Coco- meeting WAVE network

Vandaag was de Coco meeting van het WAVE network. In het Coordinatie Comité (Coco) zit een afgevaardigde van elk land waarin WAVE één of meerdere focal points heeft, in totaal meer dan 40 landen. De Coco is een paar jaar geleden opgericht om meer structuur in het WAVE netwerk te brengen en meer democratie. Het idee is dat het langszaam aan doorgroeid naar een soort algemene leden vergadering. Dat is het nu nog niet. Tijdens de vergadering is besloten om een stuurgroep op te richten die de verdere vormgeving en ontwikkeling van de structuur op zich neemt en zorgt dat de komende vergaderingen worden voorbereid en voorgezeten. De eerste helft van de vergadering is gediscuseerd over structuur en vormgeving, het tweede deel van de vergadering is gesproken over inhoudelijke onderwerpen en knelpunten die men in de praktijk tegenkomt. Er is onder andere gesproken over:

• de steeds groeiende regulering vanuit de overheid in meerdere landen;
• in sommige landen meer aandacht voor daderhulpverlening dan voor slachtoffer hulpverlening;
• nieuwe wetgeving over econimische uitbuiting als onder deel van huiselijk geweld.
• het Istanbul verdrag en hoe ngo's dit kunnen gebruiken in de belangenbehartiging
• deelname aan de volgende Commision Status of Women in New York in 2014.

Persbericht WAVE conferentie. Wij zijn er bij!

We zijn in Sofia voor de WAVE Conferentie die hier deze week wordt gehouden. Vandaag wordt het volgende persbericht door WAVE uitgegeven:

-PRESS RELEASE

15th annual WAVE Conference: To live free from violence – a human right for women and their children or a postcode lottery?

This year, the European Network WAVE (Women against Violence Europe) together with its partner BGRF (Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation), organised the 15th annual Conference which will take place from the 10th to the 12th October in Sofia, Bulgaria, at the Novotel Sofia Hotel. The conference is expected to draw more than 200 representatives, experts and researchers (NGOs, governments and academics) from about 40 European countries. The title of the conference is: "To live free from violence– a human right for women and their children or a postcode lottery?" and will cover topics which will range from how to address the justice system in preventing femicide to the importance of national coalition networks.

WAVE was founded in 1995 and is a network located in Vienna, Austria. It has over 100 Focal Points in 46 European countries. With nearly two decades of experience, WAVE has years of comprehensive and valuable expertise in the area of violence against women. Among many other projects and activities, WAVE has conducted research, issued publications and has organised trainings and lobbying.

The first day of the conference will involve presentations by experts on violence against women. The first panel will present the gaps regarding specialist women support services in Europe and the options on what can be done about it. The second panel is going to discuss the prevention of violence and femicide and holding states accountable, taking into account the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The third panel will explore the role of the health sector and the need to strengthen responses to violence against women. Despite decades of improvements and the persistent work of women's organisations as well as many positive initiatives by governments, much work remains to be done.
Currently many laws still lack effective implementation, professionals require appropriate training to support and respond to women and girls, data collection is in need of improvement, and there is shortage of services with those existing often being underfunded. Based on research conducted by WAVE for the annual Country Report 2012, there were still over 52,500 shelter places missing in a total of 46 European countries, taking into consideration the Council of Europe recommendation of one women’s shelter place per 10,000 inhabitants. Only five of the 46 countries studied met the Council of Europe Taskforce Recommendations. These included Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway and Slovenia. WAVE recommends that all governments work to improve the situation for women and girls to ensure the availability of safe places and professional support.

The 2012 WAVE Country Report can be found on the WAVE website at http://www.wavenetwork.

The second day of the conference will include 13 workshops on topics of approaches in supporting survivors, migrant and minority ethnic women’s human rights, justice system, working with perpetrators, the right of children to be protected from domestic violence, participation of survivors and young women in the work against violence, empowering and specialized services for women survivors of violence, violence against lesbians, new approaches and concerns for preventing femicide and severe, repeat violence, women’s rights as human rights, building national networks and coalitions to end violence against women, multi-agency work to stop violence against women and a self defence workshop as a special offer.

