Introduction - Opening

Contents - SEMINAR : Men and Violence Against Women
COE - Strasbourg, 7-8 October 1999

Introduction

                For some years now, when it comes to analysing and combating violence against women, the focus has been increasingly placed on the abuser, the violent man. As a result of this, centres providing treatment or therapy for violent men have been set up in some countries. This policy has, in turn, led to a reflection on the causes and mechanisms of male violence – what leads some men to exercise violence, whereas others never use violence in their relations with women.

                However, research on male violence is still in its early stages, and those who work on this issue have few opportunities to exchange views in a European setting. It is, however, extremely important, in order to develop appropriate policy and intervention responses, that the results of any such research are made known to practitioners and that researchers can compare experiences and build networks. The direct and indirect consequences of male violence both in terms of health problems and in terms of cost to society have been ignored for too long. Just as violence against women and children has gradually ceased to be a taboo and become part of a public discussion, the searchlight should now be turned on male violence as a social and cultural problem, and not an issue of a special and deviant group of men.

                The Council of Europe has, for many years, worked towards the protection of women and girls against violence. A Plan of Action for combating this violence has been prepared, and the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men (CDEG) is currently preparing a draft recommendation on this issue.

                The Committee already initiated reflection on the question of male violence during the Seminar "Promoting Equality: a common issue for men and women" (Strasbourg, 17-18 June 1997). At the 4^th European Ministerial Conference on Equality between Women and Men (Istanbul, 13-14 November 1997), the Ministers adopted a Declaration on equality between women and men as a fundamental criterion of democracy. In the strategies appended to the Declaration, the Ministers invite Governments to “promote research on relationships between men and on the ways in which they perceive their masculine identity” and “reduce and aim to eliminate men's violence against women by initiating education ensuring respect of the other person and as concerns violent men, by supporting practical and therapeutic initiatives.”

                The Seminar on men's violence against women was intended as a further step towards the implementation of the Istanbul Declaration and a further attempt at combating violence against women which is one of the main obstacles to the achievement of equality between women and men.

                In view of recent events in Europe at the time of the Seminar, special attention was given to the question of men's violence against women and children in situations of armed conflict.

Opening speech

by Pierre-Henri IMBERT, Director of Human Rights

                Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a particular pleasure for me to welcome you to this seminar. You are here to discuss a very important theme, that of violence against women and children. Such violence is a huge impediment to equality between women and men. It is both an outcome and a sign of inequality, while at the same time perpetuating it.

                You will ask who commits violence, a question which is still too rarely addressed. Some months ago, at a Forum held in Bucharest by the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men, I remember saying that, as one of the priority measures aimed at eradicating such violence, I considered it essential to examine the reasons for it, to study its context and analyse its mechanisms - not only to talk about the symptoms of violence, but to give no less consideration to its causes. That is exactly what you will be doing here. The results of your work will, I am sure, prove extremely useful to the Steering Committee for Equality and to the whole of the Directorate of Human Rights.

This seminar is part of the activities to combat violence against women that we have been pursuing for over ten years; Mrs Caroline Méchin, who chairs the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men, will tell you about those activities later on. To ensure that we pursue our policy in a clear-sighted, effective manner, we need the knowledge and experience of researchers and also of those who have to deal with the perpetrators and victims of violence in their day-to-day work. That is why we wished to bring you together at this seminar, which is intended as a forum for the exchange of ideas and for dialogue, in keeping with the spirit of the Council of Europe.

                Who commits violence? This question was broached two years ago at another seminar here at the Council of Europe, which some of you attended. Today and tomorrow you will delve more deeply into the subject. You are going to discuss research methodology, the formation of male identities, the different ways in which males construct and preserve their masculinity, and violence against women in armed conflicts. You will study the links between masculinity and violence against women, which is - we have to admit - an enduring characteristic of our societies. This seminar is part of the Council of Europe's efforts to bring violence "out of the private sphere and cease to regard it as one of the inevitables of the female condition", as a Swiss study on dominance and violence within couples so aptly says.

Before you settle down to work, may I give you some of my own thoughts on the theme which brings us together today and on its links with the protection and promotion of human rights. One of the cornerstones of human rights is the fundamental idea that all human beings, women and men, are of equal worth and enjoy equal dignity. It is this idea which must shape the approach to the problem you are about to discuss.

