The EU and violence against women and girls

Combating violence against women and girls is one of the priorities of the EU Strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015.

The EU is considering the development of the first comprehensive EU Strategy on Violence against Women and Girls. The European Commission's Advisory Committee on equal opportunities for women and men established a working group in 2010 to provide an expert Opinion on violence against women and girls to help inform the European Commission's thinking on this important issue.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission chaired the working group - which consisted of nominated gender experts from several EU member states - and coordinated the drafting of the Opinion. The document provides a broad definition of violence against women in line with existing international instruments and identifies eight proposed areas of action for an EU strategy: perspective, prevention, protection, prosecution, provision, action planning, infrastructure, monitoring and evaluation.

Further information

Last Updated: 18 Jan 2011