2001-011-WY-midterm report

Daphne Programme – Year 2002

Interim Report

Title: Breaking the silence: observatories on violence against women Start Date: 1/12/01 End Date: 30/11/03 Co-ordinating Organisation’s name: European Women’s Lobby Contact person: Name: Colette De Troy Address: Rue Hydraulique, 18 Postal code: 1210 City: Brussels Country: Belgium Tel. N°.: +32.2.217.90.20 Fax Nr.: +32.2.519.84.51 e-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.womenlobby.org

Partner Organisations’ names and countries:

1. Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform/ M.O’Connor, Ireland 2. Fundacion Mujeres, Spain 3. Danish National Council of Women, in cooperation with the National institute of public Health, Denmark 4. Associaçao de Mulheres Contre a Violencia (AMCV), Portugal 5. Associate partners: Network against male violence against Women, Greece and Naisten Kultturiyhdistys (Finland); 6. Coordination française pour le Lobby européen des femmes (CLEF) has been a passive partner in 2002.

March 2003 Interim report project DAPHNE JAI/DAP/01/011/WY

1. Aims of the project

The overall objective of the project consists in developing a comprehensive system of reporting on and monitoring of measures and policies on violence against women (VAW) with the input of women’s NGOs working together to constitute national observatories. The main issues were identified as follows: - To give visibility to the scope and importance of male violence against women - Develop a set of guidelines for good practice to assist in structuring national action plans as while many EU member states have developed national action plans to combat violence against women, there are limited structures and/or methods to monitor the implementation of these plans and to measure what progress has been made. - Explore a European structure to determine how the EU can address the issue of Violence against women in the framework of its competence on equality

The project has three specific objectives: (1) to explore mechanisms to be used at EU level to further policy making on VAW; (2) to constitute strong national coalitions of women’s NGOs and develop partnership relationships with national authorities on issues related to VAW and (3) to develop a strong basis for national observatories within a common framework. EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 1 2. Implementation of the project

The project is spread out over a two-year period. Among the planned activities, the following were implemented during 2002:

1) Two transnational meetings were held at EU level: the first in May with the partners of the project for 2002 and the second in October with the EWL experts of the EWL's observatory on VAW in order to develop guidelines for a European report and a common framework on mechanisms of monitoring. (see annex 2, agenda of the two meetings)

2) The special Think Tank on VAW met twice (in June and in September). These meetings, which brought together representatives of the EC, the EP, experts on violence against women, and, at one meeting, a representative of the accession countries. These meetings provided opportunities to discuss transversal issues in the field of violence against women, the enlargement process and the needs of NGOs, as well as the new policies at EU level. (see annex 3, agenda of the two meetings).

3) National preparatory meetings in the partners countries (Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain) with a coalition of NGOs working in the field of violence against women, or to form or strenghten coalitions in countries where these do not yet exist.

Description of each partner’s activities:

- IRELAND

Several consultations with national NGOs working on Violence against women were held throughout the year 2002 in order to prepare the National Irish Observatory. A background- briefing document was prepared on the EWL and the Observatory to clarify the role and mission of the national observatory and to inform of the EWL Observatory. The terms of reference for a National Observatory were discussed and agreed with National Coalition members whose members are represented on the Irish Government Task Force on VAW: National Network of Refuges and Support Services National Network of Rape Crisis Centres Women's Aid Dublin Rape Crisis Centre Pavee Point Organisation representing Traveller women.

Meetings were held with Mary Wallace, Minister of State and the Violence against women unit in the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform to:  Clarify the role of an independent Observatory  Ensure matching funding for the Daphne programme  Obtain Government support for the work of the EWL and National Observatory

Preparation of the launch of the national observatory, included meeting with Mary Banotti, MEP to gain her support in hosting the event in the commission offices, meeting Mary Wallace, Minister of State on her role in launching the Observatory, consultation with National representatives of the VAW organisations to discuss key issues for speeches at the launch.

