03/10/2008 Session
Strasbourg, 3.10.2008 - In a text unanimously adopted today, PACE has recommended that a framework convention of the Council of Europe be drafted on the severest and most widespread forms of violence against women, in particular domestic violence, sexual assaults, harassment, forced marriages, honour crimes and female genital mutilation. According to the Assembly, this convention should encompass the gender dimension and address the specific nature of gender-based violence.
During the debate, the rapporteur of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), asked members of the Assembly to continue to play an active role on this issue and to demonstrate a firm political will. He said that, unless legislation were adopted, this fight would continue to be in vain, and that there was a vital need to provide protection for victims, to prosecute the perpetrators of violence and to introduce effective prevention.