The European Women’s Lobby invites us to a public event “Istanbul Convention: What policies transform commitments into reality” on the 6th of December 2017 from 14h to 17h30, at the Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the European Union (Rue Jacques de Lalaing, 8-14).
You can register to participate in the event here. Registrations will be opened until 29 of November 2017.
Despite progress over the last decades on equality between women and men there is not a single country in the Europe where women and girls are free from male violence. We still have a long way to go to ensure that women and girls can live a life free from violence in the EU. (See EWL Factsheet on Disrupting the continuum of violence against women and girls). Violence against women exists, it is not abstract and women are speaking out about it. As the #MeToo movement has emphasized, it’s time for action. Women’s voices are too loud and too many to be ignored any longer!
Let’s continue to disrupt the silence and the indifference!
Now is the moment to take stock of the latest developments at EU and at Member State level. The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, the Istanbul Convention, entered into force 4 years ago, being the most comprehensive treaty on this issue and a key tool to improve legislation and policies. However, at present only 17EU member states have ratified it and more progress is needed to ensure that its provisions are implemented across Europe. At EU Level, there have been important steps in relation to ratification of the Istanbul Convention by the EU and the declaration of 2017 as EU year of focused action to end violence against women. It is crucial that women’s organisations’ continue to monitor this and to ensure that commitments are transformed into reality.
During this event EWL Observatory experts and academics will highlight the key challenges in combating violence against women and in implementing the Istanbul Convention. We will focus on violence against migrant and refugee women and digital violence against women. There will be room for exchange with key CoE and EU decision and several members of the European Coalition to end violence against women will highlight their initiatives.
The event will finish with an inspiring slam poetry performance.
The event will mark the end of a campaign coordinated lead by EWL members which will run from the International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women on 25th November to International Human Rights day on the 10th of December.
EWL Observatory Experts, NGO’s, civil society, women’s rights organisations and representatives of the Council and Europe and EU Institutions will all be present and we call on your participation for this important event!
You can already engage by signing this petition calling for action at EU level to make Europe a safe space for women and girls: https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/womens-rights
This event acts as a follow-up to the International Conference “Loud and United to end violence against women and girls” organised by the EWL in June 2017 in Brussels city hall. See a brief video with key messages here.
=>For action: EWL Loud & United Social Media toolkit – campaign starting on 25 November!
We are sharing with you the EWL social media toolkit for the Loud and United EWL social media campaign during the 16 days of activism to end violence against women from 25th November to 10th of December. This social media toolkit aims to provide tools and guidelines for the engagement of members during the EWL social media campaign during the 16 days of activism to end violence against women from 25th November to 10th of December. The toolkit includes 14 social media visuals that you can use and adapt by inserting your key messages and demands on VAWG and your logos – but make sure to read the full social media toolkit carefully first. The toolkit and visuals are available for download on this google drive:https://drive.google.com/ drive/folders/ 13EW1zOGAMUb93Ul2AaIZonT72GaSS SqR , and the toolkit is also available on the Living Room here. We will be disseminating the visuals with key messages at EU level in our different social media platforms during the 16 days of activism.
Please, share with us the activities that you are organising during the 16 days of activism so that we can disseminate widely the information.