To continue making progress and to maintain the momentum, WAVE urges the remaining European countries to join the 26 Member States of the Council of Europe that have already signed the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, and the 5 states (Turkey, Albania, Portugal, Montenegro and Italy) that have already ratified the Convention. The Convention requires 10 ratifications (including 8 Member States of the Council of Europe) to be able to come into force.

WAVE is looking forward to another successful conference as a way to exchange ideas among experts, networks, and most importantly create new recommendations and points of action for the upcoming year with the aim to improve the lives of women and children who have experienced violence.
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WAVE Newsletter

	September 2013
	WAVE domestic violence training of healthcare professionals in Belarus On 1 August 2013, Angelika Kartusch (project coordinator at WAVE) participated as international trainer in a training seminar for health professionals, organized by the UNFPA office in Belarus. The training gathered about 30 health professionals from the cities of Brest, Kobrin and Kamenets, in Brest (south-west). It aimed at improving the knowledge and skills of the participants to understand domestic violence, identify and respond to cases of abuse dealt with in their daily work as health professionals. The event was part of a UNFPA-led project to strengthen national capacities to address domestic violence in Belarus. For more information on the UNFPA/WAVE project, please visit the UNFPA Website
	WAVE 15th Annual Conference to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria 10-12 October 2013 WAVE Network’s annual conference will soon take place in Sofia, Bulgaria. Organized together with BGRF (Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation), the conference will gather more than 200 representatives, experts and researchers (NGOs, governments and academics) from about 40 European countries. Twelve workshops, organized over the three days, will cover topics ranging from how to work with the justice system to prevent femicide and the need for national coalition networks. The final agenda of the conference is available on the WAVE Website
	WAVE is happy to welcome a new Focal Point from Belgium into the WAVE Network This month, WAVE welcomed a new women’s organization named Garance ASBL to the Network. Garance is located in Brussels working on primary prevention of violence against women. Garance promotes the respect of physical and moral integrity of women as an integral part of fundamental human rights. Garance activities focus on women’s self-defence, including training, cooperation with other services, sensitization and providing of information to relevant stakeholders. The goal of Garance is to contribute to well-being, safety and security of women through development of autonomy, self-confidence and agency. Contact and general information on the new Focal Point is available on the WAVE Website For more information, please visit the website of Garance ASBL
	WAVE cooperates with Moldovan government officials in combating domestic violence in Moldova On 25-27 September 2013, WAVE Director Maria Roesslhumer met with Moldovan Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Sergei Diaconu, representatives of the Austrian Embassy in Chisinau and Women’s Law Center Director, Angelina Zaporojan-Pirgari. The meeting was also attended by the head of public security IGP, Mr. Marin Maxian. The purpose of the meeting involved discussion on establishing methods to fight domestic violence, including through implementation of changes of Ministry of Internal Affairs. Recently, Moldova has implemented changes in its criminal law and criminal procedure to new social realities, improve access to information, and prevention of domestic violence. Police procedures have also been implemented that regulate police actions, when responding to domestic violence. The participants discussed opportunities for bilateral cooperation between Austria and Moldova in the future. The focus of the second day included work with domestic violence services and a capacity building workshop with 20 organizations as means to build up a national network on domestic violence. On the last day, Ms. Roesslhumer was invited as an expert to an inter-ministerial meeting on domestic violence to explain the Austrian legislative model on domestic violence. Click here for more information.
	WAVE Focal Point in Azerbaijan Clean World Public Union (women's shelter) call for support following destruction of its office On July 19, 2013, the office of Clear World Aid to Women Public Union was destroyed as a result of construction work in the building. As cracks started to appear on the office walls, office workers and supplies had to be evacuated and relocated to a temporary one-room office. The construction company responsible for the damages recently provided money to buy a new office; however, the money was insufficient and Clean World had to finance their office with an additional bank loan. Funds to conduct repair work in the new office are still lacking. This is a call to all WAVE Focal Points that would be able to provide financial support to the organization. WAVE will support Clear World Aid to Women Public Union by donating EUR 1,500 from its SAVE account. For more information or to offer support, please contact Clean World
	4th International Conference on Survivors of Rape (ICSoR) to be held in Portugal in 2014 International Conference on Survivors of Rape (ICSoR) to be held in Portugal in 2014 Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) are delighted to announce that the hosts for ICSoR 2014 will be Portugal's Associacao de Mulheres Contra a Violencia (AMCV). The website will carry updates on key speakers, dates, venue, and themes. The call for appears is expected to open in early 2014. For more information, please visit the Conference Website
