Government appointed Committee for Combating Violence against Women and Domestic

The Government appointed a new Committee for Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. The matter is related to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (so-called Istanbul Convention).

The Committee will be chaired by Päivi Sillanaukee, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and Director Kari Paaso from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health will act as vice chair. Different ministries and expert institutions in their administrative branches are represented in the Committee. Also NGOs will be heard as experts, and they are represented in sub-committees to the Committee. The term of the Committee will last four years, from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2020. The Committee will be operating under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

The Istanbul Convention entered into force in Finland on 1 August 2015. As a party to the Convention, Finland shall appoint an official, broad-based intersectoral body to coordinate the work for combating violence against women and domestic and intimate partner violence.  The Committee is responsible for the coordination, implementation, follow-up and evaluation of principles and actions meant to prevent and combat all forms of violence falling within the scope of the Convention. The aim is to discuss violence more openly than today in order to enable early intervention.

The Committee shall coordinate actions of different branches of government, for example research, to prevent violence against women and domestic violence. The work includes, among other measures, drafting a plan on implementation of Istanbul Convention in Finland.

Issues related to intimate partner violence have so far been coordinated by an intersectoral civil servant working group for the prevention of domestic and intimate partner violence. The working group will complete its work by the end of 2016.

Inquiries:

Laura Terho, Lawyer,  tel. +358 295 63550, [email protected]

• Combating domestic and intimate partner violence
• The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention)