COE open for signature a treaty on safety of women
COE open for signature a treaty on safety of women
Later today in Istanbul, the Council of Europe will open for signature a treaty aimed at improving the safety of women.
The ‘Convention on Preventing And Combating Violence Against Women And Domestic Violence’ draws on best practice from across Europe and provides an international framework for positive action.
It will help the 47 member state governments in the prevention of violence towards women, the protection of victims and the prosecution of offenders.
Ratification of the treaty will lead to immediate action to criminalise and prosecute a range of offences: rape, domestic violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, sexual harassment, forced abortion and forced sterilisation. Excuses on grounds of culture, custom, religion or so-called “honour” can no longer be used.
Governments will also be expected to set up or fund adequate services, including shelters, 24-hour help-lines and medical and legal counseling that are vital to women fleeing violent partners.
Crime statistics show that one in seven women in Council of Europe member states have experienced violence in a relationship. With the subject still very much a taboo, the real figure is surely higher.
Worse, relatively low conviction rates for assaults against women continue to provoke concern.
Governments throughout Europe now recognise the social costs of violence towards women and are also more alert to the economic costs too.
It is estimated that in the United Kingdom, where a woman contacts police every minute to ask for help, some £23 billion are lost every year by the professional absence of women due to injury.
One key feature of the new convention is that it recognises the need to see violence against women in the context of inequality between women and men.
Whilst women have achieved much over the past 30 years, the domination of men over women in the private and public spheres remains. One major reason for taking action now on women’s safety is the widening gap between what is on the statute books and what happens in the real world.
The convention is the next step in a body of work by the Council of Europe that has enhanced the equality agenda since the 1970s.
The organisation intends that this treaty will provide practical assistance to bring millions of women out of the violence trap and put equality back on the political agenda.
The fact that compliance with the convention will be monitored goes some way to understanding why it is considered a milestone in the long march towards gender equality.
WOMEN AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN TURKEY
Human Rights Watch has recently said that Turkey has a flawed family violence protection system. This flawed system according to the report leaves women unprotected around the country. Domestic abuse is a plague in Turkey as many associations have underlined. The report, "'He Loves You, He Beats You': Family Violence in Turkey and Access to Protection", pointed out that life-saving protections, including court-issued protection orders and emergency shelters, are not available for many abuse victims because of gaps in the law and enforcement failures.
In 58 pages the report documents brutal and long-lasting violence against women and girls by husbands, partners, and family members and the survivors' struggle to seek protection.
Turkey has strong protection laws, setting out requirements for shelters for abused women and protection orders. However, gaps in the law and implementation failures by police, prosecutors, judges, and other officials make the protection system unpredictable at best, and at times downright dangerous.
The report included interviews with women and girls, from 14 to 65, who tell of their being raped; stabbed; kicked in the abdomen when pregnant; beaten with hammers, sticks, branches, and hoses to the point of broken bones and fractured skulls; locked up with dogs or other animals; starved; shot with a stun gun; injected with poison; pushed off a roof; and subjected to severe psychological violence. The violence occurred in all areas where researchers conducted interviews, and across income and education levels.
Some 42 percent of women over age 15 in Turkey and 47 percent of rural women have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a husband or partner at some point in their lives, according to a 2009 survey conducted by a leading Turkish university.
The report is based on interviews with, and the case files of, 40 women in Van, Istanbul, Trabzon, Ankara, Izmir, and Diyarbakýr, and dozens of interviews with lawyers, women's organizations, social workers, government officials, and other experts.
The ‘Convention on Preventing And Combating Violence Against Women And Domestic Violence’ draws on best practice from across Europe and provides an international framework for positive action.
It will help the 47 member state governments in the prevention of violence towards women, the protection of victims and the prosecution of offenders.
Ratification of the treaty will lead to immediate action to criminalise and prosecute a range of offences: rape, domestic violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, sexual harassment, forced abortion and forced sterilisation. Excuses on grounds of culture, custom, religion or so-called “honour” can no longer be used.
Governments will also be expected to set up or fund adequate services, including shelters, 24-hour help-lines and medical and legal counseling that are vital to women fleeing violent partners.
Crime statistics show that one in seven women in Council of Europe member states have experienced violence in a relationship. With the subject still very much a taboo, the real figure is surely higher.
Worse, relatively low conviction rates for assaults against women continue to provoke concern.
Governments throughout Europe now recognise the social costs of violence towards women and are also more alert to the economic costs too.
It is estimated that in the United Kingdom, where a woman contacts police every minute to ask for help, some £23 billion are lost every year by the professional absence of women due to injury.
One key feature of the new convention is that it recognises the need to see violence against women in the context of inequality between women and men.
Whilst women have achieved much over the past 30 years, the domination of men over women in the private and public spheres remains. One major reason for taking action now on women’s safety is the widening gap between what is on the statute books and what happens in the real world.
The convention is the next step in a body of work by the Council of Europe that has enhanced the equality agenda since the 1970s.
The organisation intends that this treaty will provide practical assistance to bring millions of women out of the violence trap and put equality back on the political agenda.
The fact that compliance with the convention will be monitored goes some way to understanding why it is considered a milestone in the long march towards gender equality.
WOMEN AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN TURKEY
Human Rights Watch has recently said that Turkey has a flawed family violence protection system. This flawed system according to the report leaves women unprotected around the country. Domestic abuse is a plague in Turkey as many associations have underlined. The report, "'He Loves You, He Beats You': Family Violence in Turkey and Access to Protection", pointed out that life-saving protections, including court-issued protection orders and emergency shelters, are not available for many abuse victims because of gaps in the law and enforcement failures.
In 58 pages the report documents brutal and long-lasting violence against women and girls by husbands, partners, and family members and the survivors' struggle to seek protection.
Turkey has strong protection laws, setting out requirements for shelters for abused women and protection orders. However, gaps in the law and implementation failures by police, prosecutors, judges, and other officials make the protection system unpredictable at best, and at times downright dangerous.
The report included interviews with women and girls, from 14 to 65, who tell of their being raped; stabbed; kicked in the abdomen when pregnant; beaten with hammers, sticks, branches, and hoses to the point of broken bones and fractured skulls; locked up with dogs or other animals; starved; shot with a stun gun; injected with poison; pushed off a roof; and subjected to severe psychological violence. The violence occurred in all areas where researchers conducted interviews, and across income and education levels.
Some 42 percent of women over age 15 in Turkey and 47 percent of rural women have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a husband or partner at some point in their lives, according to a 2009 survey conducted by a leading Turkish university.
The report is based on interviews with, and the case files of, 40 women in Van, Istanbul, Trabzon, Ankara, Izmir, and Diyarbakýr, and dozens of interviews with lawyers, women's organizations, social workers, government officials, and other experts.
