20.10.2011   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 308/89

A.

whereas the expression ‘violence against women’ denotes any act of gender-based violence causing or liable to cause women harm or physical, sexual or psychological suffering, including the simple fact of threatening such acts or the arbitrary limitation or deprivation of freedom, whether in the public sphere or in their personal lives,

B.

whereas violence against women is a major obstacle to gender equality and is one of the most widespread human rights violations, knowing no geographical, financial, cultural or social barriers,

C.

whereas this is a critical problem in the European Union, where 20 to 25 % of women suffer physical violence in their adult life and over 10 % are the victims of sexual violence,

D.

whereas Parliament has called on several occasions for a European Year of Combating Violence against Women to be established, in particular in its resolution on equality between women and men in 2009,

1.

Emphasises the importance of combating violence against women in order to help achieve gender equality;

2.

Calls on the Commission to establish, within the next five years, a European Year of Combating Violence against Women;

3.

Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories (1), to the Commission.