Eradicating domestic violence against women.

Key points

The EESC recommends that European institutions and EU Member States:

• Tackle domestic gender-based violence as an aspect of human rights, which would enable a holistic, multi-sectoral approach to the problem;

• Strengthen the conviction that violence against women in the domestic environment is a matter of public order and safety;

• Revise a domestic violence prevention policy by creating places where women can go for multidisciplinary support and adopting inter-ministerial action plans engaging men and youths in the elimination of domestic violence;

• Guarantee women who have been victims of violence priority access to housing, economic support, training and decent jobs, where the principle of "equal pay for equal work" applies;

• Pursue efforts to standardise the criteria for registering gender-based violence, so that the data collected are comparable;

• Ensure that education helps to change people's mentalities, providing proper training to teachers;

• Reinforce the belief that domestic violence against women is a health-risk variable;

• Consolidate and support measures promoting joint responsibility for men and women in looking after dependent family members;

• Provide support for organisations which work with women who have been victims of domestic violence;

• Dedicate a European year to the fight against gender-based violence;

• Sign, ratify and implement the "Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence", adopted by the Council of Europe in 2011.