03/06/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men will be holding a hearing in Paris on 6 June on “The urgent need for action on so-called ‘honour crimes’”. The participants who will be joining with the committee members in discussing this issue include a representative of Amnesty International, an expert in the social work field, the director of an international campaign against “honour crimes”, and a lawyer.
15/05/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
At a colloquy held today by the Parliamentary Assemby of the Council of Europe (PACE) in the French National Assembly, Rama Yade, State Secretary responsible for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, said that the level of progress made by any society could be gauged by the status of women in that society, and that combating domestic violence against women was not only a matter affecting the status of women but also a challenge for the whole process of social development.
14/05/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
This parliamentary colloquy is to be held on Thursday 15 May from 9 am to 1 pm at the French National Assembly (33, rue Saint Dominique, Paris 7, 3rd floor). It is organised by PACE and will be opened by Jean-Claude Mignon (France, EPP/CD) and José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD.
30/04/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
In a declaration adopted today in Vienna at a conference on domestic violence against women held by PACE and the Austrian Parliament, the participants underlined the urgent need for action in national parliaments in this field, in terms of passing legislation and monitoring its application. The declaration also recommends that the networking of parliamentarians in the 47 member states should continue and that a Council of Europe framework convention should be drawn up to combat domestic violence.
25/04/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The final conference on the parliamentary dimension of the Council of Europe Campaign to combat violence against women, including domestic violence, organised by the PACE and the Austrian Parliament, will take place in Vienna on 30 April, in the presence of the Speaker of the Austrian Parliament Barbara Prammer, PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig, Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, the leader of the Austrian delegation to PACE Gisela Wurm (Austria, SOC) and some 80 parliamentarians from Council of Europe member states.
18/03/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
In a report published today, the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men calls on member states which have not already done so to decriminalise abortion. "Abortion on request is, in theory, available in all Council of Europe member states, except Andorra, Malta, Monaco, Ireland and Poland," explains Gisela Wurm (Austria, SOC) in her report, but "even in member states where abortion is legal, conditions are not always such as to guarantee women effective access to this right.
11/03/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“No threat to the physical or mental integrity of a woman or a girl is justifiable in the name of cultural relativism" said Antigoni Papadopoulos (Cyprus, ALDE) today at the close of a hearing on abduction and illegal confinement of women and girls in the name of practices contrary to human rights. "Forced marriage, genital mutilation and all other gender-based human rights violations must be penalised by law," she declared.
11/03/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The abduction and illegal confinement of women and girls in the name of practices contrary to human rights – in particular, forced early marriage, female sexual mutilation, slavery and gender-related violence – will be the focus of a hearing held in Paris on Tuesday 11 March by the PACE's Equal Opportunities Committee. The purpose of this hearing is to take stock of the good practices and legal solutions developed at international level, in particular the role for diplomatic representations abroad, and possible prevention methods in Council of Europe member states.
05/03/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“The majority of perpetrators of domestic violence are men, and since it is largely men who still hold positions of power in society, they have an important role to play in combating this crime,” said Belgian singer Axelle Red, introducing a Brussels lunch-debate yesterday on the role of men in fighting domestic violence. The event, in the framework of the Council of Europe campaign to combat domestic violence against women, was organised at the Madariaga European Foundation to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March.
27/02/2008 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
In the presence of the singer Axelle Red, and as part of the “Mardis de l’Europe” initiative, the Madariaga European Foundation for the College of Europe is to host a luncheon debate on 4 March, from 12 to 2 pm, at its headquarters in Brussels (87 Rue Royale). PACE parliamentarians taking part in the event, on the eve of International Women's Day, will share their experience of mobilising male parliamentarians to fight domestic violence.
06/12/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“Tolerating violence against women is unacceptable. Society will only change if we have the support of all the parties involved,” said Nimet Cubukcu, Turkey’s State Minister for Women and Family Affairs, at the opening of the hearing on domestic violence held by the PACE’s Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. “The awareness-raising campaign and the initiatives conducted by the Hürriyet newspaper, in Turkey and Germany, are helping to change attitudes,” added the Minister.
27/11/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
At the half-way stage in the "Council of Europe Campaign to combat violence against women, including domestic violence" Darinka Stantcheva (Bulgaria, ALDE), member of PACE, is bringing together parliamentarians and representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and Romania, in the presence of Gülsün Bilgehan (Turkey, SOC), Chair of the PACE Committee on equal opportunities for women and men, to intensify interparliamentary co-operation in this area.