Member organisation EPN organized a panel about the Istanbul Convention in the European Parliament

On the 15th of May, our member association EPN (European Professionals Network) organized a round table meeting about the importance of the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in all countries, and female empowerment in the European Parliament to reduce structural discrimination based on gender.

The Istanbul Convention, also known as the ‘Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence’, is one of the most important initiatives to protect and improve women’s rights. Forty-six countries signed the convention and Turkey was one of the first to do so. The convention was signed in Istanbul and recognizes equality between men and women as one of the requirements to reduce violence against women.

The following topics were discussed:

• The implementation of the convention within the E.U.;
• E.U. laws or recommendations which form an obstacle to the reduction of violence against women;
• The conditions of female refugees, asylum seekers, and homeless/stateless women and girls, being confronted with discrimination and violence;
• The connection between gender-related violence and employment insecurity for women, the pay gap and unequal partition of power;
• Effective initiatives and campaigns, aiming at the promotion of female empowerment, and raising awareness about gender-related violence.

The speakers were

• Julie Ward, European Member of Parliament of the Socialists and Democrats Group;
• Asha Allen, staff member and campaign officer at the European Women’s Lobby;
• Ugur Tok, executive administrator at the Platform for Peace and Justice;
• Elena Mancusi Materi, senior staff member… at UNRWA;
• Elly Schlein, European Member of Parliament of the Socialists and Democrats Group;

The complete report can be found here.