A delegation of the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) will carry out its follow-up evaluation visit to Belgium, from 3 to 7 February 2025, focussing on the theme “Building trust by delivering support, protection and justice.” This visit is one of the steps in the first thematic evaluation round to monitor the implementation by Belgium of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention).

The first thematic evaluation round aims to address how national laws and policies in parties build trust, deliver support, and provide access to justice for women victims of violence, based on the questionnaire adopted by GREVIO on 13 October 2022. The visit will enable the delegation to obtain more in-depth information on the implementation of select provisions in the areas of prevention, protection, prosecution and co-ordinated policies, where the baseline evaluation report on Belgium and the conclusions on the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee of the Parties to the Istanbul Convention have revealed challenges and the need to take additional measures.

During the visit, the GREVIO delegation will be meeting with representatives from different ministries and public bodies, including the Institute for Equality between women and men, and various federal, regional and community authorities, including from the fields of justice, internal affairs, healthcare, education and social services. In addition, the GREVIO delegation will be meeting with representatives of non-governmental organisations, civil society and independent bodies working in the area of violence against women as well as other international organisations.

GREVIO plans to publish its first thematic evaluation report on Belgium in September 2025.

See also: GREVIO and Belgium