The Hungarian Women’s Lobby in consortium with NANE Women’s Rights Association and Patent Association has finalised a communication and advocacy project on the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). The project, which ran from February to August 2023, was selected under the call for proposals and funded by the Council of Europe’s “Ending Violence against Women: Multi-Country Programme”.
Targeting the general public, local authorities and various stakeholders from professional networks and practitioner organisations dealing with violence against women and domestic violence, the campaign and advocacy activities were carried out using methodology developed by the Council of Europe Gender Equality Division, Women Against Violence Europe Network (WAVE) and UN Women.
The campaign reached over 23,600 people and included myth-busting visuals, translations and adaptations of Council of Europe materials and engagement with the media.
The project facilitated networking events in six municipalities in Budapest to raise awareness of services provided to victims, and to discuss policies and actions that local authorities can implement to reduce violence against women. These programs targeted both victims and the wider public, providing education and information to support a safer community.
"The campaign offered an outstanding opportunity to reaffirm the principles of the Istanbul Convention in the Hungarian national context. Despite the lack of ratification at the country level, with the help of the project we managed to strengthen and support the commitment of several municipalities to implement services for the support of victims of violence against women and domestic violence. Their approach, based on victims' needs, relied effectively on the indispensable 4 pillars of the Convention: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Co-ordinated Policies.” said Réka Sáfrány, Chairperson of the Hungarian Women's Lobby.