 Invitations designed, list drawn up and all affiliates and organisations invited  Press pack sent to all National and Regional media. EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 2  Media interviews set up for politicians and NGOs

Launch of the National observatory

The National Observatory was launched in the E.U. Commission offices in Dublin on April 15th 2002, with a large audience of NGOs working in the field of violence and equality as well as representatives of public authorities with competences in this field and other personalities:

 Mary Banotti, MEP, who gave her support in hosting the event in the commission offices in Dublin.  Mary Wallace, Minister of State, who stressed her support for this initiative and announced a National Public awareness Campaign on Rape and Sexual Assault  Grainne Healy, Chairwomen of National Women Council in Ireland (NWCI), which will coordinate the national observatory on violence against women  Denise Fuchs, President of the EWL

Other speakers included Monica O’Connor, the Irish expert of the EWL’s Observatory and representatives of the NGOs part of the national coalition, working in different fields of violence against women (shelters, rape crisis centres, travellers,…).

In response to the press release sent to the media (see annex 4) , there was a great press coverage of this event, notably in the 2 main Irish newspaper (see annex 5).

Developing the national observatory

Following the launch of the national observatory, more meetings took place with the NGOs part of the coalition in order to enlarge the platform of NGOs and to define the way of working together in order to prepare a national report.

Decision has been made to locate the national observatory in the NWCI. The work on the criteria and indicators to monitor the progress on violence against women was central to the debate and will continue during 2003.

- DENMARK:

In Denmark, an expert group was set up in 1998 by the National Council of Women to assist the Danish representative of the European Women Lobby’s Observatory on Violence in fulfilling her tasks in an optimal way. It was important that the representative should have access to extensive information about all aspects of VAW. The expert group’s members both represented the different relevant NGOs, such as the women shelter movement (LOKK), special shelters for prostitutes and drug addicts, as well as researchers that deal with the different issues of VAW. The expert group had regular meetings in connection to the meetings of the EWL’ Observatory. During 2002, the expert group agreed to establish a regular national observatory as soon as it was made possible by the Daphne initiative. A steering committee including the Danish representative of the EWL Observatory prepared the process under the auspices of the Danish Council of Women.

EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 3 Launch of the national observatory:

The Danish task force have always worked on a national level. The Council of Women represents about 50 different women organisations, including more than 300.000 members, and covers all regions of Denmark. The Danish Observatory on VAW was officially inaugurated on 29 October 2002 (see annex 6). A broad group of women and men attended the event, which represented approximately 150 participants in total. A presentation of the general project was made by the EWL as well as a presentation of the Irish national observatory, by the Irish expert. The press also covered the meeting. At the meeting, all different NGOs, research institutes and bodies which are part of the national observatory presented briefly their background and work in regard to VAW, representing the Danish shelter movement, the rape centers, the centers for prostitutes, the center for abused ethnic subgroups of women, the center for treatment of male offenders, etc. The broad membership of all relevant NGOs represents all forms of VAW.

The Danish Observatory plans to organize a yearly conference focusing upon the national progresses in the fight against VAW.

The Observatory will closely follow the national action plan – its implementation and results. The plan is to set up a web-page. Budget is currently being negotiated with the Ministry of Gender Equality

- SPAIN:

In Spain, there was a change in the partnership, as Fundacion Mujeres, the main partner for Spain in the project, has also taken over the regional part (which was initially foreseen for the partner Fundacion COPSA) after the meeting in May. The first activity was to set up a website on the project in Spain (www.observatorioviolencia.org) and to translate the EWL common framework document on indicators in to Spanish. Fundacion Mujeres has several meetings with the Spanish coordination of the EWL (CELEM) and its expert organisations working on violence against women to explain the aim of the project and draft an action plan.

