GREVIO: published annual report on violence against women

The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) has issued its annual report of activities, stressing the key milestones and achievements of the Group of Experts in 2022, which include the release of nine baseline evaluation reports with respect to nine countries and the ratification of the Istanbul Convention by three new state parties (the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the United Kingdom), the highest number of ratifications per year since 2018.

The annual report also contains a new evaluation questionnaire, “Building trust by delivering support, protection and justice”, defining the goal of the first thematic monitoring round and the fertile co-operation between GREVIO and the Committee of the Parties, which resulted in the adoption of the Dublin Declaration on the Prevention of Domestic Violence, Sexual and Gender-based violence.

Another important section of the report is the “Focus section” on sexual violence, encompassing rape, one of the most under-reported forms of violence against women. This section displays the progress of legislation, support services and policies in this area throughout state parties, and the state of the contribution of the convention and GREVIO’s monitoring activity. 

The report sustains that the “only yes is yes' approach is the one which best corresponds with the Istanbul Convention, highlighting the fact that often legal approaches place excessive attention on the action of the victim and whether or not she voiced her resistance verbally or in another manner, not considering the cases when the victim remains passive.

GREVIO’S annual report of activities can be consulted below.