Brussels, 02/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the Parliament is to discuss the report by Maria Antonia Aviles Perea (EPP-ED, Spain) on mid-term review of the 2000-2003 Daphne Programme (2000-2003), which mainly invites the European Commission to organise a European Year on this theme, to present a proposal for a new action programme that draws lessons from the experience acquired since 1997 and has an adequate financial allocation (mainly taking into account the full participation of candidate countries, which currently only account for 6% of the partners) and to closely follow application of acquis communautaire with regards the fight against violence in candidate countries. Furthermore, the report calls on the Commission and Member States to form a joint database on elimination of violence against women, and on the Council and Member States to improve implementation and the follow-up of new measures, the laws in force and international agreements in order to eliminate violence towards women and children, and to consider all forms of violence as punishable by law.
In her explanatory statement, Ms Aviles Perea recalls some interesting figures pertaining to the EU: - one women out of five is victim to acts of violence; - each week a women is killed by her husband or partner; - according to Europol, 500,000 persons, most of them women and children, are victims of the traffic in human beings, usually for purposes of sexual exploitation; - in 2000 and 2001 respectively 415 and 207 proposals of action were presented in this field with requests for subsidies for a total of EUR 40 and 22 million, while the annual budgetary line only provides for EUR 5 million. On this basis, the report mainly recalls that the EP has increased the 2002 budget by one million euro for actions with regard to paedophilia and female genital mutilation. Furthermore, it calls for the development of pedagogical programmes for the prevention of violence against women and children, and for conflict management, to be diffused in schools and adult training establishments.