                Slowly - very slowly - belief that men and women are equal, that they have the same fundamental rights, is gaining ground, and this growing awareness is essential to the eradication of violence. Stereotypes whereby women are perceived as different, inferior beings are deeply entrenched in our collective unconscious, and it is those stereotypes which made it possible to justify the use of violence in the past, and are still used to do so today. For thousands of years, in the discourse of researchers, thinkers, medical practitioners and psychologists, men have been telling women what they must do, giving them instructions, assigning them a place and duties, as if they were not really persons who also have rights. At the end of the 18th century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau gave the following definition of women's duties in "Emile":

                "Pleasing (men), being useful to them, making themselves loved and honoured by them, raising them when they are children, taking care of them when they are adults, advising and consoling them, making their life pleasant and agreeable - these have been women's duties at all times, duties which they must be taught from childhood."

                To make women conform to this image, it was necessary to exercise very strict control over them, both inside and outside the family. Men have in fact always been afraid that women might deviate from this prescribed norm, that women might adopt a conduct which undermined men's honour, their virility, in short what is still too often regarded as the only real male identity. The "stronger sex" does indeed fear the "weaker sex" because men know that their strength - which is purely physical - is merely an illusion.

                This explains why "control" of women so often takes violent forms, first and foremost in the private sphere. Contrary to a widespread public belief, a woman or a teenage girl is at greater risk of suffering violence in her home than in the street. The statistics cited at our Forum in Bucharest last year are overwhelming: a recent survey in Italy showed that, of a sample of 50,000 people, 80% had been the victims of violent behaviour by friends or family members; in Spain 91 women were killed in 1998 as a result of domestic violence; the Russian Ministry of the Interior's statistics show that some 14,000 women a year die at the hands of their husband or another member of their family. Recent surveys in Switzerland and Finland have shown that one out of every five women suffers gender-based violence in the course of her life. Sometimes even women themselves are caught up in the spiral of violence, inflicting it on their children, as recent events in France have shown. Lately, in an opinion on a report by the Parliamentary Assembly, it was noted that before the outbreak of the conflict in Kosovo, 68% of women and children in the region were prey to violence. In 70% of cases that violence was perpetrated by husbands and fathers, and in 30% of cases by the police. You can easily imagine the extent of the violence once the conflict had begun. We will no doubt never know exactly what happened in Kosovo - nor in Bosnia and Herzegovina - because, due to the pressure of tradition, the women victims have often preferred to remain silent.

                Women also suffer violence in the public sphere. You are aware of the form and content of this violence. Moreover, women's safety and sometimes also their survival are under threat from fundamentalist attitudes of all kinds and from alarming phenomena, such as traffic in women for the purpose of their sexual exploitation. Tradition and custom serve as excuses for barbarous practices such as genital mutilation. Women and children also suffer the full force of violence in armed conflicts, although they are rarely involved in the settlement of those conflicts or given any role in the peace negotiations. Systematic rape is used as a weapon and, fortunately, is now recognised as a war crime. Another horror to be added to this list, and perhaps the most dreadful of all, is the honour killings which still take place in some member States of the Council of Europe. Such murders, which are sometimes perpetrated by children as they cannot be prosecuted, are a negation of the most sacred of human rights - the right to life - the first to be mentioned in the Convention on Human Rights. In such cases a woman's life is subordinate to the vanity of a man who fears for his honour and his "virility". We really cannot tolerate this unbearable practice any longer.

***

                As I said earlier, we are slowly seeing an increase in recognition of the problem. A recent Eurobarometer survey concerning the European public's attitude to violence against women and children, conducted in the European Union member States, shows that the vast majority of respondents are aware of the problem and condemn violence, in particular sexual violence. However, the survey also shows that this issue is still surrounded by many taboos. It is hardly ever raised in family discussions, and few people acknowledge that they know someone who has suffered violence. The idea that violence is mainly committed by persons unknown to the victims is still prevalent. Furthermore, alcohol, drug abuse and unemployment take pride of place among the factors cited as causes of violent behaviour, as if it were yet possible to find excuses for the perpetrators, as if this form of violence differed from other crimes. Some social circumstances may doubtless create a breeding ground for violence, but they can never justify it.

                A seminar such as this should allow progress to be made, help to eliminate the taboos, to lift the veil of silence which has so often been drawn over violence against women, and, lastly, ensure that such violence is classified as a serious offence and that the perpetrators are punished.

                The Group of Specialists currently working under the authority of the Steering Committee on Equality between women and men with the aim of preparing a recommendation from the Committee of Ministers to the member States on the protection of women and girls against violence will no doubt be able to draw inspiration from your work. It is essential to devise legal standards, to set limits and establish prohibitions.

                For - and this brings me to my conclusion - all this violence leads to endless physical and moral suffering by women and children, and also by certain men. It hampers our progress towards a society in which the rights of all human beings are at last respected. We have come a long way.   Let us not forget that it was only in 1993, at the United Nations Conference on Human Rights, that the international community expressly recognised that women's rights were an integral part of human rights. At the Beijing Conference this was the very crux of the entire debate on the word "equity"; some people maintained that women were not entitled to half of "heaven" although, in the words of Mao Zedong much quoted at the time, they hold up half of that very heaven. Women were considered to be entitled only to an "equitable" share of rights.

