Harmful practices towards women. Consultation in the EU
I-GRAINE, the Italian Registry for the treatment of migraines
16 May 2022
Alcohol, tobacco and covert advertising
25 May 2022
The European Commission has launched, as part of the 2020-2025 gender equality strategy, an initiative of feedback, concerning harmful practices mainly perpetrated on women and girls, which involve serious violations of human rights and constitute an obstacle to gender equality.
All citizens of the European Union and interested parties will be able to express their views on the matter by giving their own feedback or suggestions, after registering on the relevant page website by midnight on May 31, 2022.
The feedback of each one will contribute to the EU decision-making process and to the formulation of Recommendations, which will serve to supplement and strengthen the recent directive proposed on 8 March by the European Commission on violence against women and domestic violence, (1) by encouraging its prevention and support, promoting the training of various professional figures and simplifying access to justice for victims. (2)
Practices harmful to women
Harmful practices, also defined as harmful cultural (3) or traditional (4) practices, are discriminatory customs. Real gender-based violence, perpetrated with a certain regularity over long periods of time, so much so that communities and societies end up considering them acceptable.
Such practices negatively affect the dignity of the victims and their physical, psychosocial and moral integrity, jeopardizing their personal development, participation and civic emancipation, health and status educational, economic and social.
Among these abuses these include female genital mutilation (FGM), forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced or early marriage, and honor-related violence.
Female genital mutilation (FGM)
About 600.000 women and girls in the EU and over 200 million worldwide have been subjected to FGM, in most cases carried out without the consent of the victim.
This initiative aims to develop Recommendations capable of addressing the specific challenges of this harmful practice, which they require
- knowledge of professionals from all sectors who come into contact with FGM;
- education about practices and their consequences;
- funding for grassroots communities;
- data and research;
- a systematic and holistic approach to offer accessible and safe care services to victims of FGM.
Forced marriage
Forced marriage, that is the "intentional act of forcing an adult or child into marriage"(Article 37 of the Istanbul Convention of the Council of Europe) is explicitly considered a crime in 16 EU member states.
For child marriage o early means any marriage in which at least one of the parties is under the age of 18. It is not in itself a criminal offense in the Member States, except in Sweden.
In the EU there are early and forced marriages imposed on women and girls especially in migrant communities and minority groups.
In the worldAccording to the United Nations, some 650 million women and girls were married before the age of 18.
Forced abortion and sterilization
The article 39 of the Istanbul Convention of the Council of Europe (5) defines them as follows: "performing an abortion on a woman without her prior informed consent; performing surgery that has the purpose and effect of permanently disrupting a woman's reproductive capacity without her prior informed consent or understanding of the procedure being performed".
Both the practices violate the reproductive autonomy of the victims, who are predominantly women and girls with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, with objective difficulties in expressing their full consent or understanding their reproductive freedom, women and girls belonging to racial or ethnic minorities and transgender.
Sterilization forced is punishable under criminal law in 4 EU countries.
Violence linked to honor
It's about the murders, physical violence or threats of violence committed within the extended families of victims by individuals who want to restore their position within the community, which is presumed to have been adversely affected by the victim's behavior.
In Sweden honor-related violence is a specific crime, but in most other EU countries it is considered an aggravating circumstance of a general crime.
Learning outcomes
The goals of the initiative is to prevent and combat these harmful practices, through the adoption of Recommendations aimed at raising awareness, education and capacity building.
This will require a coordinated approach at EU level that takes into account both the specific context of the different practices and the individual needs of the victims, involving the communities concerned and implementing the support of non-governmental organizations, civil society and grassroots communities.
The Recommendations facilitate the development of clear communication on the acceptability of harmful practices, address legal uncertainty and ensure enhanced cooperation between authorities, the judiciary and social and health services, for full protection of the fundamental rights of women and girls.
Elena Bosani
Note
(1) com_2022_105_1_en.pdf https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/aid_development_cooperation_fundamental_rights/com_2022_105_1_en.pdf
(2) Prevention of harmful practices against women and girls https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/13110-Prevention-of-harmful-practices-against-women-and-girls_en
(3) FactSheet23en.pdf (ohchr.org) https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/FactSheet23en.pdf
(4) Harmful practices | UNICEF https://www.unicef.org/protection/harmful-practices
(5) Complete list (coe.int) https://www.coe.int/it/web/conventions/full-list?module=treaty-detail&treatynum=210
Attorney at law in Milan and Frankfurt am Main. An expert in family, juvenile and criminal law, she is now enrolled in a university master's degree in food law
