22/04/2026 | Session
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), meeting today in Strasbourg in plenary session, emphasised the need to “include free and informed consent in national legislation on preventing and combating sexual violence”.The question of consent in sexual relations has long been...
22/04/2026 | Session
PACE is calling for universal ratification and full implementation of the Istanbul Convention, nearly 12 years after the landmark treaty to protect women against domestic violence entered into force, warning that organised disinformation campaigns and insufficient resources are undermining its...
23/03/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Twelve years after the Istanbul Convention entered into force, the report prepared by Zita Gurmai (Hungary, SOC) outlines where implementation is falling short. While the convention has had a “positive impact on the ground,” the draft resolution adopted by the committee, calls for “renewed...
13/03/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
"The backlash against women's rights is real, but it is not inevitable. It can be resisted, and it can be reversed, if we act together," said PACE President Petra Bayr at the opening of a side-event on the margins of the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) in New York...
06/03/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
PACE President Petra Bayr and the Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo (Monaco, ALDE), made the following joint statement on the eve of International Women’s Day 2026:“On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we join the United Nations...
05/02/2026 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
On the eve of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Luz Martinez Seijo (Spain, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Co-ordinator of the Parliamentary Network Women Free from Violence, calls for the criminalisation of FGM, a violation...
25/11/2025 | Women free from violence
A parliamentary round table at the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova in Chisinau focused on what parliamentarians can do to implement the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe’s legal standard on combating violence against women, and heard from leading Moldovan officials the progress...
24/11/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“Online violence against women and girls, facilitated by new technologies and the insufficient regulation of artificial intelligence and online platforms, is growing exponentially and is a serious threat to the human rights of women and girls,” declared PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos...
31/10/2025 | Women free from violence
“I am deeply alarmed by the decision of the Latvian Parliament to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, just over a year after it entered into force in the country. This is an unprecedented and deeply worrying step backwards for women’s rights and human rights in Europe. By abandoning the first...
31/10/2025 | Women free from violence
“I am dismayed to learn this week’s final vote of the Latvian Parliament to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, which deprives women victims of violence in Latvia of the protection and support mechanisms of this important Convention which is in application in 37 countries in Europe,” said the...
01/10/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“It is essential that women who are victims of violence in Latvia can benefit from the protection and support mechanisms of the Istanbul Convention,” said the Chairperson of PACE's Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, Catia Polidori (Italy, EPP/CD). “Members of Parliament sent a strong...
07/03/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Joint statement by PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos and the Chair of the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, Catia Polidori (Italy, EPP/CD), on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2025. Today, on International Women’s Day, the United Nations is calling for rights...