Gender-based violence

EIGE supports EU candidate countries and a potential candidate in the development of first composite indicators for measuring violence against women. This activity aims to contribute towards a better development of gender statistics and towards establishing harmonised administrative data on gender-based violence.

The domain of violence of the Gender Equality Index provides a set of composite indicators that can assist beneficiaries in better monitoring, evaluating and responding to this phenomenon.

The domain of violence considers the prevalence, severity and disclosure of violence against women, and as such is an invaluable tool for national, local and international gender equality stakeholders in the region as well as in the EU.

EU candidate countries and potential candidates will be able to develop first composite indicators after the data is available from the EU survey on gender-based violence by EUROSTAT. A survey is being developed in Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

EIGE will also update its methodology on the composite indicators to reflect the current EU-GBV survey. In the meantime, EU candidate countries and potential candidates are invited to provide a list of available indicators for measuring violence against women.

EIGE also developed guidance on strengthening data systems on violence against women for the Western Balkans and Türkiye aiming to provide essential knowledge for the development of the composite indicators on violence against women.

The Istanbul Convention

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, known as the Istanbul Convention is the first legally binding instrument at the European level and is widely recognised and accepted as the most advanced treaty tackling VAW and domestic violence.

Currently, from the EU candidate countries and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia have signed and ratified the Istanbul Convention and Kosovo has added the text of the convention into their constitution.

When the Istanbul Convention was established, EU Pre-Accession countries were among the first to sign and ratify it proving political will and commitment to end violence against women.

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Strengthening data systems on violence against women

Reliable and comparable administrative data on violence against women is essential for the prevention of violence, protection of victims and institutional response efforts.

Over the past years, EU candidate countries and potential candidates have strengthened their data collection on violence against women, providing much-needed data for evidence-based policymaking.

However, gaps in comprehensive, disaggregated data on various forms of violence against women still pose a barrier to fully understanding the scope and scale of the phenomenon.

EIGE developed guidance on strengthening data systems on violence against women for the Western Balkans and Türkiye. The publication provides five concrete steps illustrated with examples from the EU on how to collect, administrate and report data on violence against women:

  1. mapping of data producers and users;
  2. establishing a coordination and governance mechanism– data governance as a system-wide effort;
  3. establishing standards for data collection, entry, validation and analysis;
  4. establishing and implementing training;
  5. reporting statistics.

Downloads

Report: Strengthening data systems on violence against women in the Western Balkans and Türkiye

Further information

Learn more about EIGE's work on administrative data collection on violence against women

 

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.