crop up time and maybe we are lagging a little bit behind in Italy when it comes to equality. The problem is that we are seeing high levels of these instances of violence or deaths in those countries which are very much advanced when it comes to equality. So, I don't know whether we can do something on this front. I mean, as I say, this has sparked a whole debate in Italy and it is something that I think that we might collectively want to pursue. Thank you very much.

Ms Mariia Mezentseva, Chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly Mr Seyidov, the chairman of Azerbaijan delegation. If you can be very, very brief and that would make 50-50 parity in questions between men and women.

Mr Samad Seyidov (Azerbaijan, EC/DA) Yes, Mariia, I will be very brief. Just wanted to express my gratitude to you and to excellent panellists for this amazing discussion. Actually, this is really very important to take into account that we are always talking about democracy, rule of law and human rights. But I think that there is a precondition for all three sacred values that's a woman empowering. And that is why maybe it would be better to include to these three one more: woman empowerment. Because together with them, democracy, rule of law and human rights will be protected much better than we have today. And from this point of view, I think this is the way where we should go. I mean, Council of Europe. On my personal experience, we have a lot of problems and sometimes even with Mr President, we have some discussions, tough discussions, and Madame Secretary General, dear Despina, always try to find way out from the very difficult situations. That is another vivid example, the role of women and the role of those who are looking for way out from difficulties and problems, which sometimes not only we, but Council of Europe itself is. That is why thank you very much for these excellent discussions.

Ms Mariia Mezentseva, Chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly Thank you. I thought we would save some time, but discussions are rolling and rolling. Now, I know Mr Marxer would want to give a brief answer and comment. If anyone else would want to do so, please indicate. Otherwise, we would finalise the panel. Thank you.

Mr Wilfried Marxer, President of the Association for Human Rights, Liechtenstein Thank you very much. I will pick up on the question from Switzerland in particular, because as you will have gathered, Liechtenstein works very closely with Switzerland. I mean, you will have paid here in Swiss francs, of course. And you will know that we are very close neighbours and that is why it is good if Switzerland can serve as a kind of model for Liechtenstein. I have my doubts, however, because the question was what has to happen in the economy for women to be in leading positions? I mean, I don't think it is sufficient just to legislate, because I think that there will be some resistance or pushback to that. I mean, it is society in and of itself that needs to recognise women's potential and look at what it needs to do to make sure that women stay in their jobs, that they get a good education and then further training so that they can then access those leading posts. I mean, I think there is terrific potential. I don't think we should be talking about just women, by the way. We should be talking about migrants as well. We need to look at those people who come to Europe and find that their qualifications are possibly not recognised. So once again, we need to make sure that we capitalise on potential across the board. And Liechtenstein has a lot of companies which operate globally and certainly we have to make sure that people are educated to operate in an international environment. And I very much hope that at some point in time the penny will drop and people will realise that it is important to promote women within companies. And when I made my introductory remarks, I alluded to the fact that the needs of employees, workers have changed rather. Because women, for example, might want to work part-time, perhaps 50%, they would want perhaps additional leisure time. And so, the economy, business will just have to respond to that. I mean, obviously the State can make its contribution. MsKubik-Risch will probably be able to give us a few examples of that and talk about preventing violence, talk about women's refuges and similar institutions. I will pass on to her, if I may.

Ms Bernadette Kubik-Risch, Equal opportunities expert, Liechtenstein Okay, well, thank you very much. Yes, I think you need a whole raft of measures when you are talking about business. We talked about paid parental leave earlier, about a better balance between paid and unpaid work. Better balance or more women in leadership positions. We need a lot of measures. Equal pay for equal work, of course, is extremely important too. You need a comprehensive concept. You may need to change the framework conditions to ensure that you can best foster these things. And Liechtenstein has, among other things, introduced an equal opportunities Prize for families and businesses across Liechtenstein. It is very recent, so I can't report on the results yet, but perhaps I will be able to another time. Thank you.

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