Subsequently, they drafted a questionnaire in preparation of the working meeting and set up a database of organisations working on violence against women at national level and also of public institutions with competence in this area.The first meeting with organisations took place in Madrid in July, with representation of a great diversity in the different areas of violence and from different regions (in Spain, the “communidades autonomas have some competences in VAW, moreso than the national level). 28 organisations took part in the meeting, many of them representing existing networks or coalitions,representing a broad variety of women’s organisations. (see annex 7).

The meeting discussed the indicators proposed by the EWL, and, in for some proposed that new items to be added. They also discussed the objectives and function of a national observatory as well as the type of violence to be included. Finally, they discussed issues regarding programmes developped by the organisations, the expectations towards an independent observatory and evaluated the value of the meeting.

In November, Fundacion Mujeres organised a second meeting at national level, but thistime with policy makers and organisations in charge of the issue of violence against women in different parts of the country. The aim of the meeting was to inform them of the indicators already developped by the EWL, of the participation of women’s NGOs in the project in Spain and to get them involved in the development of the project in Spain, and share the results of the meeting already organised with NGOs in July. EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 4 Other actions: the women NGOs working on violence against women has made a public position opposing the signature between General Council of Judiciary (Consejo general del poder Judicial), the Ministry of Justic and Ministry of Labour and Social Affaris for the constitution of a general “national observatory on violence”. The NGOs coalition insisted on the characteristics of a Observatory which should gather information on all forms of violence propose solutions the problems and guarantee the independence.

- PORTUGAL

AMCV begun this project by inviting all women’s NGOs registered in the NGOs platform of the Commission for Equality and Women’s Rights that work on all forms of violence against women in Portugal to present the objectives and planned activities of the project. In preparation of this meeting, which took place in May 2002, the EWL’s report “Towards a common frawework to monitor progress on violence against women” was translated in to Portuguese.

The NGOs present at the meeting were working in different fields, such as prostitution, trafficking in women and childre, domestic violence, promotion of Human rights, as well as researchers and trainers. There was indepth discussion on the indicators that will be used for collecting the data. They also established agreement on the common principles for action to constitute the national observatory and to articulate these with the EWL European observatory.

A second meeting took place in June 2002, with the main objective to define the different strategies of NGOs for the creation and implementation of the national observatory. At this meeting, the group shared information about the work already done and decided to approach other organisations in the country that might be effective partners in the implementation of the project. The idea is to establish a network involving the Health sector, Justice, Prison services, Public administration, research centres and universities to broaden the scope of work on violence against women.

These meetings resulted in different ideas on the best ways to move forward:

- the creation of a working group to share information on-line for all members of the national working group - the decision to enlarge the partnership with female journalists that could alert the media for spreading information and support professionals in this area - the need of research in the legal framework of violence against women in Portugal, on the sentences given by the judges and the collaboration with other professionals to strengthen the legal approach on violence against women - the need to research on public network support services for women survivors of violence in order to provide other partners with information of the reality of the situation in Portugal concerning the number of shelters and other services available to women survivors of violence - the need to establish data and information exchange with the planning and policy office of the Ministry of Justice - the need to establish contacts with public local authorities in order to suport the creation of local resources for survivors of violence - the need to fundraise the national costs of the project.

The outcomes until now have been the creation of a broader network of resources for each partner organisation, more and closer relationships and exchanges between organisations and a collaboration protocol between AMCV and the Immigration services in order to EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 5 establish close cooperation. However, due to unforeseen backlashes, both at the level of national Equality policy and at the level of the NGOs Platform of the Commission for Equality and Women’s Rights, it is difficult to plan the next step and the AMCV is looking for solutions to continue.

- FRANCE

Due to personal/organisational problems, the work in France did not start as predicted in the project proposal in 2002. A working group on violence against women was set up to prepare a first meeting with women’s NGOs working on violence against women in early 2003.

