Panel Discussion on "VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACROSS THE EU" - Opening and closing remarks by Ambassador M. Spinellis

Opening Remarks

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentleman,

Please allow me at the outset, to express my sincere appreciation for your attendance to this panel discussion. I would also like to welcome Mr. Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos, Head of Department, Equality and Citizens Rights of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, H.E Mr. Ioannis Vrailas, Ambassador, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the UN and, UN Assistant Secretary General, Ms. Laksmi Puri.

Gender-based violence is the single most predominant phenomenon that penetrates every country, knows no geographical, cultural or racial boundaries and it constitutes one of the gravest violations of human rights.

Over the years, the international community has taken numerous steps to tackle this phenomenon but there is still a vast gap between commitment and action. The priority theme of the Commission on the Status of Women in 2013 was the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls, and the EU has reaffirmed its strong support and commitment to the implementation of the Beijing Platform for action, the Cairo Program of Action, as well as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

We strongly believe that regular reporting is instrumental in accelerating efforts to achieve effective implementation of the above international conventions. Today, we are here to honor this commitment and present the 2014 Fundamental Rights Agency survey on Violence against Women in the EU.

This study is very important as it is based on the biggest survey carried out so far with 42.000 women in 28 Member States of the EU and can further inform us on future action and needed interventions.

Comprehensive and accurate data enable us to understand causes and barriers. The results of the survey are an opportunity to observe the effectiveness of the actions that have been taken but most importantly focus on the drawbacks and failures. For example, cutbacks in social spending, including for victims of violence, has been detrimental and this study shows that it is important to maintain, and even increase, the existing level of resources. 

Moreover, this study can serve as a platform where Member States and relevant EU institutions can exchange best practices and policies with the view to create a holistic and coordinated reform aiming at upholding women’s rights within the EU. Gender equality should be one of the founding principles of every society and its achievement is a top priority for the European Union and its Member States. Discrimination of any form against women is a manifestation of a historic inequality that still persists within our societies and violence against women whether psychological, physical or sexual is an amalgam of prejudices that has no place in the European Union of the 21st century.

To this day, violence against women in the EU is underreported, as for example, in many countries domestic violence remains invisible or overlooked. We cannot afford to contribute to this shroud of social silence and tolerance.

Our main focus must be prevention and in order to achieve that we need to identify the root causes. Statistics indicate that violence stems from existing gender inequality patterns in various fields of society, such as employment, education, health and communication.

I believe that today’s presentation and discussion will shed light to the debate against violence and I look forward to see the lessons learned from this survey transformed into action.




Closing remarks

Today’s event created an opportunity for all of us to hear many interesting contributions from experts in order to understand better the current situation of violence against women in the European Union. The situation remains critical and it is now time to act in order to address this universal problem.

In order to successfully counter this inequality, a series of steps must be taken:
First and foremost, each Member State must ensure that adequate legislation and policies to safeguard women’s rights are put in place, but most importantly we need to work on capacity building in order to ensure their effective implementation. Equal economic independence is a prerequisite for the eradication of discrimination and violence against women. Gender-oriented decisions in economic policy need to be made, especially in situations of economic crisis, where women are disproportionally affected from unemployment and they face threats to their social and economic rights.

Social norms and cultural biases are an additional barrier to gender equality. In order to successfully overcome this problem, major reform must be made in education and community engagement. Education must promote gender equality, while creating initiatives to promote non-violent relationships. Additionally, it is highly important to engage men and boys, since, currently, violence against women is perceived as an issue concerning only women, while men are treated solely as perpetrators. There must be no gender division in the efforts to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and girls and we must not forget the important role of the civil society in this process. Raising awareness and sensitization are vital for progress to take place.

Finally, I would like to point out that this event is only one step in the process to ensure that women’s voices from every country in the European Union will be heard.

Thank you all for attending.