A regional conference “Access to Justice for Women Victims of Violence” is taking place at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 18-19 October.
The conference seeks to review progress made in the field of women’s access to justice in the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova), in the light of the principles of the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention).
Among the Eastern Partnership countries, only Georgia has ratified the Istanbul Convention in 2017, having reserved the right not to apply until September 2022 the provisions on awarding state compensation to victims. Armenia, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova have signed but not ratified. Azerbaijan and Belarus have neither signed nor ratified the Convention.
No matter whether a state has signed or ratified the Istanbul Convention - violence against women is a sad reality everywhere. Every day women face barriers when accessing justice, and suffer the consequences of a gender-blind justice system which must ensure equality and full protection of the human rights of women. Strengthening the gender responsiveness of the justice systems in line with the European Court’s case law and the principles of the Istanbul Convention in this sphere are therefore crucial, and this is the focus of discussions at the conference.
The Conference is held under the EU-funded and Council of Europe-implemented Partnership for Good Governance (PGG), specifically its project on ‘Strengthening Access to Justice for Women Victims of Violence in the Six Eastern partnership Countries’.