- GREECE

Although Greece was only an associated partner for 2002 (and will become full partner in 2003), some intense preparatory work had nevertheless already started with NGOs in this country. In November 2002, a two days meeting took place in Athens, with the participation of some 50 women’s organisations working on male violence against women. They considered forming the national observatory and agreed to constitute the basis of such an observatory. All expressed a great enthusiasm for this idea. The support of the National Secretary of State for Equality is obtained in the continuation of the process. The Greek coordination of the EWL translated the EWL’s report on indicators as it constituted a basic document for the monitoring role of the future observatory.

4) A report will be drafted on the main results and difficulties observed in different countries and identifying positive strategies for further actions. This will serve for developing contacts with NGOs from accession countries to explore the means of associating them with the project. This is in preparation and will be ready by the end of the project period (2003).

5) Preparation of the work in other countries to invite them to get involved in the project for the following year (2003) and national meetings in these countries.  In Belgium, the expert is looking for funds to be part of the project in 2003 to continue the work already started in 2001.  A meeting with NGOs and some government representatives is foreseen in 2003 in the Netherlands to prepare the future work of the observatory.  In Germany, a platform of NGOs are already discussing the possibility of forming a national observatory on violence against women.  In Sweden, the proposal to join the project has been discussed already with the main women’s shelters association (ROKS) which is very positive in relation to the project and some contacts have also been made with the government.  In the UK, the expert of Northern Ireland has started discussions with authorities and with some Women’s Aid branches in other parts of the country about the project and contacts have been made with the Potential UK Wide Violence against Women Policy Unit.

Despite the financial constraints to work with NGOs from the New Member States, some contacts have already made and we hope to intensiy them in 2003. The EWL’s report “Towards a common frawework to monitor progress on violence against women” , which is a basic document for the work on indicators and monitoring has already been disseminated and distributed trough the OSI (Open Society Institute) network on violence and through the other EWL’s channels of distribution (conferences and seminars). The translation of the report in Estonian is in preparation and should be ready in the next few months.

EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 6 3. Results and impacts of the project :

As the project is only in its mid-term, it is not possible to dress a complete picture of the results, but we can already see the concrete results in two countries, Ireland and Denmark, where a national observatory has been launched. In these two countries, the NGOs participating in the coalition to form the national observatory are very enthusiastic to work together and recognise the importance to join their efforts in a broader monitoring exercise. In Ireland and in Denmark, it was the first time they meet together to work jointly. The launch of these national observatories also gives them the opportunity to give a higher visibility to their work and the prevalence of violence against women they are combating as it has been widely covered by the press. The impact has already been very positive, although it’s still in the beginning phase of the project.

In the other partners’ countries, the work is on-going and presents different stages of development. This depends greatly on the different situations in countries, notably the size of the country and the politico-administrative organisation of the country. The process depends also of the existence or not of pre-existing coalition of NGOs working on violence against women and of the development of the NGOs sector.

The mid-term evaluation of the development of the project was carried out by the experts and by the EWL’s Board members, stresses the good reactions in general in the EU countries in view of the development of the process to create a national observatory. They also pointed out the difficulties to bring together women’s NGOs working on violence against women but also the need to clarify terms of references.

4. Dissemination and follow-up

For the two national observatories that have been launched, there has been a great visibility of the role and mission of the observatory, as it gave higher profile to women’s NGOs forming the observatory. The EWL’s work on indicators to monitor progress on combating violence against women was made widely known in all the partners countries as the report was widely distributed, commented and often translated (in Spanish, Portuguese, Greek). The Danish government representative, present at the launch of the Danish national observatory, acknowledged the impact of this work on their own indicators presented during the Danish Presidency of the EU. As the project is only at its mid-term, more dissemination and follow-up will continue in 2003.

5. Provisional conclusions:

The project has made possible the creation of important networking and inter relationships of and between women’s NGOs at national level working on violence against women, enabling them to exchange and disseminate good practice and actions in the field of violence and uniting them on criteria shared at EU level. It has also given the opportunity to reinforce or, in some cases, to create, partnership with public authorities and government representative in charge of these issues.

