Information - Sheet (3) Council of Europe Campaign to Stop Domestic Violence
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I N F O R M A T I O N S H E E T (3) - February 2007 Council of Europe STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN - CAMPAIGN 2007-2008 "Let's make a difference!" Women suffering from domestic violence are not only victims of abuse, they are also victims of silence, victims of indifference and victims of neglect. They are not helpless and weak, but they are often let down. This is what the Council of Europe Campaign is determined to change. The key words are inform, help and empower. This Campaign is not launched merely to talk about domestic violence; it is meant to do something about it. Its ultimate success will not be measured by the number of seminars or declarations, but by the positive and quantifiable changes which our campaign helps to bring about in the lives of women suffering from abuse, through better laws, more shelters, better counselling, more help and above all by prevention. Eighteen months from now, we must be able to look back and say we have made a difference. We must not let down these victims of a widespread abuse of human rights. Speech by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe at the Launching Conference of the Campaign in November 2006, Madrid STOP DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN - Campaign The 46 member states of the Council of Europe (CoE) have decided to carry out a campaign to combat violence against women, with the focus on domestic violence against women in 2007 and the first half of 2008. The launching conference took place in Madrid on November 27, 2006. Here is some new information on the campaign. General information about the Campaign see backside on the information sheet. Please check the CoE website regularly on information about the campaign!!! CoE Campaign website: www.coe.int/stopviolence You can also find information about the campaign on the WAVE website: www.wave-network.org NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - NEWS - Nomination of High Level officials and Focal Points in national governments and parliaments
43 out of 46 Council of Europe member States have already appointed a Focal Point in their National Parliament to carry out the campaign on the parliamentarian level. 37 member States have appointed a High Level Official for the Campaign and 36 member States have nominated a Focal Point in the Government so far. Every country should now set up a National Task Force, including NGOs working in the field of domestic violence against women and develop a National Action Plan for the Campaign and inform the Council of Europe about it. If you have not jet done so, please get in contact with the Focal Points and the High Level Official in your country and get engaged in the campaign (for the plan for the campaign see the Blue Print). June 2007 - Meeting of Focal Points in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg On the 4th and 5th of June 2007 there will be a meeting of all national Focal Points (Governments and Parliaments) at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The aim of this meeting is to inform the CoE about campaign activities at the national level and to present national measures and practices to combat violence against women. Get involved in the preparations of this meeting and make sure NGO activities are also presented. Ask your government and parliament Foal Points for possibilities to join the Focal Point meeting in Strasbourg in June 2007. Draft a NGO Action Plan for the Campaign! Lobbying for concrete improvements during the CoE campaign: The Council of Europe and the member states have committed themselves, to make real progress during the campaign (see Speech by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe at the Launching Conference of the Campaign in November 2006 Madrid; see Blue Print of the Campaign). Therefore: get together with many women's NGOs, academics and other experts working in the field of domestic violence against women and draft a National Action for the Campaign. Present it to the National Focal Points and the Task Force and ask the government and parliament to take up your suggestions and concerns for the campaign. Send your National Action Plan for the Campaign to WAVE and also to the CoE. Get many people, groups, institutions, organizations and companies involved! The campaign should spread and develop a snowball effect! Get many people, groups, institutions, organizations and companies involved in the campaign! Ask them for instance to organize a Day of Action to Stop Domestic Violence against Women in their organization or company or to engage in your activities. CoE Parliamentary Assembly activities The CoE Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) is active in co-coordinating activities with the national parliament focal points about the campaign. In March 2007 and the following months many national parliaments will organize Parliamentary Hearings. The Parliamentary Assembly is also preparing a Photo exhibition. Find out - through your focal point in the parliament - if your national parliament is planning a Hearing and get involved! Contact Ms. Tanja KLEINSORGE Head of the Secretariat of the Committee on equal opportunities for Women and Men of the Parliamentary Assembly Ms. Sylvie AFFHOLDER , Mr. Lamine DIALLO Tel. +33 / (0)3 88 41 31 93, Fax +33 / (0)3 90 21 41 34, e-mail: pace.com@coe.int CoE Congress of Local and Regional Authorities activities The CoE Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is contacting local authorities of the CoE member states, encouraging them to carry out campaign activities on the local and regional level. One part of the campaign activity should be to publish the poster of the campaign in many public buildings and spaces. Local and regional authorities can add their own local helpline numbers and/or contact information to the CoE poster! Contact your local and regional authorities, especially women's and equality units, and encourage them to get involved in the campaign (if they have not yet done so). Contact Ms. Dolores Ríos Turón Secretary of the Committee on Social Cohesion e-mail: congress.violence@coe.int
