The round table on media was held on 8 July 2020, the second in a three-part Roundtable Series on advancing the fight against violence against women and domestic violence through Istanbul Convention standards. 22 participants, including journalists and media organisation representatives, civil society, international and national experts, engaged in discussions on the role of the media in shaping opinions, attitudes and mentalities, especially as regards equality between women and men.

The round table was opened by Olena Lytvynenko, the Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine who stated that with this roundtable on Gender and the Media, the Council of Europe aimed to share practical knowledge of the Council of Europe instruments, including the CoE Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2013)1 on gender equality and media, and CM/Rec(2019)1 on preventing and combating sexism; Article 17 of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating violence against women and domestic violence, which addresses the role of media and the private sector, and general guidance on implementation of this article of the Istanbul Convention.

Urška Umek, the Head of the Media Unit at the Council of Europe's Information Society Department, presented Ukrainian participants with observations and recommendations on gender equality and the media based on Council of Europe standards, including the European Convention on Human Rights. Jelisaveta Blagojevic, the project’s international expert, introduced the participants to Article 17 of the Istanbul Convention on participation of the private sector and the media in combating violence against women and domestic violence. Iryna Zemlyana, the national project expert, addressed media coverage of violence against women and domestic violence in the Ukrainian context. After the presentations, the participants exchanged opinions on the challenges they faced when covering violence against women and domestic violence in Ukraine, and discussed steps to be taken to overcome these challenges.

A media guidance for the development of self-regulatory standards to report on cases of violence against women and domestic violence is currently being developed under the project, which will be made available by the end of the year. Additional Council of Europe resources were shared with participants during the Media roundtable, including:

• Encouraging the participation of the private sector and the media in the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence: Article 17 of the Istanbul Convention
  • https://rm.ce.int/16805970bd
• CoE Gender Equality - Women in Media
  • https://www.ce.int/en/web/genderequality/women-in-media (English)
• Council of Europe Human Rights Channel – Action Page on Sexism
  • https://www.ce.int/en/web/human-rights-channel/stop-sexism
• Gender and Media at the ECtHR
  • https://www.ce.int/en/web/freedom-expression/gender-and-media - :~:text=To promote gender equality in,European Court of Human Rights
• Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)1 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on Combating and preventing sexism
  • CE Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)1 on preventing and combating sexism
• Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2013)1 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on gender equality and media
  • CM/Rec(2013)1 n gender equality and media
• Women’s rights and the COVID-19 pandemic:
  • https://www.ce.int/en/web/genderequality/women-s-rights-and-covid-19

This roundtable series is held through the CoE project “The Istanbul Convention: a tool to advance in fighting violence against women and domestic violence in Ukraine”and funded by the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2021.