​Violence against women and girls and domestic violence is a widespread scourge and a manifestation of discrimination against women and vulnerable family members. A recent Eurostat study showed that up to 41% of women have experienced acts of violence.

With the entry into force of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the “Istanbul Convention”) in 2014, member states of the convention took an important step to strengthen legislation and domestic policies aimed at ending this phenomenon, which causes so many victims.

Despite the fact that the EU signed the Istanbul Convention in 2017, the accession process in the Council has been stalled for years. The changes came three weeks ago, when the Council finally unblocked the signing process and accelerated accession to the convention. This is a promising achievement for advancing gender equality and improving responses to violence against women and domestic violence.

Ratification of the Istanbul Convention ensures that the EU respects international standards, proposes its own comprehensive legislation and integrates the obligations under the convention in all areas of its policy.

Exactly one year ago, the European Commission presented a proposal for a directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence, which complements the convention, thus providing a comprehensive legal framework. This legislative proposal introduces common minimum standards for all Member States on prevention, protection, victim support, access to justice, cooperation and coordination of services.

We proposed to criminalize violence against women, including online violence such as the involuntary sharing or threats of intimate images, video and audio files, and online enmity. The fight against online violence has become necessary today, at a time when many aspects of our lives take place online, without the necessary guarantees to maintain the safety of this space and ensure the freedom of participation of each of us.

The proposal also criminalizes rape by providing a definition based on the concept of consent during the entire period of sexual intercourse.

Once adopted, our legislative proposal, together with the Istanbul Convention, will require Member States to take clearly targeted measures to enable women and girls to report these acts of violence more easily and in a more supportive environment. These provisions will encourage Member States to further strengthen their prevention programs and improve services by establishing minimum benchmarks for the entire EU territory.

International Women’s Day gives me an opportunity to address the resilience of women who have survived violence in the EU and in war zones, just like Ukrainian women. Or to women living under totalitarian regimes, such as Afghan and Iranian women, but not only theirs.

I think of all the women who have had to start their lives from scratch, running away from home forever, looking for a new job, looking for a new school for their children, at the cost of huge personal sacrifices to escape alive from the crimes of domestic violence, shelter from those , who commits it.

I think about the injustice and sense of loss that many women face when they have to make this almost impossible choice: either stay and endure the abuse, or leave, not knowing where their lives will lead.

I think of the many support groups that exist because of the invaluable work of civil society organizations and the women’s solidarity and strength that these groups create.

I believe that Member States will fight violence against women and domestic violence firmly and unitedly and I call on them to complete the legislative framework by finalizing the ratification of the Istanbul Convention and the adoption of the proposed EU Directive.

If we want results, we must step up our response to this form of violence. Indeed, the situation of women and girls has worsened in recent years due to the emergence of new risks, such as the proliferation of online violence.

Progress in gender equality is neither inevitable nor irreversible. We simply cannot afford to take a step back in the fight against violence against women, or to fight it only half-heartedly, because then we will lose the fight.

By itself, the law will not work. To end defeat, we need a revolution. We must confront the misogyny that exists in our criminal justice systems, in our police, in our education systems, in the media, and in our own families.

We need to change the culture where men and boys are taught to refrain from violence, just as women and girls are taught to be independent and avoid such situations. We can no longer accept arguments like “Well, such guys!”.

Gender equality will only become a reality when we all take part in promoting and supporting it.