9.

Asks the Council, the Commission and the Member States to take into account the following recommendations: (a) To urge the Member States to speed up negotiations on the ratification and implementation of the Istanbul Convention; to strongly condemn attempts to retract measures already taken in implementing the Istanbul Convention and in combating violence against women; (b) To ask the Commission to initiate, without delay or postponement, a constructive dialogue with the Council and Member States, in cooperation with the Council of Europe, so as to address reservations, objections and concerns expressed by Member States, and in particular to clarify misleading interpretations of the Istanbul Convention on the definition of gender-based violence and the definition of gender in Article 3(c) and (d), in accordance with the General Remarks of the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe; (c) To keep Parliament fully informed of the relevant aspects of the negotiations at all stages, so that it may properly exercise the rights conferred on it by the Treaties in accordance with Article 218 TFEU; (d) To ensure, despite the signing of the EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention, a broad EU accession to the Convention without any limitations; (e) To make sure that the Member States enforce the Istanbul Convention and allocate adequate financial and human resources to preventing and combating violence against women and gender-based violence, including domestic violence, empowering women and girls, and protecting victims and enabling them to be compensated, especially in the case of those living in areas where protection services for victims do not exist or are very limited; (f) To ask the Commission to draw up a holistic EU strategy on combating violence against women and gender-based violence that includes a comprehensive plan to combat all forms of gender inequalities, integrating all EU efforts to eradicate violence against women; (g) To designate an EU Coordinator to act as representative of the EU to the Committee of the Parties at the Council of Europe once the Istanbul Convention is ratified by the EU; this coordinator would be responsible for the coordination, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and measures to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women and girls; (h) To ensure that Parliament will be fully engaged in the monitoring process of the Istanbul Convention following the EU’s accession; to proceed with a swift agreement on a code of conduct concerning cooperation between the EU and its Member States for the implementation of the Convention, which should also involve civil society organisations, particularly women’s rights organisations; (i) To urge the Commission and the Member States to produce practical guidelines and strategies for the application of the Istanbul Convention, in order to facilitate its smooth implementation and enforcement in those Member States that have already ratified it, while also responding to the concerns of those that have not yet ratified it and encouraging them to do so; (j) To ensure appropriate training, procedures and guidelines for all professionals dealing with the victims of all acts of violence covered by the scope of the Convention in order to avoid discrimination or re-victimisation during judicial, medical and police proceedings; (k) To ensure preventive measures to address the specific needs of vulnerable persons, such as women with disabilities, refugee women, child victims, pregnant women, LBTI women and women with additional support needs, including targeted and easily accessible specialist support services, together with adequate healthcare services and safe accommodation for women who have been the victims of gender-based violence and their children; (l) To take into account significant incidents of violence against women and gender-based violence, including domestic violence, when determining custody and visiting rights; the rights and needs of child witnesses should be also taken into account when providing protection and support services to victims; (m) To actively promote a change in attitudes and behaviour and to combat sexism and stereotyped gender roles, including by promoting gender-neutral language, making concerted efforts to address the key role of media and advertising in this area, and encouraging everyone, including men and boys, to play an active part in preventing all forms of violence; to call on the Member States, therefore, to adopt and implement active policies for social inclusion, intercultural dialogue, sex and relationship education, human rights education and anti-discrimination, as well as gender equality training for law enforcement and judicial professionals; to encourage Member States to include in their education systems the elimination of all obstacles to genuine equality between women and men and to fully promote that goal; (n) To encourage Member States to implement policies that aim to build societies free from violence of any kind and to use the Istanbul Convention in this manner; (o) To ensure that the proactive measures against violence acknowledge the gender-based reality where the absolute majority of perpetrators are men; to encourage Member States to work with evidence-based violence-reducing tactics to target this problem; (p) To take the necessary measures pursuant to Articles 60 and 61 of the Convention on migration and asylum, taking into account the fact that migrant women and girls, whether properly documented or not, and women asylum seekers, have the right to live free from violence whether in the public or private sphere and are particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence, recalling that gender-based violence, including FGM, can be recognised as a form of persecution and that the victims can thus avail themselves of the protection offered by the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees; to ensure that Member States respect a gender-sensitive approach in all asylum and reception procedures and respect the principle of non-refoulement; (q) To promote gender budgeting as a tool for preventing and combating against gender-based violence in relevant policy areas, as well as ensuring resources and funding for access to justice for victims and survivors of violence; (r) To improve and promote the collection of relevant disaggregated comparable data on cases of violence of all kinds covered by the Istanbul Convention, in cooperation with EIGE, including data broken down by age and gender of the perpetrators and relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, in order to build a common methodology to compare databases and data analysis, thus ensuring a better understanding of the problem, and to raise awareness of and assess and improve Member States’ actions to prevent and combat violence against women and gender-based violence;