On 9-10 April 2019, a seminar on “Inter-agency co-operation: models to prevent and combat violence against women at the regional level” took place in Astrakhan. The seminar was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe joint project “Co-operation on the implementation of the Russian Federation National Action Strategy for Women 2017-2022”.
The Russian partners of the project were represented by the First Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexey Vovchenko, the Acting Deputy Chairperson of the Government and Minister of Social Development and Labour of the Astrakhan region Oleg Petelin, the Deputy Head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michail Vinogradov, Senior Adviser of the Department of European Co-operation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Ekaterina Gorbatova. The event was also attended by the Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Family, Women and Children of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Oksana Pushkina and the representatives of the Ministry of Interior.
The Council of Europe was represented by the Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in the Russian Federation Petr Sich and the Delegation of the European Union to Russia by Aleshka Simkić.
In his opening remarks, Sich thanked the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection for the fruitful co-operation and the work carried out as well as the Government of the Astrakhan Region for hosting the event. He underlined the importance of sharing experiences and promising practices in the area of combating violence against women.
More than 90 participants attended the seminar, including representatives of the administrations of the Astrakhan, Ulyanovsk, Saratov, Volgograd, Perm Regions as well as Republic of Udmurtia; regional Commissioners for Human Rights, Russian and international experts in the field of inter-agency co-operation, representatives of the regional crisis support centers for women, non-governmental and human rights organisations as well as members of the media.
The seminar fostered exchanges of experiences in the area of inter-agency co-operation among national practitioners and policy-makers, and with foreign counterparts presenting international experience, legislation and practices in the area of prevention of violence against women and the protection of victims, as well as the prosecution of perpetrators.
