4 | - Número: 001 | 16 de Julho de 2011

It is always a pleasure to be in the European Parliament.
It is always a pleasure to be with people who share the same feelings, the same concerns, the same objectives, the same battles.
We come from different countries and different political affiliations but we all have a common goal: eradicating violence against women and contributing to creating a society with real equality between women and men.
It is not the first time that I have the opportunity to address you.
But today I would like my presence to have a different impact.
I haven’t come empty-handed.
I do not want to leave empty-handed.
I have brought with me a new legal instrument, a landmark Convention.
I have brought with me something which could change the life of millions of women, in Europe and in the world.

The Convention After two years of work and several rounds of in-depth and often difficult negotiations, on 11 May 2011, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence was opened to signature.
13 Council of Europe member states have already signed it: Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe would like many more states to join. This Convention can be signed not only by Council of Europe member states but any other state in the world and the European Union.

What’s special about it? There are several reasons why this Convention is a ground-breaking instrument:
it recognises violence against women as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination; it is the first international treaty to contain a definition of gender, which refers to “the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men”. This means that it is now recognised that women and men are not only biologically female or male, but that there is also a socially constructed category of gender that assigns women and men their particular roles and behaviours; it introduces a set of criminal offences such as female genital mutilation, forced marriage, psychological violence, stalking, sexual harassment, sexual violence including rape, forced abortion and forced sterilisation. This means that states will have to introduce offences for these acts where they do not currently exist in their legal systems; it calls for the involvement of all relevant state agencies and services so that violence against women and domestic violence are tackled in a co-ordinated way. This means that agencies and NGOs should not act alone but work out protocols for cooperation; it establishes a strong, independent mechanism to monitor its implementation at national level. This mechanism will be two-pronged, with one body, GREVIO (Group of experts on action against violence against women and domestic violence), composed of a minimum of 10 members and a maximum of 15 members, to be elected by the Committee of the Parties from among candidates nominated by the Parties for a term of office of four years, and the Committee of the Parties, composed of the representatives of the Parties to the Convention. GREVIO members shall be chosen according to a transparent procedure from amongst persons of high moral character, known for their recognised competence in the fields of human rights, gender equality, violence against women and domestic violence, or assistance to and protection of victims, or having demonstrated professional experience in Consultar Diário Original