Resolution 2514 (2023)1Provisional version

Preventing and combating violence against women with disabilities

Parliamentary Assembly

1. The issue of disability, which encompasses a multitude of realities, is universal in scope. One in fivepeople in the world will experience a disability at some point in their lives. The inclusion of persons withdisabilities in society, the main objective of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons withDisabilities, has made significant progress in recent years. However, it has not yet been fully achieved inCouncil of Europe member States.

2. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to greater isolation and increased dependence among persons withdisabilities. Opportunities for all to participate in social, economic and political life remain limited, and there aremany obstacles to achieving inclusion. Persons with disabilities, in all their diversity, remain particularlyvulnerable to violence and discrimination.

3. Gender-based violence against women and girls originates in deeply entrenched gender inequalities.The invisibilisation of women with disabilities and continued economic and social dependence create acontext of heightened vulnerability that compounds these inequalities. In addition, violence against womenwith disabilities, whether physical, sexual, psychological, structural or economic, remains a taboo subject,despite the general increase in awareness of the urgent need to prevent and combat sexual violence thanksto the #MeToo movement.

4. The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domesticviolence (CETS No. 210, “Istanbul Convention”) states in Article 4.3 that the protection and support providedunder the Convention are to be accessible to all women without discrimination, including with respect to age,disability, marital status, association with a national minority, migrant or refugee status, gender identity orsexual orientation. The Parliamentary Assembly reiterates its unwavering support for the Istanbul Conventionand its Resolution 2479 (2023) “The Istanbul Convention: progress and challenges”. Preventing andcombating violence against women with disabilities must become a political priority. The accessibility ofprevention campaigns, information for survivors, legal aid and shelters must be guaranteed. The Assemblyrecognises furthermore that there is an intersectional dimension to violence against women and girls withdisabilities. Due account must be taken of the intersection of disability with gender, origin, sexual orientation,gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, migration status or religion.

5. Society infantilises women with disabilities by not allowing them to make informed choices about theirlives, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Forced sterilisations, which are still happeningin Europe, are a reflection of society's validation of the “able-bodied” person as the social norm, and of thepre-eminence of the patriarchal system and they increase the risk of sexual violence. They are one of theforms of violence condemned by the Istanbul Convention. The Assembly refers to its Resolution 1945 (2013)“Putting an end to coerced sterilisations and castrations” and reiterates its call for these practices to bebanned.

1. Assembly debate on 11 October 2023 (22nd sitting) (see Doc. 15828, report of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, rapporteur: Ms Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo). Text adopted by the Assembly on 11 October 2023 (22nd sitting).

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