Today, the Council of Europe Expert Group on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) published its baseline evaluation report on Switzerland.
The report contains a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of the provisions of the Istanbul Convention in Switzerland. It acknowledges the steps taken by the country to comply with the treaty and identifies areas where progress is still needed.
In its baseline evaluation report, GREVIO highlights several positive developments, in particular the measures taken after the ratification of the Istanbul Convention to mobilise the various stakeholders involved in its implementation at all levels of authorities and the adoption of a national action plan on the implementation of the convention. Efforts have also been made to better align the Swiss legislation with the convention’s requirements and increased funding has been made available to support projects to prevent and combat violence against women.
Despite these achievements, GREVIO highlighted a number of issues where improvement is warranted in order to reach higher levels of compliance with the requirements of the Istanbul Convention. These include for example the lack of definitions and of a common approach at national level to violence against women and domestic violence, which may hinder the recognition and development of a shared understanding of violence against women. The report also shows a lack of data collection on violence against women and domestic violence.
Comments of the Swiss Government (French only)
