Newsletter n°11

NEWSLETTER – October 2021

Global battle on violence against women

Gender-based violence (GBV) is part of the human rights violations and discrimination, identified as “directed against a person or a group of persons because of the gender or violence”. The fight against this issue is a primary objective of the European Strategy for Gender Equality 2020-2025.

On September, 16th, MEPs adopted a legislative initiative demanding policies to address all forms of violence and discrimination based on gender, offline and online, calling the Commission to list GBV as a crime.

MEPs also denounce femicide as the most extreme form of GBV against women and girls, highlighting that denying safe and legal abortion care is also a form of GBV. Reiteratering that the situation has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Also referring survivors’ lack of trust in law enforcement authorities and judicial system as a factor that contributes to incidents being underreported.

The EU institutions are working intensively to be a global leader in solidarity and unity to defend women in Europe and in the world. During the European Gender Equality Week in October, 25th – 28th, were organised sessions addressing gender equality issues. Among the events, there was an exchange of views on Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, a discussion of gender equality and COVID-19 pandemic’s impact, meanwhile there was a public hearing on how the recovery can be helpful for this issue.

“Enthusiastic about gender equality, but we must commit ourselves, every day. Equality must be de facto. What happened in Afghanistan, but also within our borders, is a warning for our societies. Discriminatory policies are not being abolished for good. The courage, tenacity and voice of women who have fought and who continue to fight for their rights must inspire us towards achieving a global integrated approach to gender, because we are all equal.”

EP President David Sassoli

As mentioned by President Sassoli, the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan puts an end to over 20 years of intensive work by Afghan women and associations defending their basic rights. No one could remain insensitive to this, our struggle must join theirs and we must mobilise all our might to implement a global approach to combating gender-based violence.

UP&UP Project

UP&UP project is an international project under the European co-funded Erasmus+ project from the team of Telefono Rosa Italy, Bronte and Torino (Italy), UWAH (Greece), INCOMA (Spain), Filia (Romania), ECQ (Bulgaria), S-COM (Belgium).

The aim is to improve competences of teachers and educators on addressing gender stereotypes among their students and protecting and supporting them towards GBV.

This is why this project will develop and diffuse new methodologies for identifying and addressing gender stereotypes for students but also for teachers.

WHAT NEXT?

The work of the project partners is continuing with the development of the IO2: the training package for educators, teachers, trainers and tutors who are in daily contact with young people. Toolkit that will help educators to recognize, prevent and address gender-based violence in learning contexts.

The toolkit consists of 4 learning units and tests aimed at verifying the acquisition of these units. The project partners are currently finalising the toolkit which will be available from November 2021 at the following link: https://www.upanduperasmus.eu/

The toolkit will be available in different languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian and English.

The month of October is dedicated to the realisation of the videos and its contents.

To find out more and stay tuned: https://www.upanduperasmus.eu/