A conference entitled "United around gender equality: making space for women and girls" will launch the Council of Europe's Gender Equality Strategy 2024-2029 and mark ten years since the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (also known as the Istanbul Convention) entered into force.
The conference on 30 May has been organised within the framework of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers and will be opened by the Lithuanian Vice Minister of Social Security and Labour Justina Jakštienė, and Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić.
Writer, broadcaster, and feminist campaigner Caroline Criado Perez, the author of Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, will deliver the keynote speech for insight into current and future challenges in gender equality.
"The social and technological development of 21st century Europe means that both the challenges themselves and our understanding of how to meet them are developing fast," remarked Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić ahead of the conference. "Only by working together can we hope to make gender equality the reality that we long for, in the interests of all Europeans."
The conference also marks the 10th anniversary since the Istanbul Convention entered into force as the first legally binding international instrument to stop violence against women and girls. The convention establishes a comprehensive framework of legal and policy measures for preventing such violence, supporting victims, and punishing perpetrators.