                It is now essential to look at things from a different angle, to deconstruct the construction of society that made such thinking possible. And in my opinion we must do so by means of genuine dialogue between women and men. We might conclude by subscribing to what Tzvetan Todorov had to say about the discovery of America, the encounter between the Spanish and the native Americans and lack of recognition of the Other: "It is by speaking to others (not by giving them orders but by engaging in dialogue with them) that we recognise them as persons similar to ourselves. If understanding does not go hand in hand with full recognition of the Other as a person, that understanding is at risk of being used for the purposes of exploitation, of taking something away; knowledge will be subordinate to power."

Opening address by Ms Caroline MECHIN

Chair of the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men of the Council of Europe

Ladies and gentlemen,

May I, in turn, welcome you to this Seminar. I should like to give a brief presentation of the activities of the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men (CDEG), of which I am Chair, in the field of combating violence against women.

These activities are based on the recognition of the fact that violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights.

The Declaration on strategies for the elimination of violence against women in society, adopted by the 3^rd European Ministerial Conference on equality between women and men in Rome in October 1993, states that "violence against women constitutes an infringement of the right to life, security, liberty, dignity and integrity of the victim and, consequently, a hindrance to the functioning of a democratic society, based on the rule of law".

This Declaration was the starting point for the activities which are currently underway in the Council of Europe.

These activities take two forms: on the one hand, there is a need to promote research, and to exchange information and experience on the issue. On the other hand, there is a need to draw up policies and legal instruments to put these principles into action.

* * *

The Rome Declaration envisaged a number of strategies to eliminate violence, through the use of research, studies, prevention and education. Thanks to the work of a Group of Specialists working under the authority of the CDEG, these strategies were developed in a Plan of Action, published in 1997. This is not a legal text, but a real platform which the European States can use to elaborate strategies to combat violence. The Plan of Action is preceded by a chapter describing the context, notions, definitions and the breadth of the problem, as well as current difficulties and problems. The Plan itself contains chapters on research, legislation, legal procedure and practice, social assistance, the workplace, education, health and the media. The Plan has been greatly appreciated, particularly by associations and professionals who confront the issue of violence against women, and has been widely distributed. I should like to thank the members of the Group, some of whom are present today, for their excellent work.

The CDEG is also preparing a publication, which will come out in the near future, describing legislation on this subject in the member States of the Council of Europe. Given the diversity in this field in the member States, as well as the fact that a number of countries have recently revised their legislation - Austria and Sweden, to name just two - this publication should prove useful for information and reference.

Exchange of information and experience is essential. This is why the Council of Europe has organised conferences, seminars and fora on the subject of violence against women. It is at these seminars and conferences that strategies can be discussed and formulated. The Forum organised in Bucharest in November 1998 on domestic violence confirmed the absolute priority which should be given to protecting, assisting and supporting victims of violence.

In the same vein, a Seminar held in 1997 in Strasbourg examined the need to involve men in the fight against violence against women, and underlined that men must take responsibility for their actions. In Bucharest, at the Forum mentioned by Mr Imbert, we continued this discussion, and the Seminar beginning today will take this very important issue further.

Reinforcement of legislation

The Bucharest Forum, the conclusions of which are available here, stressed the need to reinforce national legislation and consider violent acts as serious crimes. In particular, it underlined that measures should be taken to allow the victim - rather than the violent person - to remain in the family home. Finally, the Council of Europe was asked to prepare a draft legal instrument on protection women and young girls against violence.

Indeed, it is in the perspective of the reinforcement of legislation, but also in that of setting up multi-dimensional and global policies to combat violence that the Steering Committee has begun to prepare a draft recommendation to member States on the protection of women and girls against violence. This draft should establish a set of legal norms which could constitute a basis for legislation and national practice in the member States, not only as regards domestic violence, but also as regards other human rights violations, such as female genital mutilation, trafficking in human beings for purposes of sexual exploitation, sex tourism, honour killings and forced sterilisation.

This text, in keeping with the mission of the Council of Europe, will be founded on the principle of the right to freedom and security, while reaffirming the existing rights laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights, namely the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In addition to penal sanctions, preventive measures such as information and education campaigns, advisory and treatment services both for victims and violent persons, as well as research and evaluation measures could be put in place. I am sure that this Seminar will be very useful for our work.

Contents - SEMINAR : Men and Violence Against Women
Strasbourg,, 7-8 October 1999