Highlights from the 13th meeting of the Gender Equality Commission
The Council of Europe Gender Equality Commission (GEC) discussed the launching of the Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2023 and the ongoing work of the Drafting Committee preparing a draft Committee of Minister’s recommendation to prevent and combat sexism. It also adopted its 2018-2019 work plan. Discussions were held with a representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Deputy Executive Director of the North-South Centre, the CAHROM Gender Equality Rapporteur, and representatives from other Council of Europe sectors (Violence against Women,Media and Counter-Terrorism). Three thematic debates took place on gender equality and youth, women in sports and gender pay gap policies.
POLITICO Women Rule Summit
The Council of Europe was represented at the recent Politico Women Rule Summit by Liri Kopaçi Di Michele, Head of the Gender Equality Division. The event brought together over 150 participants and highlighted barriers to women’s participation, good practices, policies and legislation, good quotas, training, work with the media and the importance of education, as well as the impact of the #MeToo movement and women in STEM. In 2017, Politico published a thorough analysis of the Council of Europe analytical study of the monitoring of CM Recommendation on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision making in 2017 (Europe’s Glass Ceiling). Find out more about the Council of Europe standards and work regarding women in decision making in our website.
Preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence in Armenia
A new Council of Europe project “Preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence in Armenia" was launched on 6 June 2018 in Yerevan. The project builds upon past co-operation activities of the Council of Europe in the country and aims at strengthening the capacity of legal and law enforcement. ********** Please take some time to visit the new website concerning all co-operation activities in the area of violence against women.
Commissioner for Human Rights visits Estonia and calls on authorities to step up their efforts to tackle gender stereotypes and prejudices about the role of women in society
Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, carried out a five-day visit to Estonia in June 2018. She highlighted that “Estonia should combat discrimination and abuses against older persons, tackle the gender pay gap and violence against women”. Commissioner Mijatović welcomed the government’s initiative to amend the Gender Equality Act to address the gender pay gap, which is the highest in the European Union. She also stressed that “legal support for victims and training of police and judicial officials is needed to ensure that victims of sexual violence and domestic violence are protected and that those responsible are held to account”.
The Council of Europe has produced two videos aiming at highlighting the work done within the Organisation on the integration of a gender equality perspective in all sectors. The first video looks at gender mainstreaming in the areas of electoral assistance, counter-terrorism, media policy and human resources. The second video highlights the result of gender mainstreaming in the area of drug abuse, audio-visual policy, combating corruption and co-operation activities.
Gender equality on the agenda in July - December 2018
20-21 September 2018: 4th meeting of the Council of Europe Drafting Committee for the preparation of a draft Committee of Ministers recommendation to combat and prevent sexism (Strasbourg, France)
1 October 2018: “Master class on women’s equal access to justice for the judges and members of the Registry of the European Court for Human Rights (Strasbourg, France)”
18-19 October 2018: Regional Conference on Women’s Access to Justice and the Istanbul Convention (Strasbourg, France)
19-21 November 2018: Council of Europe World Forum for Democracy: “Women's participation in public and political affairs and combating violence against women” (Strasbourg, France)
5-7 December 2018: 14th meeting of the Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, France)
Don’t forget to also follow the news of the GREVIO.
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