25/03/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“Women continue to be discriminated against in manifold ways: they have less access to the labour market, they earn less and have lower pension income than men,” Anna Curdová (Czech Republic, SOC), rapporteur of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men ‘on decent pensions for women’ said at a meeting in Paris today.
23/03/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
At its forthcoming meeting in Paris on Thursday 25 March, PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men will be looking at gender inequality in pensions, with input from two experts. Anna Curdová (Czech Republic, SOC), currently drafting a report on this issue, will be calling for pension schemes offering women decent living conditions. The following day, Friday 26 March, the committee will hold a hearing on the real situation of rural women, the subject of a report being drafted by Carmen Quintanilla Barba (Spain, EPP/CD).
17/03/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Council of Europe and the European Union must “join forces and speak out together” to combat violence against women in Europe, Carmen Quintanilla Barba (Spain, EPP/CD), a member of PACE’s Equal Opportunities Committee, told a European Parliament conference in Brussels today. “We need your determination, your commitment and your support to make progress with legislation and to change attitudes,” she said, expressing the hope that the EU would accede to the future Council of Europe convention to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence, and help with data collection as part of the convention’s monitoring procedure.
01/03/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), Chair of the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, today represented the Assembly at an event organised in New York by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, on the role of parliaments in enforcing legislation on violence against women. This event was held in the fringe of the 54th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
24/02/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The new Council of Europe convention to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence must set high standards and should be backed by a strong, independent and well-funded monitoring mechanism, the head of PACE’s Equal Opportunities Committee has told the group of experts drafting it. Speaking in Strasbourg yesterday, José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/DC) called for a system of parliamentary scrutiny of how well parties apply the convention, which he said would be a “trailblazing major democratic advance”. The convention came about in part because of strong pressure from the Assembly, he pointed out.
22/02/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“The Council of Europe Convention on action against trafficking in human beings will reach its full potential when it is ratified by other countries in Europe and beyond. The wider the ratification of the Convention is, the better the protection for victims will be. The role of parliamentarians is crucial to this end,” today recalled Kent Olsson (Sweden, EPP/CD), at a seminar on trafficking in human beings organised in London by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
10/02/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“I am appalled and outraged by the murder of a 16-year-old girl recently committed in Turkey, in the name of so-called ‘honour’”, said José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD), Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, speaking today. “The torture suffered by this young girl, buried alive, is intolerable. There is no honour in so-called ‘honour crimes’, and no tradition or culture can invoke any kind of honour to violate women’s fundamental rights”, he added.
22/01/2010 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
As part of a parliamentary debate on action against trafficking in human beings and the need to promote the Council of Europe convention on trafficking, the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men will hold an exchange of views open to the press, in the presence of Nikolay Mikhaylovich Rantsev, the father of a victim of trafficking, and his lawyer, on Tuesday 26 January. The meeting will be followed by a press conference.
10/12/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
As the Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe have never ceased to emphasise, violence against women, including domestic violence, is a serious violation of human rights incompatible with the Council's norms and standards, Paul Wille (Belgium, ALDE), Vice-President of the Assembly, told today's opening session of a conference in Paris on migration and violence against women in Europe. “Action must be taken to prevent and punish such violations. Cultural relativism or references to culture, religion or customary practices can never be invoked to justify them,” he stressed.
10/12/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Immigrant women are victims of a “triple penalty”, that of being a woman and an immigrant, and the fact that they are often there illegally, according to Jean-Claude Mignon (France, EPP/DC), speaking at the opening of a conference on migration and violence against women in Europe, in Paris on 10 December. “Fear of being forced to leave a country where they have found at least a precarious refuge is not an incentive to seek the protection of the law, for fear that they will once again find themselves on the move,” he said.
08/12/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Should women facing gender-based violence in their home countries be entitled to seek asylum in Europe? What types of persecution do women, in particular face, which cause them to seek asylum? How can traffickers be stopped from exploiting them? Are Council of Europe member states accountable, beyond their borders, for the violations of fundamental rights of migrant women living in Europe? These and other questions will be debated at a parliamentary conference on “Migration and violence against women in Europe” in Paris on 10 and 11 December 2009, attended by some 80 parliamentarians and experts from around 25 countries.
20/11/2009 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Irrespective of her origin or background, any victim of gender-based violence residing in Europe must be able to receive protection and rehabilitation, said PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig, in a statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. "In this context, the Assembly forcefully and resolutely perseveres with its commitment to promote the drafting of the future Council of Europe convention to prevent and combat violence against women, including domestic violence," he said.