Malek Wan Daud of the Garden Court Chambers Family Law Team joined a delegation of the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), as part of an evaluation visit to Denmark between 1 to 5 May 2017.
The visit follows GREVIO’s review of Denmark’s state report and state dialogue with Danish representatives held in Strasbourg on 4 April. It is one of the steps in the procedure to monitor the implementation of the Istanbul Convention by Denmark.
The Istanbul Convention, also known as Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, is based on the understanding that states must fully address gender-based violence in all its forms and take measures to prevent such violence, protect the victims and prosecute the perpetrators.
GREVIO has only recently launched its first (baseline) evaluation of the Convention and Denmark is the fourth state party to undergo the procedure.
The GREVIO delegation was led by Rosa Logar, First Vice-President of GREVIO and supported by two specialists: Garden Court barrister, Malek Wan Daud and Professor Marianne Hester of Bristol University.
Meetings were held with several ministries in Denmark, including the Ministry of Justice, Children and Social Affairs, Education, Health and with representatives of the Minister for Equal Opportunities.
To evaluate the conditions of women asylum-seekers, the GREVIO delegation visited the refugee reception facility in Sandholm.
Meetings with civil society and NGOs included representatives of specialist support services which offer counselling to victims of domestic violence, stalking, rape, forced marriage and female genital mutilation, as well as lawyers, health professionals, media and the national institute for human rights.
GREVIO plans to publish its evaluation report before the end of 2017.
