Ewlcentreonviolence

Credits

2009-02-16T13:57:05Z

Editor

Colette De Troy

Special Advisor

Malin Bjork

Epacvaw Art direction and Design

Heloise Pondeville

Logo

Sebastien de Poortere

Website

Conception, architecture and technical realisation Supergeante.net (Peggy Pierrot)

Cascading Style Sheets and counselling by romy.tetue.net (Romy Duhem-Verdière)

Edition

Pierrette Pape
Katrin Hugendubel
Lisa Kerker
Sarah Caquineau

Software

This website uses the free-software SPIP.

Main partner

With the support of the EC Daphne III Programme.

EWL Observatory Experts

2009-02-16T13:53:00Z

The EWL Observatory brings together experts from currently 30 European countries (EU Member States, accession and neighbouring countries) with extensive expertise. They are nominated by the national coordinations of the European Women's Lobby and are working in close cooperation.

Austria

To be appointed

Belgium

Ingrid STALS - LP/Nazorg/IFG - referentieambtenaar

Bulgaria

Iliana BALABANOVA-STOYCHEVA - Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation

Croatia

Nela PAMUKOVIC - Co-ordinator Centre for Women War Victims – ROSA

Cyprus

Susana PVALOU - Director of the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS)

Czech Republic

Petra SVECOVA - Coordinator ROSA

Denmark

Mette Holm Volsing - Project coordination at LOKK (National organisation of shelters and refuges for battered women and their children)

Estonia

Eha REITELMANN - Union of Women's Shelters

France

Michèle VIANES - Vice-President of CLEF (EWL French coordination)

Finland

Pirjo PEHKONEN - Managing director Women's Line

Germany

Katja GRIEGER - Coordinator, Federal Association of Women's Counselling Centres and Hotlines

Greece

Mika IOANNIDOU - Coordinator of Greek Women NGOs for the EWL

Iceland

Gudrun JONSDOTTIR - Spokeswoman for Stigamot Counselling and information Centre on Sex violence (associate expert)

Ireland

Margaret MARTIN - Women's Aid

Italy

Orietta GARGANO - BE FREE social cooperative against TIP, violences and discriminations

Latvia

Inta POUDZIUNAS - Chief of council and psychologist, Talsi region crisis centre

Lithuania

To be appointed

Luxembourg

Joëlle SCHRANCK - Director 'Femmes en Détresse'

Malta

Renee LAVIERA - MCWO - Malta Confederation of Women's Organisations

Netherlands

To be appointed

Poland

Malgorzata TARASIEWICZ - Executive Director, NEWW/NEWW-Polska

Portugal

Maria SHEARMAN DE MACEDO - Coordinator of the Association of Women Against Violence (AMCV)

Romania

Laura ALBU - Executive President, Community Safety and Mediation Centre

Serbia

Lepa MLADJENOVIC - Coordinator of the Counseling Programme Autonomous Women's Center, Belgrade (associate expert)

Slovakia

Zuzana MARGUROVA - Slovak Women's Lobby

Slovenia

Spela VESELIC - Association SOS Helpline for Women and Children Victims of violence

Spain

Milagro RODRIGUEZ - C/o CELEM

Sweden

Wiveca HOLST - Feminist and Human Rights

Turkey

Selma ACUMER - Advisory Board Member of KADER

Ukraine

Halyna FEDKOVYCH - Senior Lawyer, West Ukrainian Centre "Women's Perspectives" (associate expert)

United Kingdom

Marsha SCOTT - Engender/UK Joint Committee on Women

The EWL European Observatory against Violence against Women

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The EWL European Observatory brings together experts from currently 30 European countries (EU Member States, accession and neighbouring countries) with extensive expertise. They are academics specialising in violence against women, lawyers and legal advisers as well as NGO service providers with first-hand experience of running prevention and victim support services. They are nominated by the national coordinations of the European Women's Lobby and are working in close cooperation.

The main tasks of the EWL Centre on Violence against Women and the EWL European Observatory include

Identifying critical and emerging issues
Advocating for improved policies and service provision for prevention and support of women victims of male violence
Building and reinforcing networks of actors combating violence against women
Raising visibility of the extent of the phenomenon of VAW
Examining critically the enforcement of commitments at local, regional, national and European level regarding VAW, highlighting advances and set-backs, as well as providing relevant data
Campaigning at international, European and national level for zero tolerance against violence against women

Thematic working groups

In order to strengthen its work, the Observatory has set up four thematic working groups:

Legislative developments on national and EU level
Data collection and media watch
Migrant Women and VAW
Successful campaigning

The EWL Centre on Violence against Women and the EWL European Observatory are working on the development of national observatories, providing an independent critical voice of women's NGOs working on combating all forms of violence against women. National observatories bring together grass-root NGOs active in service provision, legal advice and advocacy and academics.

In collaboration with the EWL Centre on Violence against Women publish national reports on violence against women by an independent coalition of women's NGOs on a regular basis.

