News
Call for tenders for consultancy services on positive narratives on gender equality
The Council of Europe Gender Equality Division is launching a call for tenders for the provision of consultancy services on developing knowledge and tools on anti-gender rhetoric and creating effective positive narratives and communication tools on promoting gender equality and...
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...
European Union and Council of Europe support civil society to empower women in Türkiye
The joint European Union/Council of Europe action “Fostering women's access to justice in Türkiye” is supporting the capacities of civil society organisations through a grant scheme. Grants were awarded to three civil society organisations, namely Hayat Sende Gençlik Akademisi Derneği (Hayat...
Azerbaijani civil society representatives participate in international conference on violence against women in Budapest
Eight civil society representatives from Azerbaijan actively participated in the international conference Synergy for change: Civil society raising awareness on violence against women in a context of global challenges - Gender Equality held in Budapest. The event was part of the Ending violence...
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...
Working together to end violence against women
European countries are taking a stronger stand against violence against women thanks to a key international human rights treaty, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). This convention goes beyond simply...