Doc. 11184
12 February 2007

Parliaments united in combating domestic violence against women
Recommendation 1759 (2006)

Reply from the Committee of Ministers
adopted at the 986^th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (7 February 2007)

1.        The Committee of Ministers welcomes Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1759 (2006) on parliaments united in combating domestic violence against women. It appreciates the commitment of the Parliamentary Assembly to implement the parliamentarian dimension of the Council of Europe Campaign to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence and respects the Assembly for the solemn Declaration it adopted on the subject in San Marino, on 17 November 2006, at its Standing Committee meeting.

2.        The Committee of Ministers recalls that combating violence against women, including domestic violence, has been declared a priority activity for the coming years in the Third Summit Action Plan as adopted by Heads of State and Governments in Warsaw in 2005. As a follow-up to this Action Plan, the Council of Europe is implementing the Campaign to Combat Violence against Women, including Domestic Violence which was launched at a high-level conference on 27 November 2006 in Madrid (Spain), organised in close co-operation with the Assembly.

3.        The Committee of Ministers invites all steering committees and bodies of the Council of Europe to take note of the campaign blueprint with a view to taking inspiration from it and implementing its aims where appropriate, which the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men has already done during its 36th meeting, held from 29 November to 1 December 2006.

4.       In relation to the Assembly’s proposal to step up co-operation with the European Union in order to develop a common method for compiling statistics on violence within the family, the Committee of Ministers draws attention to the fact that the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men (CDEG) has prepared a monitoring framework based on indicators to measure the implementation of Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence. It should be noted that some of these indicators refer to the systematic collection of data and statistics on the prevalence of violence against women, including domestic violence, mainly in the field of health care, law enforcement and in national surveys. The framework was sent to all member states in 2005. 31 out of 46 member states have replied. An analysis and assessment of these replies, including those concerning statistical information, are contained in the Stocktaking study on the measures and actions taken in Council of Europe member states to combat violence against women.