Empower women and girls to achieve gender equality, combat domestic violence, Albania’s Minister for Social Welfare and Youth tells OSCE

Empowerment of women and girls is essential to ensuring gender equality and combatting gender-based and domestic violence, Albania’s Minister for Social Welfare and Youth Erion Veliaj told the OSCE Permanent Council on 6 March 2014, ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March.

“True equality between men and women is a fundamental aspect of a just and democratic society based on the rule of law,” said Veliaj.

He said the government of Albania fully recognizes that women’s rights are integral to human rights, adding that the government has ratified all the relevant international instruments and integrated them into its legislation.

“Albania is committed to working towards a Europe free from domestic violence,” Veliaj said. He presented the measures Albania has taken to enhance support for domestic violence victims by strengthening legislation, enhancing co-operation between national- and local-level government entities and NGOs, and building the capacity of all professional groups tackling domestic violence and assisting victims.

“Despite this progress however, violence against women and children in Albania still remains a worrying phenomenon,” he said. “Achieving sustained progress in this area requires an ongoing commitment not only by the government, but also by civil society, international partners, and by society at large.”

Veliaj said the government would continue to work with the OSCE in promoting the protection of women’s rights, noting that 2014 marks ten years since the creation of the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality.

The Permanent Council is a main decision-making body of the 57-country OSCE. It meets weekly in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and to make appropriate decisions.