On 3 March 2004, Serbia and Montenegro ratified nine Council of Europe treaties, including the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Protocols 1, 4, 6, 7, 12 and 13, the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region.

For more information on the status of Serbia and Montenegro's international treaty obligations, please visit the Serbia and Montenegro section of this website.

Today, Amnesty International launched its "Stop Violence Against Women Campaign" and released a report entitled, "It's in our hands: Stop violence against women."

With the campaign, Amnesty International seeks to mobilize "its membership worldwide to join forces with the global women's movement and other key actors, in efforts to eradicate violence against women in times of armed conflict and peace."

You may access the homepage of Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women Campaign here.  You may access the Amnesty International report on violence against women here.

For more information about these new initiatives, please see the Department of Health and Human Services press release located here.  For more information on domestic efforts to combat human trafficking please see the Trafficking in Women Law and Policy section of this website.

Today, the parliament of the Ukraine struck down three bills concerning gender equality which were introduced in the alternative.  

The first legislative bill proposed to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination and to achieve equal protection of men and women under the law. 

The second legislative bill proposed to establish gender quotas in party lists of candidates.  The bill proposed that there be at least 30% of one gender and at most 70% of another gender in party candidate lists.  The bill also planned to establish a special commission on the equal protection of men and women under the law at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.  

The third legislative bill proposed gender quotas similar to those proposed in the second bill. It also aimed to address the issue of sexual harassment at work. 

The defeat of the bills is irrevocable, which means than the bills cannot be afforded another first reading in the Parliament. 

For more information, please see the official website of the Parliament of Ukraine (In Ukrainian). This site provides the voting results in respect of the equal protection bills.  For information on efforts to combat violence against women in the Ukraine, please see the Ukraine Country Page on this website.  

Results from a two-year multicountry study on the health consequences of trafficking in women and girls were recently made available electronically at the website of the London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine.

The qualitative study, entitled The Health Risks and Consequences of Trafficking in Women and Adolescents: Findings from a European Study, was conducted by researchers from the London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine, La Strada Ukraine, Foundation Against Trafficking in Women (STV, Netherlands), the Department of Sociology at the University of Padua, the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (Thailand), the International Catholic Migration Committee (Albania) and the Child and Women Abuse Studies Unit of London Metropolitan University.  The study was supported by the European Commission's Daphne Programme.  Importantly, the report provides a human rights analysis of health and trafficking and sets out principles for promoting the health rights of trafficked women.

In connection with this report, please see the WHO Ethical and Safety Recommendations For Interviewing Trafficked Women.