On 7-8 October, Claudia Luciani, Director of Human Dignity, Equality and Governance, and Marta Becerra, Head of Capacity Building and Co-operation Projects Unit, held meetings in Moscow, Russian Federation, to discuss the continuation of joint co-operation in the area of violence against women and domestic violence.

On 7 October they met with the representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Federation Council, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice, and Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights. During this meeting, First Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexey Vovchenko underlined the success of the current project and expressed his strong support for continuing co-operation. A separate meeting was held with the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Ms Tatiana Moskalkova. A fruitful discussion on women’s rights and situation of violence against women in Russia took place.

On 8 October, Ms Luciani and Ms Becerra met with the representatives of Russian NGOs, working with victims of domestic violence as well as raising the public awareness of the problem of violence against women in Russia.

The CoE is currently co-operating with the Russian Federation to implement its National Action Strategy for Women 2017-2022 (NASW). This work is being conducted under a project implemented by the CoE, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project has an 18-month duration, from November 2018- May 2020.