On 4 December 2025, the Violence against Women Division organised a follow-up round table on the implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Greece, aimed at promoting national synergies in addressing violence against women. The meeting provided the unique opportunity to take stock of and discuss progress, remaining challenges and ways forward in order to comply with the findings of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) baseline evaluation report on Greece published on 14 November 2023, as well as the recommendations of the Committee of the Parties to Greece adopted on 5 December 2023.

The meeting brought together around 45 representatives from relevant sectors of the authorities, along with women’s NGOs providing specialist support services and advocacy. It was opened by the Deputy Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs, Elena Rapti, who emphasised the actions taken by the Greek authorities in the past few years to strengthen laws, policies, and measures to combat violence against women and enhance the co-ordination of policies.

The participants exchanged views on the measures taken to promote an intersectional approach in tackling violence against women and reinforce the co-ordination of responses to such violence, on the provision of support services for women victims of gender-based violence and their children and on the law enforcement response to violence against women.

The panel discussions also highlighted new developments since GREVIO’s baseline evaluation report and the Committee of the Parties’ recommendations, such as the setting up of a social policing department in the police to deal among other issues with violence against women, as well as persisting challenges.

As a next step in the monitoring of the implementation of the Istanbul Convention, the Greek authorities are requested to report to the Committee of the Parties by the end of 2026 on the implementation of its 2023 recommendations. In 2026, Greece is also expected to undergo the first thematic evaluation procedure by GREVIO on the theme of “Building trust by delivering support, protection and justice”.