One in four adult European women is a victim of physical violence, and one in ten of sexual violence, at least once in her life, said European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, stressing that “gender-based violence is a crime committed not only against its victims, but it means also the destruction of future generations”.

“Unfortunately, many women never seek help because of fear and shame”, he continued, noting that Europe suffers from the lack of a “comprehensive exchange of data”, so holding a public debate and promoting information campaigns “can make a difference”.

“We have to show that we can stop violence against women because this is necessary to build an equal society”, said Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee chair Eva-Britt Svensson (GUE/NGL, SE).

EU initiatives

Spanish Minister for Equality Bibiana Aído Almagro, reiterated initiatives by the EU's Spanish Presidency's to tackle gender-based violence, including the European Observatory, the EU-wide hotline to assist victims (116) and the European Protection Order. “Violence against women is a common challenge and this is only a starting point”, she said.

European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding, outlined Commission initiatives, such as the gender equality strategy for 2010-2015, a legislative proposal to combat human trafficking and a specific conference on violence against women. These initiatives will complement existing instruments, such as the Women's Charter and the Daphne programme.

In discussion, Baroness Verma underlined that many victims of UK gender-based violence come from third countries. She therefore proposed working closely with the national parliaments of these states. MEP Emine Bozkurt (S-D, NL) backed this idea and suggested co-operating with Turkey as a candidate country. A representative of the Hungarian parliament stressed that “violence against women is a criminal offence and we need to be clear about that”. Ulrike Lunacek (Greens/EFA, AT) asked the opinion of Aído Almagro and  Viviane Reding on the idea of a special hotline for victims of human trafficking.

Aído Almagro said that this was a good idea, but it must be part of a broader strategy aimed at protecting victims, prosecuting mafias and raising awareness. “Changing mentalities is more difficult than changing laws”, she concluded. Viviane Reding encouraged representatives of national parliaments to lobby governments to implement hotlines properly.

Measures needed

Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency Morten Kjærum, said that 45% of women in Europe suffer some kind of violence at least once in their lifetime and estimated the total annual cost of gender-based violence at €12 bn to €20€ bn.

In Bulgaria “we do not talk about violence, we talk about survival”, said Bulgarian journalist Martin Karbovski, highlighting numerous cases of women sprayed with acid. He also complained about the lack of penalties against aggressors.

The problem of how to implement measures against gender-based violence still exists, noted Executive Director of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Inés Alberdi, who stressed the lack of financial resources to set up initiatives in this field. Nonetheless “the Beijing+15 political commitments must be put into practice”, she urged.

Vicious circle

“If the mental state of a family becomes weak, this can create more violence”, noted Lívia Járóka  (EPP, HU). Portuguese MP Maria do Rosário Carneiro stressed that gender-based violence is “barbarian behaviour”, which must be tackled, inter alia by stepping up specific training programmes for the police.

Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL, PT) stressed the need to investigate the causes of human trafficking.

Seminar for journalists

A European Parliament Press Service seminar for journalists on Monday looked at ways in which Parliament can tackle gender-based violence and how the media can contribute to open a public debate on this issue.