Gender Symposium: Combating Femicide

Femicide is globally recognized as one of the gravest violations of human rights and gender-based killings as the most serious form of gender-based violence.

The OSCE Gender Section in co-operation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Academic Council of United Nations (ACUNS), the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) will hold a symposium on “Combating Femicide” on 25^th November 2016 in Vienna, the International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women and the first day of the yearly 16 Days of Activism to combat gender-based violence. The event aims at raising awareness within and outside the OSCE region on the issue of femicide and the potential of femicide watches.

Participants such as stakeholders from government, international organizations, OSCE institutions and field operations, academics as well as civil society will address current gaps, exchange on good practices and identify ways forward for strengthening and implementing the OSCE commitments on combating violence against women, including in conflict. The symposium languages will be English and Russian with simultaneous interpretation.

Key objectives of the Symposium:

• Discussing progress made and achievements reached in the area of femicide in the OSCE region.
• Identifying areas of future work for national governments to improve and systematize data collection and analysis on femicide, with a view to improving prevention and response mechanisms.
• Identifying ways forward and guidance needed for governments to prevent femicide.