On 27th September 2017 the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) published its first two evaluation reports.
Louise Hooper of Garden Court Chambers was part of the delegation who carried out an evaluation visit to Austria between 28 November to 2 December 2016. During the evaluation visit, the delegation met with a range of governmental and nongovernmental representatives working in the area of preventing and combating violence against women, including legal and medical practitioners.
The delegation was composed of:
- Marceline Naudi, Second Vice-President of GREVIO
- Vesna Ratković, Member of GREVIO
- Sabine Kräuter-Stockton, Senior Public Prosecutor (Germany)
- Louise Hooper, Barrister specialising in gender and asylum law (United Kingdom)
- Bridget T. O’Loughlin, Executive Secretary of the monitoring mechanism of the Istanbul Convention - Johanna Nelles, Administrator at the Secretariat of the monitoring mechanism of the Istanbul Convention.
In an official ceremony to mark this historic event, the President of GREVIO, Ms Feride Acar, presented the report on Austria to the Consul General of Austria, Ms Erika Bernhard and the report on Monaco to Ambassador Rémi Mortier, Permanent Representative of Monaco to the Council of Europe.
The reports contain an overall analysis of the implementation of the provisions of the Istanbul Convention. They highlight positive initiatives in preventing and combating all forms of violence against women at national level and provide suggestions and proposals to improve the situation of women facing such violence.
In the case of Austria, GREVIO praises the strong leadership Austria has shown over the past decades in introducing a system of emergency barring and protection orders for victims of domestic violence. However, other forms of violence against women, for example rape and sexual violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation have received significantly less attention. This leaves victims of these forms of violence with lesser access to specialised services and support.
As regards Monaco, GREVIO’s report welcomes progress achieved by passing new legislation to tackle domestic violence and reinforcing inter-agency co-operation. Nevertheless, policies and measures need to include the gender dimension of violence against women and ensure a greater involvement of civil society.
The presentation and publication of these first two country evaluation reports mark a significant milestone in GREVIO's monitoring procedure and indeed, demonstrate its dedication and hard work in reaching this milestone just two years after GREVIO's first meeting. In the meantime GREVIO continues its monitoring with the next two reports, on Albania and Denmark, expected to be published in time to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November 2017.
Louise Hooper is a barrister at Garden Court Chambers. She is a member of the Administrative and Public Law Team and the Immigration Team.
