WUNRN
WAVE - Women Against Violence Europe
Press Release
25 November 2011: International Day for
the Elimination of Violence Against Women
Women’s Shelters in Europe Are Lacking
Effective Political and Financial Support
The increasingly tense
global economic situation does not spare the most crucially needed social
services. Among them are women’s support services, which specifically engage in
the effort to end violence against women and their children. Despite the
international and European developments with regards to declarations and
treaties, in reality the implementation of political statements and national
legislation is lagging far behind.
In the European Union
alone, approximately every fourth to every fifth woman has suffered male
violence during adult life. If all forms of violence against women are taken
into account, around 45 per cent of all women experience violence. This means
that in the 27 EU Member States, about 100 million women are estimated to
become victims of gender-based violence in their lifetime – and one to two
million women are victimised daily (European Commission 2010). Data provided to
WAVE by its focal points in 44 European countries show that structures of
women’s shelters need substantial strengthening and constant financial support
by national institutions and local authorities. However, European countries are
failing to provide women survivors of violence and their children with adequate
services that address their specific needs, as this is shown by the serious
lack of women’s shelters discovered by the WAVE country report 2010.
Additionally, the current financial crisis has resulted in threats of and
closures of women’s shelters all over Europe. This results not only in a
decline of the numbers of shelters, but also undermines the minimum
requirements and standards that women’s support services are able to provide.
When comparing
international recommendations with the real situation it becomes obvious, that
political leaders need to be reminded of their self defined obligations.
According to Council of Europe recommendations, every country should guarantee
one shelter place for every 10,000 inhabitants. In reality there are only
27,000 shelter places (beds) in Europe and an urgent need to create further
54,000 to comply with the CoE standards. WAVE is also concerned by the hesitant
support of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating
violence against women and domestic violence adopted by the Committee of
Ministers on 11th May 2011 in Istanbul. Even though the convention is open to
all countries of the world, only 17 have so far signed it and none of them has
ratified it so far. In order for the convention to get effective, 10 countries
need to undergo ratification. WAVE therefore urges all countries to sign and
ratify the convention.
Violence against women is not
random. It is violence „directed against a woman because she is a woman or
violence that affects women disproportionately" (The Beijing Platform
for Action). Therefore it is necessary to assure that adequate and women
specific services are in place. WAVE therefore urgently calls upon the Council
of Europe, the European Union and each Member State to undertake effective
measures to increase the number of safe women’s shelters. Europe must not
accept that the economic crisis puts lives, health and freedom of millions of
women and their children at risk – all too often deadly risk.
Press Enquiries: Felice
Drott | +43/1/544 08 20 37 | felice.drott@wave-network.org
WAVE Country Report 2010, http://www.wave-network.org/start.asp?ID=23519