Zero Tolerance - Málþing um ofbeldi gegn konum

„Zero Tolerance“ Málþing um aðgerðir sem skilað hafa árangri í baráttu gegn ofbeldi gagnvart konum.
Grand Hótel 25. september 2014
Ávarp Eyglóar Harðardóttur, félags- og húsnæðismálaráðherra

Dear participants – Ladies and gentlemen.

It is my sincere hope that you have had an interesting seminar, learning a lot from each other. I am sorry that I haven't been able to be with you here to day, I have both been attending the annual meeting of the Government Agency for Child Protection and a Nordic conference on education and training in the workplace as Iceland is now chairing the Nordic Council of Ministers and that means numerous conferences, seminars and meetings.

Dear participants.

Gender equality is one of the main areas of concern in the policies of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The Council works in accordance with a plan which is revised every fourth year. Since 2000 violence against women or gender based violence, has been one of the main topics. The Council has worked closely with the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in fighting human trafficking, mostly trafficking in women, which as you know is closely linked with violence and violation of human rights.

In 2002 a special campaign was launched in all of the Nordic countries and the Baltics to combat trafficking in women. In 2003 the Council supported a research project on the pornification of the public space and in 2005 it held a conference on the effect of the easy access to pornography on young people. In 2007 the Council asked for a report on human trafficking and prostitution in the Nordic countries. In 2008 a seminar was held during the session of the Nordic Council on men's violence against women, honour related violence and oppression, as well as a conference in St. Petersburg in Russia on trafficking and sexual slavery.

I could mention more work done by the Nordic Council of Ministers on combatting gender based violence in the last 15 years, but at last I want to mention the meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York in 2013, where the main topics was gender based violence. The Nordic countries organised side events on the issue and stressed in all of their speeches women's rights to reproductive health and reproductive rights, which are closely connected to women's security, health and dignity.

Dear participants

In recent years Icelandic authorities (governments) have stressed the need of combatting gender based violence. Iceland signed “The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence in Istanbul, May 2011 and is now working on implementing the convention.

It is a pleasure to tell you that four of the Ministries have now signed a specialDeclaration on cooperation in combatting gender based violence and other forms of violence. All of these Ministries deal with violence and its consequences in one way or another. Policies and cohesion are extremely important when it comes to dealing with these very serious individual, social, economic and health issues. When I say economic, we  have to keep in mind that all forms of violence are extremely expensive for the whole society. 

As you have heard to day the municipalities in the Reykjanes area have been successful in dealing with gender based violence. The key is: cooperation between the police, social services, health care and others concerned. This project was the result of a research made in 2008-2010 showing that the frequency of gender based violence was remarkably higher in the Reykjanes area, than in other parts of the country. Now other municipalities in the country are preparing to start the same kind of work, among them the City of Reykjavík, the biggest municipality in the country, as well as others municipalities in the Greater around Reykjavík area. The Ministry of Welfare will do its best to urge all municipalities in the country, big and small to take up this system and cooperate across borders.

I cannot stress enough how important it is that we organise constant gathering of statistics on different forms of violence and support research on gender based violence, not least on vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, disabled people and women of different ethnicities or nationalities. We have to know the facts, be aware of changes and estimate what methods are successful in combatting violence to be able to keep up the awareness of the authorities and the people.

There are many different forms of violence and some groups of people are more vulnerable than others. We need to pay special attention to the prevention of violence against children and vulnerable groups. Sexual abuse of children, which is shockingly widespread and has terrible effect on the lives of the victims, is one of the most serious crimes that can be committed and it must be eradicated.

Last year the Icelandic state television broadcasted programmes where numerous individuals, mostly men, told their stories of sexual abuse during their childhood. Most of them were the victims of one and the same perpetrator. After enormous discussion on sexual abuse of children, four of the ministries decided to start an awareness campaign. A group of specialists held meetings with teachers, health personnel, social workers and others interested, all over the country. The plan is to continue raising awareness on sexual abuse of children and create a plan of action focusing on preventive measures. A new plan of action on fighting gender based violence is being prepared, in accordance with “The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence”. The Plan of Action will focus specially on the situation of disabled people and immigrants.

One of the most important measures in combatting violence in close relationships is focusing on the perpetrators. Since 2006 the Programme “Men for responsibility” has offered men a treatment in order to stop their violent behaviour. The programme has got financial support from the Ministry for Social Affairs and Housing since its beginning. So far 235 men have got treatment. Of course we would have liked to see more men seek help but we have to have in mind that the treatment takes a long time. From the beginning spouses have had the opportunity to take part in the programme with special interviews and there is also a focus on the children involved. Recently the programme has been opened for female perpetrators.  

Ladies and gentlemen.

It is my sincere hope that a seminar like this brings us a step forward in combatting gender based violence. “The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence” is going to be a very important instrument in that work. It is also important that we share “best practises” in order to learn from each other. There is a lot of work a head.  We must strengthen preventive measures in all spheres of society, we must protect and support the victims of violence and we must stop the perpetrators.  A few days ago UN Women launched the campaign HEforShe. UN Women is encouraging men to take part in the debate and campaign for the equal rights and equal opportunities for women and men. Gender equality concerns EVERY ONE here on Earth. It is extremely important that both men and women take part in combatting gender based violence. Violence is one of the forms of oppression used to demonstrate power. It must not be tolerated and it is our task to eliminate it.

Thank you.