Monday 29 November 2021

Online Training on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence and the ECHR

The European Implementation Network is organising a free online training on 16 December on the topic 'Combatting violence against women and domestic violence by supporting the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights'. It is aimed at practitioners and will be held in English with a possibility of simultaneous interpretation into Russian if the need arises. The full programme can be found here and the organisers kindly ask potential participants to register before the end of this week (so before 3 December) here. This is the abstract of the training:

'Violence against women and domestic violence (“VAW/DV”) are grave violations of human rights and forms of discrimination. They occur in every Council of Europe member state, despite some positive developments in law, policies and practices. Shortcomings in domestic legal frameworks, the lack of specialized social services and discriminatory practices and attitudes have all been contributing to the perpetuation of domestic violence. The coronavirus is exacerbating the issue. The forced cohabitation of many families around the world has shown signs of a real ‘emergency in an emergency’. 

Governments have a responsibility to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all their citizens. However, in the area of violence against women and domestic violence, many are failing to carry out the reforms necessary – and will only do so as a result of sustained pressure at the national and international levels. 

Judgments from the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) have an invaluable role to play in pushing authorities to make the necessary reforms. Nevertheless, in order for effective reforms to result from the ECtHR implementation process, it is often essential that actors on the ground are empowered to actively engage in the process for implementing the judgment. 

On 16th December, EIN will organise an online training dealing with the implementation of ECtHR judgments in the field of VAW/DV. This online training is a core element of an EIN project supported by the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the Council of Europe. The project aims to provide comprehensive support to specialist organisations, to ensure that they can effectively contribute to the ECtHR implementation monitoring system, in every country where there is an ECtHR judgment concerning domestic violence pending implementation. The objective of the training is to sensitize expert organisations about the importance of their contribution to the implementation of judgments in this area, and equip them with tools on how to make best use of the supervision process.'