The Voice Against Violence Coalition aims to push for the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. The Czech Women’s Lobby, Amnesty International CZE, and Konsent cooperate on a common goal. On May 3rd, representatives of these organizations met to evaluate the successes of cooperation in raising awareness about helping women and eliminating violence against women and girls.The international context of current events is also important, for example, the restriction of reproductive rights in Poland or the planned departure from the Convention of Turkey.
We have been working together on the topic of violence against women and the importance of the adoption of the Convention against Violence against Women for more than five years (since 2015). Among other things, the coalition’s representatives spoke at a public hearing in the Chamber of Deputies in 2018, where they debated with opponents of the Convention. They also spoke on other national and international conferences and meetings.
Representatives met with more than 45 politicians to discuss the ratification of the Convention and took part in 3 discussions of the Istanbul Convention at the Government Council for Gender Equality, where they raised the initiative. The Czech Women’s Lobby raised awareness of the need to ratify the Convention on the Prevention and Combating Violence against Women and sent 8 open letters to politicians, participated in and organized a total of 5 conferences on the topic (On November 25, 2019, the “Women face to face with violence” conference was attended by over a hundred social workers and other professionals).
We also support the adoption and implementation of the measures of the Istanbul Convention within the European Women’s Lobby network. The Czech Women’s Lobby managed to gain considerable support in the issue of combating violence against women among representatives of embassies – ambassadors from Canada, France, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the USA, and others. Sweedish embassy hosted for the third year in a row photoshoot for the international campaign Orange the world, which draws attention to the issue of violence against women, which was attended last year by more than 20 representatives of embassies in the Czech Republic, including the Czech national team (human rights representative Helena Válková).
The Voice Against Violence Coalition offers facts and information on its website for better orientation in the confusing disinformation campaign of opponents of this convention. It includes stories not only of women who have experienced domestic or sexual violence. Specific cases of violence are backed up by figures that illustrate the situation in society as a whole. These data demonstrate the need to find tools to help combat violence against women more effectively, the Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Violence against Women is one of them.
According to proFem in 2016 168,000 victims seeked medical help. According to data from organizations that directly help vulnerable people there is 40-60% increase in the number of people who asked for help during a pandemic and lockdown.
As part of its media activities, the Czech Women’s Lobby issued a total of 14 press releases on combating violence against women and the Convention’s objectives in the fight against violence against women. CWL also organized three press conferences and the director of the CWL Hana Stelzerová spoke at the press conference of the Minister of Human Rights Jiří Dienstbier and presented the activities of member organizations on the Day against Violence against Women. In total, the media published about 200 articles in the media in connection with our activities and a number of interviews on this topic.
For three years in a row, we have organized a Dance Against Violence campaign involving hundreds of people.
In 2020, thanks to the cooperation with the TRIAD advertising agency, we created 3 video spots that draw attention to the trivialization of domestic violence, sexual violence and harassment. In the spring of 2021, after their launch, they were already seen by more than 100,000 people and the spots were awarded by marketing professionals on the Mediář website.
Our goal is to continue to raise awareness of the importance and impact of the Convention against Violence against Women. Thanks to cooperation with the Council of Europe, we can continue our work and use their materials to raise awareness of the need for this international declaration on violence against women and girls.
Your support is very welcome.