The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted resolution 2554 during its summer session of 2024.
Following Austrian PACE member, Petra Bayr’s, report on Protecting women human rights defenders in Europe, the Assembly decided to adopt a resolution strongly condemning attacks perpetrated against women human rights defenders and calling for an end to impunity for perpetrators of violence. The resolution also supported the rapporteur’s call for Council of Europe’s member states to repeal laws, policies and practices affecting women human rights defenders and unduly restricting their activities, and to end impunity for perpetrators of any kind of violence against them. Furthermore, the resolution reaffirms PACE’s support for all HRDs.
Among others, the report recommends the Council of Europe member states to:
- sign, ratify and implement the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the “Istanbul Convention”);
- implement the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders;
- ensure the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights related to the situation of all human rights defenders;
- repeal laws, policies and practices that affect women human rights defenders, in all their diversity, and unduly restrict their activities;
- investigate and prosecute perpetrators – including members of police forces – of attacks and threats against women human rights defenders, online and offline, including publication of private information with malicious intent (“doxing”) and specifically gendered attacks; and collect gender-disaggregated data on these attacks;
- protect women human rights defenders from acts of intimidation and legal and administrative harassment;
- foster the trust of civil society in public institutions, condemn smear campaigns against women human rights defenders and counter distortion and misinformation about their work;
- publicly recognise the role and contribution of women human rights defenders, in all their diversity, and guarantee their protection, ensuring a secure and enabling environment in which to carry out their activities;
- ensure that national human rights action plans include specific provisions on women human rights defenders;
- support programmes to ensure the safety of women human rights defenders at risk, including early warning mechanisms, foresee flexible funding for their activities, and facilitate the granting of visas for women human rights defenders at risk;
The resolution was adopted with 83 votes in favor, 1 vote against and 4 abstentions.
PACE’s resolutions are non-binding to the member states of the Council of Europe. Nonetheless, they send a signal to the Council of Europe’s institutions and its member states about the importance of protecting women human rights defenders. Find the original document here in English. (PACE)
