European Trade Union Committee for Education

From 25 to 10 December 2015 Education International (EI) is organising the ‘16 Days Campaign’ to raise awareness to gender based violence. It is an international campaign which starts on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls and ends on the International Human Rights Day. This years’ theme is: ‘From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Make Education Safe for All’.

The results of the online survey of the ETUCE project ‘Promoting gender equality within teacher unions and in the teaching profession in Austerity’ show that during the economic crisis an increase of gender-based violence has been observed - due to the austerity measures the social and economic pressure on people has been growing and many the public funded support centres were closed. In tackling gender-based violence teacher unions have a decisive role, which has been highlighted at the 7th EI World Congress this year. The delegates have adopted a resolution on school related gender-based violence. The resolution refers to acts or threats of sexual, physical or psychological violence occurring in or around schools and educational settings as a result of gender norms and unequal power dynamics between genders. It includes acts of bullying, sexual or verbal harassment, non-consensual touching, rape and assault. Although both girls and boys can be targets of school related gender-based violence, girls are the most vulnerable; students, teachers and education support personnel can be both victims and perpetrators of such violence.

At European level several Institutions are committed on tackling this issue, for example the Committee for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in the European Parliament is organising a roundtable on the elimination of violence against women on 25 November 2015. Speakers of the event are Vĕra Jouravá, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, who is going to present the EU approach on how to protect victims of gender-based violence and Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who is going to show how to turn the Istanbul treaty on tackling violence against women into reality.

As the voice of educators and education support personnel worldwide, EI and ETUCE member organisations are key actors in tackling gender-based violence in and around schools and other educational settlings, and an important force for protection and change. The campaign ‘16 Days of Activism against gender-based Violence’ is coordinated by the Rutgers University-based Centre for Women’s Global Leadership. Member organisations are encouraged to visit the campaign organisers’ website for tips on how to plan and organise 16-Day Campaign events, and for this year’s campaign toolkit in multiple languages.

In order to highlight the international day for the elimination of violence against women, ETUCE has published together with other European Trade Union Federations and ETUC a joint press release. The press release highlights their commitment to tackle gender-based violence. Furthermore ETUCE calls on its member organisations to commonly react to tackle all types of verbal and physical violence against women and girls and to get involved into this year’s 16 Days Campaign.

Please inform ETUCE and EI of your activities over the 16-day period, or contact us if you require further information: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.