Brussels, 06/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 2 February, the European Parliament adopted the report from Maria Carlshamre (ALDE, Sweden) on the current state of the fight against violence against women and on action for the future by 543 votes for, with 13 against and 56 abstentions. Parliament called on Member States to, firstly, regard male violence against women as a “violation of human rights reflecting unequal gender power relations”, which “lies at the root of all violence against women”. Parliament, therefore, stressed the need to implement proactive and preventive strategies aimed at perpetrators and those at risk of becoming perpetrators. Secondly, it called for recognition of “marital sexual violence as a crime and make rape with marriage a criminal offence”, and for no acceptance of “any reference to cultural practice as an extenuating circumstance” (particularly with regard to “crimes of honour and genital mutilation”) and victims' guaranteed right to safe access to justice. Parliament called on Member States to take all appropriate measures to prevent and ban female genital mutilation. The prosecution of perpetrators of such acts must become a priority, said the EP, calling on the Commission “to devise a comprehensive strategic approach at European level with the aim of putting an end to the practice of female genital mutilation in the European Union” and suggested the setting up of a centre to monitor and combat this type of mutilation. The 8 March is to become the European Day of Action against Violence against Women and Genital Mutilation. Given the lack of data, MEPs called for national rapporteurs to be appointed in order to gather information on such forms of violence. They also favoured the establishment of a single system of recording instances of assault by all the competent authorities and appropriate education and training for professionals responsible for recording incidents.
Presenting her report, Mrs Carlshamre considered that it was time to act and called for zero tolerance for all forms of violence from men against women. Mrs Carlshamre also referred to extensive studies carried out in Sweden, Germany and Finland, which showed that at least 30-35% of women between the ages of 16 and 67 had been the victim of physical or sexual violence. She said that the studies also showed that 60-90% of prostitutes had, in their childhood or at a later date, suffered sexual violence.
Welcoming the report by Ms Carlshamre, Commissioner Franco Frattini recalled that most actions called for by the EP are covered by the Daphne II programme including domestic violence, people smuggling, genital mutilation, and honour crimes. The programme, which is the Commission's main financial instrument when it comes to combating violence against women, the young and children has already financed over 420 projects, half of which have been devoted to supporting women, Mr Frattini explained, specifying that it also finances projects to combat genital mutilation in developing countries thanks to the European initiative for democracy and human rights. Furthermore, Mr Frattini considers there is an “urgent need” for the Union and its Member States to have a single statistical registration system on violence so that adequate measures are taken to eradicate such violence.