The numbers are shocking: every ten minutes, somewhere in the world, a woman is killed, simply because she is a woman. Most of these women are killed by someone who once said, “I love you.” Someone they knew and trusted — a boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, a husband or ex-husband, sometimes even a family member.
But that wasnt love, it was control. It was patriarchy, built on the false belief that women must stay in their place and be punished when they dare to leave or live freely.
In 2011, the Istanbul Convention made it a binding obligation to change the social and cultural patterns that keep women unequal. It called on governments to eliminate prejudice, customs, and traditions based on the idea that women are inferior or must fit into fixed roles.
Thirteen years after the adoption of the Istanbul Convention, we included the same requirement in the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. The strongest way to stop violence against women — and its most extreme form, femicide — is to tackle gender stereotypes based on the old idea that women are somehow inferior.
Men need to be at the forefront of this movement. Earlier this year, I had the honour to meet one of these male role models: Mr Gino Cecchettin, the father of Giulia Cecchettin. I was moved by his strength and the amazing work he is doing through the Fondazione Giulia Cecchettin.
A few days ago, on the second anniversary his daughters death, he reminded us that gender-based violence is structural. Violence against women does not appear out of nowhere. It is rooted in our culture, in our language, and in the role models and stereotypes we continue to pass on.
He also underlined that real prevention starts with psycho-emotional education, something families, schools, and public institutions must teach together. I could not agree more. Psycho-emotional education is one of the most important tools we have change the behaviour for the better.
I am the EU Commissioner for Equality. I am the mother of a woman and now the grandmother of a little girl. I feel an intense urgency to stop violence against women and to end femicide. This is not just a womens issue; it is a society issue.
Lets talk about what we can do to end it. That starts by making full use of what we have already built at EU level. In October 2023, we joined the worlds leading treaty on this issue – the Istanbul Convention. The EU is now bound by the highest international standards to fight violence against women.
In November 2023, we created a Network on the Prevention of gender-based and domestic violence, bringing together Member States and key partners to work on prevention. Last year, we adopted the first-ever EU law to fight violence against women and domestic violence. This Directive sets common rules across Europe, strengthens prevention, and improves protection and support for victims.
Changing laws matters, but changing minds also saves lives. Ending violence against women must stay a priority, no matter how the political winds blow. That is why, this year on International Womens Day, I presented the Roadmap for Womens Rights, reaffirming the EUs commitment to advance gender equality and womens rights.
Principle number one of the Roadmap — Freedom from Gender-Based Violence — means stepping up our efforts to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women: domestic violence, femicide, sexual violence and online violence.
In October, the Roadmap received broad political support from EU institutions and from all 27 Member States, including Italy. The Roadmap will now guide the actions in our Gender Equality Strategy for the next five years, which we plan to adopt in March next year.
Funding is also a powerful tool. Since 1997, the Daphne initiative has supported civil society organisations fighting violence against women and girls and helping survivors. This initiative is named after Berninis famous sculpture “Apollo and Daphne” here in Rome in the Galleria Borghese. In the myth, Daphne is pursued by Apollo against her will. Just before he kisses her, she begs her father for help, and he turns her into a laurel tree.
Daphne symbolises the struggle of women to escape violence. Since its creation, the Daphne initiative has funded around one-thousand projects with €400 million to end violence against women and children.
The rise in femicides shows a shocking step backwards for our values and our progress. We will never accept this. Every woman deserves to live without fear, not as a privilege, but as a right. This high-level meeting is a crucial step in turning our shared commitment into real change.
Femicide is not inevitable. It is preventable. Lets use our expertise and our empathy to build a future where femicide belongs to the past. Together we can build a Europe where every woman is safe, free, and able to reach her full potential.
