[women-rights] Ahead of Council of Europe campaign, national parliaments urged to use 'all means' to combat domestic violence

Strasbourg, 17.11.2006 -- Ahead of a major Council of Europe campaign to
combat domestic violence against women, to be launched in Madrid on 27
November, the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE), meeting in San Marino, today adopted the
following declaration:

"Domestic violence against women is a serious assault on women's dignity
which no Council of Europe member state should tolerate.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, committed to
defending human rights, publicly and unequivocally condemns domestic
violence. Such violence is the result of an unequal relationship between
women and men which it also perpetuates. Domestic violence is not
geographically circumscribed, is not limited to certain age groups or
linked to ethnic origin. It occurs in every kind of family relationship
and in all social strata.

The cost of domestic violence to society is high. There is the personal
and social cost for the women who live a terrible nightmare and who
experience constant fear and anxiety. In addition, there is the huge
financial cost to society in general, which shoulders the burden of health
care, protection, legal and policing costs. And there is a political cost
when democratic societies are incapable of protecting women from domestic
violence which is a frontal attack on their physical integrity and their
human dignity.

The Parliamentary Assembly is convinced that combating domestic violence
against women will help to build a fairer society where the fundamental
rights of all, men and women alike, are respected.

In this context, the Parliamentary Assembly affirms that combating
domestic violence against women must be a priority for member states. The
Assembly calls upon the member states to assume fully their
responsibilities and to take all necessary measures to end this violence.
The Assembly pledges its support for, and will contribute to, the Council
of Europe's campaign to combat violence against women, including domestic
violence. The campaign will be launched in Madrid (Spain) on 27 November
2006. The Assembly reiterates its appeal to national parliaments to
implement the project entitled "Parliaments united in combating
domestic violence against women", to make the fight against domestic
violence a priority theme of their work and thereby to contribute to the
Council of Europe Campaign, by all parliamentary means at their disposal."

The Standing Committee -- which acts in the name of the Parliamentary
Assembly between plenary sessions -- brings together some eighty
parliamentarians from the Council of Europe's 46 member states.

Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit 
Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93 
Fax : +33 3 90 21 41 34