OSCE launches good practices guide to combating violence against women

VIENNA, 8 June 2009 - The OSCE Secretariat's Gender Section launched a compilation of good practices for combating violence against women in the OSCE region at a symposium in Vienna today.

The publication, Bringing Security Home: Combating Violence against Women in the OSCE Region, documents more than 95 good practices to help eliminate gender-based violence and highlights their impact in preventing violence against women, protecting victims and prosecuting offenders. Strategies for involving men and young people in anti-violence activities are also described.

"Ending violence requires changing cultural concepts and deep-rooted attitudes and practices that discriminate against women and girls. We must ensure that all those who respond to violence against women have the capacity to provide comprehensive, effective and integrated responses," said Minister Counsellor Dionyssios Kyvetos, representing the Greek OSCE Chairmanship at the symposium.

The event brought together more than 90 delegates, international experts and OSCE gender focal points to discuss effective ways to address gender-based violence. Despite decades of work to eradicate violence against women, the crime persists in alarming proportions and knowledge of effective strategies and approaches is poorly documented and not widely disseminated.

"The OSCE is both a rich reservoir of good practices and an excellent vector for disseminating knowledge about these effective approaches among its participating States," said OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut.

Jamila Seftaoui, the OSCE's Senior Adviser on Gender Issues, added: "Combating violence against women requires strong political will, concerted effort and sufficient resources but also innovation, good ideas and effective strategies to achieve better results on the ground."

Key speakers at the symposium included international experts and high-level policymakers such as Elisabeth Rehn, Finnish Minister of State, Yakin Ertürk, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and Todd Minerson, the Executive Director of the White Ribbon Campaign, the world's largest men's initiative to end violence against women.

The compilation is part of a Gender Section project on innovative approaches to combating violence against women in the OSCE which is funded by the Governments of Austria, Finland, France, Germany and Greece.

Copies of Bringing Security Home can be requested from the Gender Section in the OSCE Secretariat by emailing equality@osce.org. The publication is also is available on the OSCE website: Bringing Security Home: Combating Violence Against Women in the OSCE Region - A Compilation of Good Practices.