The Committee of Experts on combating technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (GEC/PC-eVIO) held its first meeting on 1-2 October 2024 in Strasbourg. The GEC/PC-eVIO has been tasked by the Committee of Ministers to prepare a Recommendation on combating technology-facilitated violence against women and girls by 31 December 2025. During this inaugural meeting, members, participants and observers to the Committee of Experts engaged in discussions on a discussion paper on the topic, building on existing instruments and tools such as GREVIO General Recommendation No. 1 on the digital dimension of violence against women. Key elements of the Recommendation were presented by GREVIO member María Rún Bjarnadóttir (Iceland). 

Based on these discussions, the Committee will produce a first draft of the Recommendation on combating technology-facilitated violence against women and girls, to be discussed during the 2nd meeting, which will take place on 22-23 January 2025.

The GEC/PC-eVIO elected Venus MAHMOOD (Finland, CDPC member) as President and Tryggvi HALLGRIMSSON (Iceland, GEC member) as Vice-President.

The GEC/PC-eVIO is a joint subcommittee to the Gender Equality Commission (GEC) and to the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC). The work of this Committee of Experts aligns with the priorities set in the Reykjavik Declaration adopted at the Fourth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe in 2023, which highlighted the importance of “addressing the new forms of violence against women (…) amplified by digital technologies”.