As we can clearly see, the process does not follow the same schedule nor pattern in all countries, in respect of the diversities of national situations. It is necessary to reinforce the common framework by consolidating the terms of references, the role and missions of the national observatories and their link with a EU model of monitoring policies. This will be the orientation for 2003.

EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 7 List of Annexes:

- Annex 1: List of Keywords - Annex 2: Agenda of the meetings (May and October 2002) - Annex 3: Agenda of the Think Tank (June and September 2002) - Annex 4: Irish press release for the launch of the national observatory (April 2002) - Annex 5: press cuttings of the Irish launch of the observatory (April 2002) - Annex 6: Programme of the Danish Observatory launched (October 2002) - Annex 7: Translation of the indicators in Spanish

X/Policy/violence/Projets/Daphne2001-02/Rapport intérimaire/EU-Rapport intérimaire Daphné

ANNEX 1 : List of Keywords

Beneficiaries Daphne Objectives Areas Children Support to the collaboration of organisations X Sexual violence X Young people  Support to multidisciplinary networks X Gender violence X Women  Exchange of good practices X Violence in family  Studies X Violence in domestic context Specific groups Support to public awareness X Violence in schools X Homosexuals X Information campaign X Violence in institutions X Migrants X Information sources X Violence in urban areas X Refugee X Recognition and reporting X Violence in rural areas X Asylum seekers X Violence in the work place X Trafficked persons X Trafficking in human beings X Ethnic minorities Specific Objectives X Commercial sexual exploitation X Handicapped X Prevention of violence  Internet X Domestic workers X Protection from violence  Child Pornography X People in prostitution  Treatment of victims X Racism X Elderly  Reintegration of victims  Self-harm X Prisoners  Counselling victims  Physical punishment  Support to families X Female genital mutilation Targeted Audience X Legislative measures X Health impacts  Violent men  Treatment of offenders  Perpetrators / offenders  Reintegration of offenders Instruments X Public Authorities X Network with NGOs  General Public X Multisector network X Medical staff X Awareness-raising X Educational staff X Dissemination of good practice X Police staff  Guidelines / Counselling X Judicial staff X Models (analysis / development) X Media / Journalists X Training  Production of materials X Conference / seminar  Telephone / Internet Helpline  Field work

EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 8 ANNEX 2: Agenda OF MEETINGS

TECHNICAL MEETING OF THE DAPHNE PROJECT PARTNERS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL OBSERVATORIES DATE : 25 MAY 2002 PLACE : BRUSSELS, Office of the European Women’s Lobby, 18 rue Hydraulique, 1210 Bruxelles

Agenda

10.00: Welcome and Introduction

10.10: General presentation of the Daphne project. Expectations of the EWL, as co-ordinator of the overall project, in relation to the following deadlines/obligations

 Calendar and time frame for this year and next year  Transfer of funds in the context of the partnerships  Financial support from the EWL (reimbursement of funds and other costs linked to the activities of the project)  Contract with the experts  Obligations and deadlines in relation to the activities and financial report

11.00 – 11.15: Coffee Break

11.15 : Experts : update of developments in each country in relation to:

 Contact with the financial partners for the setting up/creation of the national observatories (in most countries these partners are public bodies)  Contact with violence related organisations  Planned meetings and/or report of meetings that have already taken place  Timeframe and obligations at national level

12.45 – 14.00 Lunch

14.00: Specific needs of the experts

1) The role of the EWL as co-ordinator – how can it assist? For example, by providing:

 Background and reference documents  Evaluation criteria  Contacts, set up a virtual network of the experts on technical matters.  Other forms of support

16.00 – 16.15: Coffee Break

16.15 – 18.00: Continuation of discussion AOB

EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 9 EWL OBSERVATORY MEETING 11 - 12 October 2002 in Brussels Agenda

