News
The Council of Europe provided grants to Ukrainian civic organisations to combat violence against women
The Council of Europe project “Combating Violence against Women in Ukraine – Phase II” (COVAW-II) successfully supported three Ukrainian civil society organisations in awareness raising based on the CoE/WAVE/UN Women methodology. All three initiatives, successfully completed in October 2024, were...
Women's success stories: Armenian media breaks stereotypes
Between May and October 2024, four Armenian media organisations successfully completed projects supported by the Council of Europe, to highlight the inspiring success stories of women across the country. These initiatives shed light on women who have defied stereotypes, overcome challenges like...
Final steering committee meeting highlights gender equality progress in Ukraine
On 12 December 2024, the Council of Europe project "Promoting Gender Equality in Ukraine" (Pro-GE) held its final Steering Committee meeting. The project aligns with the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Strategy for 2024–2029, which aims to ensure equal rights, representation, empowerment,...
Empowering Roma Women to Claim Their Rights in Türkiye
As many as 130 Roma women across Türkiye have gained the tools and confidence to claim their rights and access essential support services thanks to a series of training sessions held from 6-29 November. These sessions, designed to remove barriers to justice and build trust in the legal system,...
Promoting gender equality, and combating violence against women in Armenia - First phase of project completed
On 11 December 2024, partners marked the successful conclusion of the Council of Europe project Ending violence against women and promoting gender equality in Armenia. Around 50 representatives from Armenian state institutions, civil society, media, and international partners met to reflect on...
Justice system professionals strengthen coordinated criminal justice response to domestic violence in the Republic of Moldova
In November and December, four training sessions aimed at enhancing the criminal justice system’s response to domestic violence were held in Chisinau. Organised by the Women's Law Center (CDF), with support from the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau, the sessions brought together a total of...
Empowering women human rights defenders in Georgia - a high-level meeting held in Tbilisi
On 29 November 2024, Representatives of civil society and international organisations gathered for a high-level meeting under the title “Their Fight, Your Future”, dedictaed to advancing the protection and empowerment of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in Georgia. Held on the International...
Advancing gender equality in Ukraine
The project " Promoting Gender Equality in Ukraine " has developed a brochure "Key Actions for Gender Equality". Based on the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy for 2024-2029, the brochure prioritises equal rights and opportunities for all, including disadvantaged groups. The brochure...
Preventing and combating domestic violence - discussions in Baku during the “16 days of activism against gender-based violence”
On 4 December 2024, the Council of Europe Office in Baku hosted a café discussion on “Domestic Violence in the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights” as part of the “16 days of activism against gender-based violence.” The event provided a platform for informal discussions among 34 civil...
Progress highlighted on combating violence against women in Moldova
On 27 November 2024, key achievements in implementing the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention were the focus of a conference organised by the Council of Europe and the Moldovan Agency for Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. Bringing together government...
Promoting gender equality and women’s access to justice across the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkan regions
Judges, prosecutors and representatives from judicial training institutions across the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkans regions met in Tirana, to assess the results of the mentoring programme for legal professionals on women’s access to justice. A series of thematic exchanges were held on...
European Gender Equality Policy-makers hold plenary session in Strasbourg
At its 26th Plenary Session, from 19 to 21 November 2024 in Strasbourg, the Gender Equality Commission (GEC) held several high-level exchanges. The discussions with Michael O’Flaherty, Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted the need for a gendered regulation of AI, the consequence on women and...
Armenian schools foster gender equality through innovative training with Council of Europe support
Around 40 school principals from urban and rural areas of Armenia attended a conference on 20 November on "Gender-responsive education in schools." The event focused on making schools more inclusive by: training teachers to implement gender-responsive teaching practices; promoting equal...
Integrating perpetrator programmes into sentencing - an effective way to break the cycle of violence!
On 7 November 2024 in Pristina, the Council of Europe project “Aligning laws and policies with the Istanbul Convention” held a roundtable on: “Breaking the cycle of violence: Integrating the programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence in sentencing”. The roundtable gathered around 100...
Launch of the HELP course on gender equality and gender mainstreaming in Azerbaijan
On 7 November the Azerbaijani version of an online HELP course on Gender Equality and Gender Mainstreaming was launched. This newly developed course is aimed at a broad audience, to include students, civil society organisations, women’s rights groups - anyone interested in advancing gender...
European gender equality policy-makers to meet in Strasbourg
The 26th plenary meeting of the Gender Equality Commission (GEC) will take place in Strasbourg on 19-21 November 2024. A highlight of the agenda will be an exchange with Yuriko Backes, Luxembourg Minister for Defence, for Mobility and Public Works and for Gender Equality and Diversity. This...
Ukrainian legal professionals exchange on executing European Court of Human Rights domestic violence rulings
On 31 October 2024 the Council of Europe held a roundtable “European Court of Human Rights and women’s rights: execution of ECtHR judgements in cases “Levchuk v.Ukraine No.17496/19 and “Ivashkiv v.Ukraine No.59670/14”, gathering together Ukrainian lawyers, judges, prosecutors, representatives of...
Council of Europe Gender Equality Rapporteurs (GERs) participated in a training workshop on gender equality and intersectionality mainstreaming.
On 5-6 November, a group of Gender Equality Rapporteurs (GERs) participated in the annual training entitled: “ Working to transform: Training workshop on gender equality and intersectionality mainstreaming”, organised by the Council of Europe Gender Equality Division. Gender Equality Rapporteurs...
Bosnia and Herzegovina advances discussions on consent-based legal definition of sexual violence
On 23 October 2024, representatives from institutions, the judiciary and civil society gathered in Sarajevo for a peer-to-peer event aimed at incorporating a definition of sexual violence based on the absence of consent into Bosnia and Herzegovina's criminal legislation. The event, organised by...
Path to justice: Conference highlights need for gender-sensitive approaches in Türkiye’s earthquake recovery
Addressing the unique legal challenges faced by women in Türkiye’s earthquake-affected regions requires urgent, gender-sensitive reforms in disaster recovery frameworks— this was concluded at the “Conference on women’s access to justice after the earthquakes”, organised by UN Women Türkiye and...
