Check against delivery - Speech by Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Executive Director Bahous,
Excellencies,
Colleagues,

Thank you to UN Women for this opportunity — and for your leadership when it is most needed.

Let me address the question directly.

The Council of Europe is acting on two levels.

First, with our legally binding standard — the Istanbul Convention.

Second, with new tools to meet the digital age.

The Istanbul Convention has been in force for more than a decade.

Across forty-six member states, it has reshaped legislation, improved services, secured funding, and trained professionals.

It has saved lives.

But violence is not standing still.

It is moving online.

And it is holding women and girls back.

From politics, from power — from their rightful place in society.

Across our member states, one in three women face partner violence.

One in six face sexual violence.

We cannot hide behind these statistics.

We must face the human cost — the lives diminished, the voices erased, the rights denied.

There is an enormous amount of pain in the world right now.

And too often, the answer is hate.

But hate does not start with violence.

It starts with words. With fear. With lies.

Online and offline, the logic is the same: dehumanise, divide, destroy.

This is the logic we must break.

Because today, women in public life — journalists, politicians, human rights defenders — are targeted not only with hate but with disinformation, harassment, and deepfakes.

This is a direct attack on democracy — and half of humanity.

That is why the Council of Europe is not standing still either.

We are developing a new instrument on technology-facilitated violence against women and girls.

Its core is accountability — from perpetrators to platforms.

No one should profit from violence.

No one should hide behind algorithms.

We are also developing standards on artificial intelligence to ensure equality — including gender equality.

Because AI can amplify harm — or it can help prevent it.

Colleagues,

Multilateralism is the only way forward.

Technology knows no borders.

Nor does the hate it spreads.

National laws alone cannot keep pace.

But together — with common standards, shared accountability, and peer monitoring — we can create real protection.

That is the added value of the Council of Europe.

 It is the power of multilateralism.

This is also the spirit of the New Democratic Pact for Europe — our collective effort to adapt democracy to a new reality.

It recognises gender equality as a foundation and precondition of democracy — and the urgent need for stronger commitment from our member states.

The choice is not platforms over people.

It is not humanity versus technology.

It is simply that violence against women and girls — online and offline — has no place in our society.

That choice is ours.

Thank you.