confident that the Danish Presidency of the EU Council, in the second half of this year, will pursue the excellent work of the Spaniards, especially concerning the establishment of common indicators", she added. Ms. Diamantopoulou pleaded in favour of an integrated approach and for co-operation between the different political sectors concerned: Social Affairs, as well as Justice/Home Affairs (JHA), health and Education. Finally, she announced the holding, as the formal Social Affairs Council of 7 March in Brussels of a public debate on violence towards women.