Date: 12/10/04- for immediate release

Press release

ONE WOMAN IN FIVE IN THE EU HAS EXPERIENCED FAMILY VIOLENCE, IS THAT WHAT M.BUTTIGLIONE CALLS "PROTECTION"?

While the debate over statements made by Commissioner Designate Buttiglione for Justice, Liberty and Security continues, the European Women’s Lobby would like to correct the somewhat distorted view of family life that has been given by M. Buttiglione in his statement that "the family exists to allow women to have children and be protected by their husbands".

"Unfortunately, the home and the family cannot be said to be the safest place for women in Europe. In the EU at least one in five women experience violence by their intimate male partner and 95% of all acts of violence against women take place within the home", stated Lydia la Rivière-Zijdel, EWL President.

Violence against women is the most serious violation of women’s human rights and fundamental freedoms and has been recognised as such in the European Constitutional Treaty where a Declaration has been introduced that calls on Member States to take all necessary measures to prevent and punish domestic violence and to support and protect the victims.

While the world prepares to celebrate the 10-year adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action in 2005, it is important to recall that women in Europe and around the world do not want protection from individual men. Women want equality in all areas of life, respect for their fundamental rights and freedoms, including sexual and reproductive rights and expression of sexual orientation, and justice before the law.

For more information, contact Colette De Troy at the Secretariat of the European Women’s Lobby: centre-violence@womenlobby.org tel. +32 (0) 2 217 90 20

With more than 4000 member organisations in all EU Member States, the European Women's Lobby is the largest coalition of women’s organisations in the EU.