In this podcast, Miriam Freudenberg discusses the success of an online campaign to support the Council of Europe’s women’s safety treaty.
Freudenberg (photo), a project coordinator with the Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) Network in Vienna, is part of a delegation of the Global Fund for Women which later today will present Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland with a petition signed by 10,000 people.
“The campaign heavily relied on networking and social media,” she says. “This convention is a landmark to end violence towards women. Women activists are very happy and it deserves to get a lot of attention and support.”
In less than six months, many thousands of people were mobilised online, using websites, Twitter and Facebook, to add their voices to the campaign for ratification of the Council of Europe’s Convention On Preventing And Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the ‘Istanbul Convention.’
So far, 23 governments have signed the treaty. Only Turkey has, through ratification, made the treaty part of its national law.
The Istanbul Convention is the first legally-binding instrument in Europe which deals with violence against women and domestic violence. It is also the most far reaching international treaty to tackle this violation of human rights.
Protection, prevention and prosecution are the cornerstones of the treaty, which is open to Council of Europe member states, non-members, observer states and the European Union.
The Essential
Campaign: Safe from fear, safe from violence
Information: Global Fund For Women
Information: Wave-Network
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