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Resolution 2101 (2016)
Systematic collection of data on violence against women
1. Violence against women is present
at every level of society and no Council of Europe member State
is immune to this phenomenon. However, under-reporting of violence
against women is widespread and the figures given in population
surveys do not match police or other official records. It is crucial
to step up awareness-raising efforts to encourage victims to report
incidents and to rebuild their trust in the national authorities
to whom they report.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly is convinced that violence against
women cannot be combated efficiently without reliable data. It is
impossible to adequately target policies aimed at tackling violence
against women if there is no precise information about its frequency
and manifestations. Comprehensive data on violence against women
are composed of crime records on all reported cases and reports
by justice, health and social services, combined with population
surveys, which give an idea of its prevalence. The Assembly stresses
the importance of systematic and comprehensive data collection in
this field as a precondition for efficient and effective action.
3. The Assembly acknowledges the commitment and actions of Council
of Europe member States to prevent and combat violence against women
and domestic violence. The entry into force of the Council of Europe
Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and
Domestic Violence (CETS No. 210, “Istanbul Convention”) marks a
major step in the global fight against this scourge. This convention
requires its States Parties to collect data, support research and
conduct population-based surveys on violence against women and calls
for the establishment of a co-ordination body overseeing its implementation
(Articles 10 and 11).
4. The Assembly also recalls its Resolution 2084 (2015) on promoting
best practices in tackling violence against women, which called
on member States to undertake research and data collection in several
fields pertaining to the fight against violence against women, including
reporting by professionals, compensation procedures and issuing
of residence permits.
5. In the light of these considerations, the Assembly calls on
Council of Europe member States:
5.1. with
regard to preventing and combating violence against women and domestic
violence, to:
5.1.1. sign and/or ratify, if they have not
yet done so, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and
Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence;
5.1.2. ensure that the preparation, implementation and monitoring
of policies and legislation adopted to combat violence against women
are based on reliable and accurate data;
5.2. with regard to data collection on violence against women,
to:
5.2.1. designate or establish one or more official bodies
responsible for the co-ordination of data collection and for the
co-ordination, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and
measures to prevent and combat all forms of violence covered by
the Istanbul Convention;
5.2.2. collect data on all the forms of violence covered by the
Istanbul Convention;
5.2.3. collect data on the causes of violence against women,
on its consequences, on its prevalence and frequency and on the
efficiency of policies and legislation;
5.2.4. analyse the causes of under-reporting of violence against
women;
5.2.5. ensure that data is disaggregated, as a minimum requirement,
by sex, age, type of violence and relationship of the perpetrator
to the victim, geographical location and other factors deemed relevant,
having regard to relevant data protection and anti-discrimination
legislation;
5.2.6. ensure that data collection is part of all national plans
aimed at combating violence against women and allocate sufficient
funding to this end;
5.2.7. require every national police, judicial, health or social
authority to collect data and draw up standardised forms for data
collection by these authorities to allow comparability among similar
institutions, and encourage electronic data collecting and processing;
5.2.8. provide specific training to all professionals on basic
rules of data collection;
5.2.9. conduct, at regular intervals, population-based surveys
on violence against women, with the same set of questions, in order
to allow monitoring and comparison over time;
5.2.10. publish statistics on the number of cases of violence
against women and other relevant data and organise public debates
to raise awareness among the general public and to promote support
and prevention services;
5.3. with regard to the protection of victims and of data collected,
to;
5.3.1. take measures to effectively protect victims
against threats and possible acts of revenge;
5.3.2. encourage reporting and rebuild trust in national authorities
by setting up means of avoiding secondary victimisation, such as
the presence of a specialist in violence against women in police
stations and the organisation of special training for professionals
handling cases of violence against women;
5.3.3. ensure that data collection on violence against women
and data storage comply with requirements on data protection and
confidentiality, in particular those of the Convention for the Protection
of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data
(ETS No. 108).
6. The Assembly also calls on national parliaments to ensure
full implementation of the Istanbul Convention and to organise and/or
support parliamentary hearings and public debates on the prevalence
of violence against women and the need to systematically collect
data for targeted policy making;
7. The Assembly acknowledges the important role of civil society
in combating violence against women and calls for co-ordinated action
and stronger co-operation between the public institutions in charge
of data collection and the non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
working with women victims of violence.