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Resolution 2093 (2016)
Recent attacks against women: the need for honest reporting and a comprehensive response
1. The Parliamentary Assembly condemns
unreservedly all forms of violence against women. Recent attacks
against women in several European cities have highlighted the urgent
need to protect women from sexual violence. Their simultaneous occurrence,
their scale, the late reporting by the media and the slow response
of the authorities are of great concern.
2. Violence against women finds its origin in a profound inequality
between women and men and will not be brought to an end unless there
is a change of mindsets. In Europe, one woman in three is a victim
of gender-based violence, most of the time behind closed doors,
but harassment in the street is also common. Violence within crowds
represents another dimension of violence against women.
3. According to witness accounts, the majority of perpetrators
of the recent attacks were allegedly of foreign origin. These attacks
have triggered debates on reception and integration policies in
Europe. The Assembly stresses that violence against women is unfortunately
one of the most pervasive and widespread human rights violations
and should not be instrumentalised for other purposes.
4. There can be no impunity for violence and perpetrators of
any form of violence against women must be brought to justice. The
Assembly recalls that the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing
and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (CETS
No. 210) is a milestone for the protection of women and calls for
its full implementation.
5. Violence against women is a manifestation of unequal power
relations between women and men. Men therefore play an important
role in preventing and combating this phenomenon.
6. The media also have an important responsibility to report
objectively and truthfully on facts, without stigmatising a part
of the population. They should not, in order to ensure political
correctness, hide the truth from the general public. Partial, late
or biased reporting on crimes can feed conspiracy theories, fuel
hatred against a part of the population and contribute to mistrust
of the authorities and the media.
7. These attacks against women call for a comprehensive response,
since they require an official investigation into the facts and
into the reasons for delaying official reporting to the public,
as well as specific actions to protect women from violence.
8. In the light of these considerations, the Assembly calls on
Council of Europe member States to:
8.1. engage in awareness-raising activities, with the active
participation of men, and launch information campaigns on the need
to prevent and combat violence against women and on gender equality;
8.2. sign and ratify, if they have not already done so, and
fully implement the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and
Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence;
8.3. protect women’s right to physical integrity and the right
not to be harassed in the public space and private sphere;
8.4. ensure, by prosecuting perpetrators, that there is no
impunity for violence against women;
8.5. take measures to encourage women to report violence to
the police and train police officers on how best to assist women
victims of violence;
8.6. allocate sufficient financial resources to organisations
providing assistance to victims of violence;
8.7. engage in a dialogue with the media about their responsibility
to ensure timely and objective reporting on events, including crimes,
and to combat hate speech;
8.8. recognise the important role of education in preventing
violence against women. A non-violent environment, free from gender
discrimination among children, plays a vital role in fostering appropriate attitudes
from an early age.
9. The Assembly calls on the relevant authorities to conduct
an investigation into the attacks against women and to publish its
results.
10. The Assembly urges parliamentarians to condemn all forms of
violence against women, including harassment, sexism and hate speech,
and to contribute actively to awareness-raising efforts.