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.
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», Jean-Guy Branger (France, EPP/CD), a PACE member, is organising a seminar for parliamentarians from Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom to intensify interparliamentary co-operation in this area.
12/10/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
At the halfway stage of the Council of Europe Campaign to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence, PACE is to hold several seminars for members of the parliaments of outlying countries so as to encourage national parliaments to step up their activities. Following the seminar held in Helsinki on 10 October 2007, the PACE is to hold another, this time in Vienna on 16 October, under the aegis of the Austrian Parliament (Dr. Karl-Renner-Ring 3), to be attended by members of parliament from Austria, Germany, the Slovak Republic, the Russian Federation and Hungary.
09/10/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
At the halfway stage of the Council of Europe Campaign to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence, PACE is to hold several seminars for members of the parliaments of outlying countries so as to encourage national parliaments to step up their activities. One regional group, comprising members of the Finnish, Swedish and Lithuanian parliaments, as well as some representatives of NGOs, is to meet in the parliament building in Helsinki (Arkadiankatu 3) on 10 October.
04/06/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
The Council of Europe campaign to combat domestic violence against women is helping to raise awareness, particularly thanks to the work of national parliaments, but parliamentarians now need to make greater efforts to change laws to protect women and to monitor their implementation, according to PACE’s rapporteur on the campaign José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD).
27/02/2007 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Where abortion isn’t illegal, it should be made safe and accessible in order to protect women’s lives, the author of a forthcoming PACE report on abortion and the Chair of the Assembly’s Equal Opportunities Committee said today at a hearing in Paris organised by the committee. Participants heard evidence that more than 70 000 women die each year worldwide as a result of unsafe abortions. The rapporteur, Gisela Wurm (Austria, SOC), will present her draft report later in the year.