Co-operation Newsroom
Council of Europe publishes study on digital violence against women in the Republic of Armenia
The study highlights the rise of digitally facilitated violence against women in Armenia, including cyberstalking, online harassment, and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images and reveals the gaps in Armenia’s legal and support systems for addressing digital violence. It also provides a...
Training on the protection of migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking women from violence in the Republic of Moldova
On 9 and 10 October, 26 officers (8 men and 18 women) from the General Inspectorate for migration and the border police of the Republic of Moldova participated in a training focused on Articles 60 and 61 of Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and...
Launch of data collection guidelines and indicators on violence against women in the Republic of Moldova
On 3 October 2024, the National Agency for the prevention and combating of violence of the Republic of Moldova presented guidelines and indicators (compendium) on violence against women and domestic violence. Supported by the Council of Europe and UNFPA, the compendium was developed to enhance...
A new manual for Ukrainian prosecutors on “working with victims of sexual violence during armed conflict” released
A new Council of Europe publication - a Manual “Working with victims of sexual violence during armed conflict: A manual for Ukrainian prosecutors” has been released targeting Ukrainian prosecutors who organise pre-trial and support public prosecution in cases of conflict related sexual violence....
Civil society’s role in supporting refugee women and girls in Armenia
On 1-2 October 2024, in Dilijan, Armenia, the Council of Europe held the networking conference “Together to empower” which brough together over 17 civil society organisations, including well-established groups and organisations recently founded by refugee women. The event helped to take key steps...
Empowering refugee women in Armenia
Four projects funded by the Council of Europe and implemented by civil society organisations (CSOs) have successfully carried out between April and September 2024. These initiatives, focused on promoting social and economic inclusion of refugee women, preventing gender-based violence against...
Exploring AI and gender equality - a public lecture on combatting gender bias in technology takes place in Tbilisi
On 18 September 2024, Dr Silvia Semenzin’s public lecture in Tbilisi gathered civil society representatives, students, and professionals to explore the risks and potentials of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in promoting gender equality. The event focused on the influence of AI systems on gender...
Council of Europe and DataFest Tbilisi: Promoting gender equality and non-discrimination through data-driven initiatives
From 19 to 21 September 2024, Tbilisi hosted DataFest, the largest annual data conference in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This year marked the third consecutive year that the Council of Europe Office in Georgia supported the festival. The collaboration centred on increasing awareness of the...
Joining forces with women's organisations to combat violence against women in Türkiye
On 18 September 2024, in the efforts to support civil society organisations in Türkiye to improve the accessibility and quality of legal aid services for women, an online discussion was organised with the support of the European Union and the Council of Europe. 34 civil society representatives...
Lessons learned from the mentoring programme for legal professionals on women's access to justice
On 17 September 2024, at the third Steering Committee meeting of the regional action “Women’s access to justice in the Western Balkans”, project partners and other stakeholders analysed the lessons learned and successes from its pioneering Mentoring programme for legal professionals aimed at...
Gaps in addressing sexual and digital violence against women in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Executive, legislative, and judicial authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina met in a series of roundtable discussions from 17-19 September 2024 to reflect on the findings of a gap analysis concerning sexual and digital violence against women in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The discussions, moderated by...
Workshop in Baku on the role of civil society in preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence
On 13 September 2024, the Council of Europe hosted a workshop in Baku with participation from 20 representatives of civil society organisations, psychologists, lawyers, and academia. The workshop reflected and expanded the discussions from the International Conference Synergy for change: Civil...
United against domestic violence: Joint training of Armenian investigators and police officers
Committed to enhance the abilities of law enforcement professionals in addressing domestic violence and violence against women, the Council of Europe held a two-day intensive training for 19 investigators and police officers, 13 of which are women. The training specifically targeted inter-agency...
A capacity building visit of Ukraine to Spain on combating violence against women
On 15-18 July 2024 a Ukrainian delegation visited Madrid Spain, representing a cross-section of stakeholders involved in addressing violence against women and responsible for gender equality policies in Ukraine. The aim of this study visit was to improve knowledge regarding implementation of the...
Workshop on enhancing civil society participation in the Council of Europe project
Engagement of CSOs in the Council of Europe co-operation project is essential, due to their capacity to reach out, to empower, represent, and defend vulnerable persons. The Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) baseline assessment report also...