CoE Regional Seminars on Domestic Violence against Women As part of the Campaign the CoE organizes five regional seminars on different aspects of domestic violence against women. Get in contact with your Focal Point in the Government (if you have no Focal point yet with the ministry/department for women/gender equality) and indicate your interest in joining the conference. The CoE is suggesting that the member states should include at least one NGO participant at each regional seminar (who is than funded by the CoE). It should also be possible for more women's NGOs of the region, to participate on their own costs or - hopefully - with financial support of their national governments. 1st Regional Seminar: Legal measures to Combat Violence against Women, 21 - 22 February 2007, The Hague, The Netherlands The 1st regional seminar was held on legal measures to combat violence against women in The Hague, organized by the CoE together with the Dutch Government. You can find the press release and the program on the website under: http://www.coe.int/t/dg2/equality/DOMESTICVIOLENCECAMPAIGN/default_EN.asp 2nd Regional Seminar: Men's active participation in combating domestic violence, 9-10 May 2007, Zagreb, Croatia The 2nd regional seminar will be held on the issue of men's active participation to combat violence against women Zagreb, Croatia. It will be organized by the CoE together with the Croatian Government. Get involved, indicate your interest for participation and contributions and bring in your ideas, experiences and recommendations! 3rd Regional Seminar: New Date! Data collection in the area of Violence against Women, 5 July 2007, Lisbon, Portugal The 3rd regional seminar will be held on the issue of data collection in the area of violence against women in Lisbon, Portugal. It will be organized by the CoE together with the Portuguese Government. Get involved, indicate your interest for participation and contributions and bring in your ideas, experiences and recommendations! 4th Regional Seminar in Skopje, Macedonia - expected date : 11-12 September 2007 (to be confirmed), theme to be determined 5th Regional Seminar: Services for Victims of Domestic Violence, 04-05 October 2007, Helsinki, Finland The 5th regional seminar will be held on the issue of services for women victims of domestic violence in Helsinki. It will be organized by the CoE together with the Finish Government. Get involved, indicate your interest for participation and contributions and bring in your ideas, experiences and recommendations! 06-07 December 2007: CoE Conference on shelters for women victims of violence in Strasbourg On 06-07 December 2007 the CoE will organize a conference on Shelters for women victims of violence in Strasbourg. The aim of the conference is to present and discuss guidelines on qualitative and quantitative standards for shelters. It is of course, the aim of the WAVE-Network to contribute the long- standing experience and expertise of the network to the conference, and to present the WAVE manual "Away from violence". Our aim is also to ensure wide participation of women's services at the conference. Get involved, indicate your interest for participation and contributions and bring in your ideas, experiences and recommendations! Contact Division Equality between Women and Men / Directorate General of Human Rights Council of Europe Ms. Marta REQUENA Head of Division, Campaign Manager Ms. Johanna NELLES, Ms. Taina RISKI Coordination of Campaign Activities e-mail: DG2.Violence@coe.int GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE CAMPAIGN General Website of the Campaign: www.coe.int/stopviolence Campaign Blue Print On the above website you can find, among other useful materials, the outline of the COE campaign (Blue Print), prepared by the Task Force to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence. The Blue Print should be distributed widely on the national level to inform many institutions, organisations and persons about the COE campaign and to encourage them to join. It should also serve as the base for national action plans. If would be very useful to translate it to the language of your country. If you have Blue Prints translations, please send it to the WAVE office - we will help to distribute it. Currently the Blue Print is available in French and English (see CoE Campaing website). Collegues from Switzerland have translated the Blue Print into German. To get a German version please send a mail to: office@wave-network.org Handbook for parliamentarians The Parliamentary Assembly has published the Handbook, 'Parliaments United in combating domestic violence against women', which can be found on the website besides other useful material. http://www.coe.int/t/pace/campaign/stopviolence/NationalContacts_en.asp Task Force to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence The Task Force to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence has been set up in 2006. The Task Force, composed of eight international experts in the field of preventing and combating violence against women, will be in charge of evaluating progress at national level and establishing instruments for quantifying developments at pan-European level with a view to drawing up proposals for action. WAVE co-founder Rosa Logar has been nominated as one of the members of the Task Force. Contact: e-mail: rosa.logar@interventionsstelle-wien.at COE Member States - List of the High Level Officials and Focal Points for the campaign According to the Blue Print every Member State should to nominate a governmental High Level official as well as a Focal Point. Further also the national parliaments should nominate a contact person (see below). Member States should also establish National Task Forces, develop and implement National Action Plans and report to the COE about the activities. "Focal Points should be supported by a national Task Force on violence against women occurring in the family or domestic unit which should include women's NGOs and others working to combat violence against women. The role of the national Task Force is to support the delivery of member states? national campaigns to combat violence against women, including violence in the family or domestic unit.?"(COE, CM(2006)93, p.7) Website link to national High Level Officials and Focal Points in the national governments http://www.coe.int/t/dg2/equality/domesticviolencecampaign/NationalContacts_en.asp Website link to national Focal Points in Parliament: http://www.coe.int/t/pace/campaign/stopviolence/NationalContacts_en.asp Campaign Materials The CoE has produced campaign material like posters, flyers, stickers, pens, etc. You can order them from the CoE. Contact e-mail: DG2.Violence@coe.int Press Division of the Council of Europe Contact: |
