The Council of Europe Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) Programme joins the marking of 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women by announcing the online course on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

On 21 November, the course was presented at the European Parliament at the inter-parliamentary meeting organised by the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, bringing together European and National Parliamentarians around the theme: "The Istanbul Convention: combating violence against women at national and EU level".

You can watch the (9 min) presentation of the course here (from 15:29:10 to 15:38.34). A preceding intervention by Simona Lanzoni, GREVIO’s Second Vice-President is also in the same link. GREVIO is the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, in charge of monitoring compliance of state parties with the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention.

This online course was developed jointly between the Council of Europe Violence against Women Division and the HELP Programme. It covers in an interactive way the key concepts, the international and European legal framework and the European case law governing the prevention and protection of women and girls from violence, focusing in particular on the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention).

Violence against women is a grave violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women. It can take many forms, such as physical violence, sexual abuse, stalking, female genital mutilation or forced marriages. Despite some positive developments in law, policies and practices,   violence against women, including domestic violence occurs everywhere.

Violence against women is a complex issue, particularly when it occurs within the home, which can be compounded by the response of authorities to whom women turn for help. A comprehensive European course on the topic for a better understanding of violence against women and domestic violence by legal professionals was therefore needed.

The HELP course on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence offers a comprehensive curriculum to improve the quality of the judicial response in violence against women cases and support the access to justice for victims of violence while prosecuting perpetrators.

The course consists of the following substantive modules:

• Understanding violence against women and domestic violence
• International and European Legal Framework
• Overcoming barriers / access to Justice
• Criminal Justice Response I – Investigation and pre-trial
• Criminal Justice Response II – Trial and sentencing
• Civil Justice Response
• Alternative Dispute Resolution

The course can be accessed in English at the HELP online platform at this link.

For more information please download this course brief.

Violence against women from Council of Europe on Vimeo.