Guidance on Istanbul Convention's Non-Discrimination Clause Now available in Ukrainian
A collection of papers on implementing the Istanbul Convention without discrimination has been translated into Ukrainian. The publication, “Ensuring the non-discriminatory implementation of measures against violence against women and domestic violence: Article 4, paragraph 3, of the Istanbul...
Changing mindsets of perpetrators of domestic violence
The Council of Europe project “Aligning laws and policies with the Istanbul Convention” in Kosovo* has supported the Ministry of Justice in piloting the first national program for perpetrators of domestic violence in Dubrava Prison. The “Programme for Treatment of Perpetrators of Violence against...
Synergy for change: Civil society raising awareness on violence against women in a context of global challenges
On 11 and 12 July 2024, the Gender Equality Division hosted the conference “Synergy for Change” for representatives of civil society organisations active in combating violence against women and promoting gender equality. The conference, held in Budapest within the framework of Ending violence...
Eastern Partnership law schools agree to advance on gender mainstreaming university education
Representatives of law schools from major universities in Armenia, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine met in Tbilisi to discuss gender mainstreaming efforts including across the curricula. Over the course of two days, professors of law benefitted from several presentations, including on the...
Republic of Moldova takes steps to tackle violence against women with a data-driven approach
Chisinau, Moldova, 27-28 June 2024 - The Moldovan National Agency for the Prevention and Combating of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (ANPCV) is taking significant steps to improve data collection and analysis on violence against women. Fragmented data has long hindered...
Further steps taken by the Regional Network of Eastern Partnership judicial training institutions for advancing women’s access to justice and gender mainstreaming in the justice chain
The second meeting of the Eastern Partnership Regional Network of judicial training institutions was held on 5 July 2024 in Strasbourg, as part of the HELP Network Annual Conference. The meeting gathered rectors, vice-rectors and heads of international co-operation departments from Eastern...
Empowering change: Armenian investigators trained to tackle domestic violence
On 14-15 June 2024, in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia an intensive two-day training took place aimed at equipping 24 investigators (11 women and 13 men) with skills to combat violence against women and domestic violence and prepare them for smooth implementation of recent amendments in field-regulating...
Ukrainian judges, prosecutors and lawyers trained on violence against women and domestic violence
65 Ukrainian judges, prosecutors and lawyers have successfully completed the Council of Europe HELP online course on violence against women. The course has been adapted to meet the specific needs of Ukraine. Through the Violence against Women HELP course, legal professionals gain a deeper...
Moldovan delegation of violence against women and domestic violence professionals visits Spain
A delegation of 16 representatives from the Republic of Moldova participated at a capacity building study visit to Spain and learned from Spanish practices in preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. The visit was facilitated by the Council of Europe project...
19 June: International Day for the elimination of sexual violence in conflict
In response to the growing number of cases of conflict related sexual violence in Ukraine, the Council of Europe supports Ukrainian national authorities and government agencies, civil society organisations and local NGOs with resources to support their efforts provide tailored and...
Collaborative efforts to implement new domestic violence legislation in Armenia
On 23 May 2024, representatives the Armenian National Assembly, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Investigative Committee, Court of Cassation, the Ministries of Internal Affairs, Labour and Social Affairs, Justice, Health, Education, Science, Culture and Sports and civil society organisations (CSOs)...
Strengthening protection of migrant women, and Istanbul Convention monitoring in Ukraine
On 24 May 2024 an online round table was organised to discuss protection of the rights of refugees, migrants and asylum seeking women and girls, as outlined in the Council of Europe Recommendation on protecting the rights of migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls, adopted by Ukraine...
Increasing legal literacy of women in the earthquake-affected regions of Türkiye
Between 7-10 May 2024, a total of 87 women affected by the earthquakes of February 2023 attended a training aiming at empowering them to claim their rights and increased their knowledge on how to access support services. The trainings were organised in the container cities housing more than 600...
Promising practices on implementing the Istanbul Convention discussed in Ukraine
340 civil servants from regional offices of the National Social Service of Ukraine participated in a webinar on the publication “After ratification: promising practices on implementation of the Istanbul Convention” on 23 May 2024. In the publication, the Council of Europe: examines common...
SYNERGY Network highlights Czech-Norwegian good practice on gender-based violence against women
A project by the Czech Gender Equality Department and the Norwegian NGO “Alternative to violence” has been featured by the SYNERGY Network against gender-based and domestic violence as an example of good practice on addressing gender-based violence. The project, funded by the EEA and Norway...
