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

the areas covered by this Convention. They shall sit in their individual capacity and be independent and impartial in the exercise of their functions.

Who is covered by the Convention? The Convention aims to ensure that the needs and safety of victims are placed at the heart of all its measures.
It covers women and girls, from any background, regardless of their age, race, religion, social origin, migrant status or sexual orientation, to name but a few. It recognises that there are groups of women and girls that are often at greater risk of experiencing violence, and states need to ensure that their specific needs are taken into account.
States, in addition, are encouraged to apply the Convention to other victims of domestic violence such as men, children and the elderly.
A high but minimum standard.
The Convention is a landmark instrument establishing high standards in the field of prevention of genderbased violence, protection and assistance for its victims and prosecution of the perpetrators. However high, these standards are a minimum threshold, which States may and should bypass.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe believes that, in implementing the Convention, states should make it clear that it applies also to women without any regular residence status. As a matter of fact, women falling into this category are explicitly mentioned in the Convention only in so far as they lose their residence status as a result of the dissolution of a relationship with a spouse or partner as a consequence of their being victims of violence. This approach is too restrictive. In applying Article 4 of the Convention (on non-discrimination grounds), States should ensure that they include women who – for whatever reason – are without a regular legal status – because this group is particularly at risk of violence and reluctant to report it to the authorities, for fear of being expelled. In addition, the Assembly has pointed out that, in the field of prosecution, too much flexibility is left to the states parties on how to sanction some of the forms of violence covered by the Convention, whether through administrative, civil or criminal law. It would be preferable if States used this latitude with moderation, and preferred criminalising certain acts of violence, even if this creates the need for some member states to make additional efforts to adapt their domestic law to the Convention. Finally, it is regrettable but the Convention leaves to the States parties exceedingly broad latitude to make reservations, with the result that a considerable proportion of the convention could be made inoperative. This is all the more worrying considering that reservations could be made to important provisions such as those concerning the victims’ right to compensation, the exercise of jurisdiction, the statute of limitations, residence status and the obligation to provide for criminal sanctions for certain acts, as opposed to non-criminal sanctions. Once again, States should keep their reservations to a minimum, if they are serious about combating violence against women. It does not make any sense to have an implementation of the Convention à la carte.

The role of parliamentarians in relation to the Convention The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence includes also another unprecedented measure: it is the first international instrument to establish parliamentary involvement in the monitoring procedure.
This involvement is twofold: at national level, national parliaments will participate in monitoring the measures taken by the State parties to implement the Convention; at European level, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will be invited to regularly take stock of the Convention.
In addition, through its Network of contact parliamentarians committed to combating violence against women, the Assembly will conduct campaigning and awareness-raising activities in support of the promotion of the signature and ratification of the Convention.

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