	Daphne III Action Grant WAVE and Focal Point partners have joined to apply for the upcoming Daphne III Action Grant. The proposed project will focus on developing a toolkit for professionals in government and service provision in the framework of the European Protection Order to be established in 2015. For more information on the European Commission Action Grants, please visit the Website of the European Commission or contact WAVE Office
	International News
	Italy introduces new emergency law to combat violence against women The death of 16 year-old Fabiana Luzzi, burned to death by a jealous boyfriend in May this year, was the tragic trigger for significant changes in Italy. The Italian government has introduced new stronger penalties for perpetrators of domestic violence while also recently signing the Council of Europe Convention on Violence against Women. The measures to be set range from increased penalties for certain acts of domestic violence to the granting of permits to foreign victims on humanitarian grounds. The decree increases current sentences by a third if violence against a woman is carried out in the presence of a minor, if the victim is pregnant or the perpetrator is a husband, ex-husband or boyfriend. Other reforms aim at facilitating the reporting of domestic violence and the removal of abusers from the house. Cases of VAW are to be given priority in the notoriously slow Italian justice system and women are to be provided with legal services regardless of their income. Measures will also be taken to tackle online bullying and provide special treatment for migrant women. According to the domestic violence support group Telefono Rosa, in 2012, 124 women were killed by men in an act of gender based violence, most of them by former or current partners. The articles is available on the EWL Website	Moldova: Case of Domestic Violence to be considered by the CEDAW Committee The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has informed the government of Moldova that it might take action against it because of its failure to undertake appropriate measures to support a victim of domestic violence as well as for gender discrimination. The plaintiff, a woman systematically beaten by her husband, reported that the government failed to support her with appropriate protection measures from her abusive partner who was regularly put under temporary arrest but always returned home increasingly violent. It also failed to support the victim after divorce, while former spouses had to remain in the same apartment and both the woman and her children had to endure violence. The Moldovan government is expected to present its stance on the matter in six months.	Saudi Arabia: New Law criminalizes domestic violence and violence in the workplace The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently passed a new law criminalizing different forms of abuse at home and in the workplace. This law represents a landmark ruling as it is the first time in the country’s history that serious attempts at tackling the issue are made. Domestic abuse is still a taboo in the Kingdom. It has nonetheless become a growing subject of debate, culminating in the adoption of the new law in which all forms of exploitation as well as physical, psychological and sexual abuse or threat of abuse will be treated as an offense. Penalties now range from one month to a year imprisonment and fines from SR 5,000 to SR 50,000. Though figures are often difficult to obtain, abuse is a serious problem in Saudi Arabia. The National Society for Human Rights (established in 2004) has reported 1,998 cases of abuse against women out of a total of 2,293 domestic abuse cases between 2004 and 2011. This figure does not include non-reported cases of abuse, which might easily surpass official numbers. To read the full article, please click here
	New Research & Publications
	Handbook for legislation on violence against women 2012 UN Women together with UNiTE have published a Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women. The publication intends to provide all stakeholders with guidance to support the adoption and effective implementation of legislation to prevent violence against women, punish perpetrators and guarantee the rights of survivors. The Handbook is particularly directed at government officials, parliamentarians, civil society, staff of the UN entities and other actors to support their efforts at establishing a strong legal basis to combat VAW. To read the full 68 page 2012 report, please click here here
	EWL Barometer on Rape in the EU 2013 now available The European Women's Lobby (EWL) has published the Barometer on Rape in the European Union 2013. The comparative study focuses on rape as a form of sexual violence criminalised in all national legislations but also as a 'forgotten issue'. The Barometer is an important tool to get a European overview of the compliance with and gaps in legislation and data collection on rape of women within the principles set by the 2011 Istanbul Convention. It reveals concretely how and where improvements are needed, and can be used by experts, professionals and activists to push for the signature and ratification of the Istanbul Convention and eradicate all forms of violence against. To download the publication, please visit the EWL Website
Bacherplatz 10 / 4 1050 Vienna, Austria phone: +43 0154 827 20 fax: +43 0 154 827 202 7 e-mail: office@wave-network.org ZVR:187612774

 

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