National observatories are already active in the following countries:

Ireland (launched in April 2002)
Denmark (October 2002)
Greece (May 2003)
France (November 2003)
Finland (November 2004)
Portugal (November 2009)
Poland (December 2009)

Principles

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EWL and the EWL Centre on Violence against Women Charter of Principles on Violence Against Women

The work of the EWL Centre on Violence against Women and the European Observatory is based on a set of principles which are shared by the EWL Observatory experts and adopted by the EWL:

1. Feminist perspective

By adopting a feminist perspective, we affirm that violence against women is a structural phenomenon, the cause of which is a direct result of gender inequality. We adopt the definition of violence against women as stipulated in the Beijing Platform for Action and endorse the statement that " Violence against women is a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations between men an women which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of women's full advancement. ” (paragraph 118).

The persistence and tolerance of all forms of male violence against women is a fundamental obstacle to the achievement of full equality between women and men in all areas of life.

2. Women's Rights are Human Rights

EPAC VAW and the EWL believe in the fundamental principle of respect for human rights. All forms of violence against women and girls in the private and public sphere, by state and non-state actors must be understood and addressed as basic violations of human rights.

3. The autonomy and the empowerment of women

All interventions in the area of violence against women should aim at achieving autonomy and empowerment for all women.

4. Prostitution and Trafficking in women

Prostitution and trafficking in women constitute a fundamental violation of women's human rights. Prostitution and trafficking in women should not be associated with the terms “forced” or “free”. “Free choice” is a relative factor, situated at the intersection of economic, social, cultural and political options of women in a given society. Inequality severely restricts freedom of choice.

5. Recognition of diversity

There is a need to recognise diversity amongst women when dealing with issues of violence against women. Different life situation can mean that violence affects women in different ways, and support strategies must be adapted accordingly, in order to ensure the inclusion of women marginalised because of their race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, age, belief or religion.

EWL motions on violence against women

In 1998, the European Women's Lobby issued it motion on 'Prostitution and Trafficking', which strengthens the fourth principle on violence against women. In 2001, the EWL delivered a second motion 'Make it a crime to buy women in prostitution and develop strong policies against pimping'. You can read download these two motions below.

cc : http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookin...

The European Women's Lobby Centre on Violence against Women

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The European Women's Lobby Centre on Violence against Women is an international not-for-profit organisation working to achieve equality between women and men through the elimination of all forms of male violence against women. Set up as a branch of the European Women's Lobby (EWL) in 2007 to reinforce its work on gender based violence, the EWL Centre on Violence against Women supports the EWL's Observatory on Violence against Women, with the aim of promoting and improving policies to prevent and combat all forms of discrimination and violence against women. Its work is based on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol, the Beijing Platform for Action, Beijing + 5 and Beijing + 10.

The Centre aims to facilitate and develop the work of the EWL Observatory on Violence against Women so as to help the EWL to fulfil its work on VAW.

Main activities

Support, manage and develop the EWL's Europe-wide Observatory on Violence against Women, in order to monitor and improve the development and implementation of policies and measures to prevent and combat all forms of male violence against women in Europe
Inform NGOs, especially EWL member organisations, the general public and public actors on policy issues and good practice in the field of violence against women and disseminate widely information on VAW.
Identify gaps in legal, policy and service provision and develop strategies and proposals as to how to address these shortcomings.
Initiate and conduct research, offer consultancy and training, support network/building all over Europe
Produce and disseminate widely info material and publications related to violence against women and women's human rights

All EU Member States have ratified the CEDAW convention and endorsed the Beijing +5 Platform of Action, both of which include specific measures to address violence against women. Most of these international commitments also acknowledge the important role of NGOs as partners in combating violence against women.

Despite a clear legal base on gender equality and anti-discrimination in the EU treaties, strong EU policies on violence against women are still missing. We demand that such a policy sets out an EU-wide definition of violence against women as agreed in the Beijing Platform on Action, and includes a commitment to allocate social and financial resources, as well as a focus on prevention and public awareness campaigns.

Founders and partners

The EWL Centre on Violence against Women is supported by the EC Daphne III Programme since 2008 and by several cofounders:

In 2008:

Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation (Bulgaria)
Stigamot (Iceland)
Kvinderadet (Denmark)
CELEM (Spain)

In 2009:

Polish Women's Lobby (Poland) (coordination NEWW)
V-Day International
Nytkis (Finland)
Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation (Bulgaria)
County Council of Värmland (Sweden)

In 2010:

OxfamNovib
Tides Foundation

Contact

*Detroy Colette — 2009-02-04T07:19:43Z

EWL Centre on Violence against Women
18, rue Hydraulique
1210 Bruxelles
Belgium - About

The EWL Centre on Violence against Women Board members

2009-02-03T16:27:22Z

The EWL Centre on Violence against Women Board members (2008-2010)

President: Brigitte Triems (Germany) National Council of German Women's Organisations

Treasurer: Elisabeth Law (UK-NI) UK Joint Committe on Women Northern Ireland Women's European Platform- NIWEP

Board liaison: Jurgita Peciurene (Lithuania) Women's Issues Information Center

Myria Vassiliadou (Cyprus) EWL Secretary General