Friday 11 October – 10.00 - 17.30

Chair: Grainne Healy, President of the EWL’s Observatory on Violence

10.00-10.15: Welcome Approval of the agenda Approval of the minutes of the observatory meeting (February 2002) Update of activities of the EWL

10.15-10.45: Update of activities within the EWL Policy Action Centre on Violence against Women

10.45-11.30: Daphne 2002: Development of national observatories: -: Reports from: Ireland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, France, Greece

11.30-12.00: Coffee-break

12.00- 13.00: Continuation of discussion on development of national observatories

13.00 – 14.00: Lunch

14.00 – 15.30: Continuation of Daphne 2002: Discussion of issues to emerge from the development of national observatories Feedback from third meeting of the Think Tank: issues to emerge from this meeting

15.30 – 16.00: Coffee-Break

16.00 – 17.30: Daphne project 2003: issues relating to partners, funds, new partners,

Saturday 12 October – 9.30 to 13.00

9.30-11.00: Presentation of the table of indicators: data collated to date, an analysis of emerging issues, gaps, and other critical comments of how the indicators can be used and strengthened; followed by a discussion

11.00 – 11.30: Coffee Break

11.30 – 12.15: Preparing for enlargement – violence against women in Eastern and Central European countries: issues, contacts, organisations, links with the observatory

12.15-13.00: Upcoming issues: CSW (UN Commission for the Status of Women) 2003 session will address violence against women AOB Dates of next meetings

13.00: Buffet lunch

EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 10 ANNEX 3/ THINK TANK

SECOND THINK TANK MEETING BRUSSELS, 18 JUNE 2002

AGENDA

Chair: Grainne Healy

14.30: Welcome and introduction

14.45 Questions/clarification arising from the report of the first meeting

14.55: Update on EWL work in relation to violence against women: . Shadow directive on equality . National observatories on violence against women . Emerging issues (trafficking; …) . Presentation of two EWL Observatory experts: development of national observatories in Denmark and France or UK Danish presidency – information on violence related activities

15.30: Exchange - Continuation of the discussion on issues identified at the first meeting:

 Future Daphne programme: arguments in favour of maintaining a women and children perspective  Strengthening existing mechanisms at EU level, such as data collection and statistics in a partnership between Eurostat and women’s NGOs: definitions, who gets criminalized, gender breakdown of criminal statistics; developing the health aspects of violence against women; how to integrate violence-against-women related issues in the future of JAI policies and structures; others (to define)  Capturing the policy issues from Daphne and comparing them to EWL Framework Findings (even informally at first)

16.30-17;00: Coffee break

17.00: Continuation of discussion

18.00 End of meeting: confirmation of date of next meeting; other people to invite.

EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 11 THIRD THINK TANK MEETING, BRUSSELS 17 SEPTEMBER 2002

AGENDA Chair: Grainne Healy

10.00: Welcome

10.10: Questions/clarification arising from the report of the second meeting

10.20: Update and exchange of information on policy issues discussed at last meeting:  Preparations for the new Daphne programme  Trafficking in women: the draft Directive; the IOM conference; the call for proposals for a European network on trafficking in women  Draft Directive on Equality  The work of the Convention on the future of Europe  Report of the European Parliament on Reproductive Rights  Danish and Greek Presidencies

11.00: Update of EWL work in relation to violence against women:  EWL report to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women  EWL report to the European Parliament’s Rapporteur on Human Rights (MEP Joke Sweibel)  National observatories on violence against women  Presentation of two EWL Observatory experts  Emerging issues: more pressure to legalise prostitution (France), sexual and reproductive rights; increasing requests for support to women’s rights organisations in other countries of the world.

11.30: Coffee break

12.00 Exchange and continuation of the discussion of the issue of ‘de politicisation’ of violence against women and steps to rectify this in the short, medium and long term.

13.00: End of meeting, dates for future meetings (2003)

EWL- DAPHNE Project 01/011/WY 12