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Thank you very much for the invitation to attend and address this evening's event of the Pancyprian Equal Rights - Equal Responsibilities Movement on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of its foundation.
I warmly congratulate the President of the Movement Mrs. Koulla Koumidou and all the women members of the Board of Directors of the Organization for your rich and multifaceted contribution in the field of defending women's rights and promoting equality in our country for almost 5 decades.
Dear friends,
Today we commemorate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of a pioneering Non-Governmental Organization, which, starting in 1978 by a group of women and men with innovative and progressive ideas, managed, together with other civil society organizations, to lay solid foundations for the creation of the women's movement in our country. A movement which, through many years of struggles and demands, led to significant achievements in the field of defending and securing women's rights in all areas of life.
Thanks to your valuable contribution and input, in recent decades important legislation has been passed that promotes equal treatment in employment, guarantees the right to motherhood, fatherhood and parenthood and aims to eliminate wage and other inequalities and discrimination. Many improvements have also been brought about through the modernisation of family law legislation, with a particularly important development being the recent introduction of the institution of mediation in family disputes.
These laws are complemented by a range of policies and programmes relating to the reconciliation of family and working life, the expansion of the child and elderly care network, the narrowing of the pay and pension gap, the training and reintegration of women into the labour market, etc. I refer, for example, to the creation of the "Women's House" and the establishment of the National Coordinating Body for the Prevention and Combating of Violence against Women, which comes under the Ministry of Justice and Public Order.
In the context of implementing the actions of the first National Strategy and the first National Action Plan for the Prevention and Combating of Violence against Women 2023-2028, drawn up by the Coordinating Body and approved by the Council of Ministers, the Body will proceed in the immediate future with trainings of frontline officers on violence.
More specifically, within the first half of 2024, the Coordinating Body plans to train and raise awareness of 75 frontline Health Care Workers (Personal Physicians, Nurses, Midwives, School Nurses, Medical Examiners and Mental Health Workers) around critical issues of gender-based violence.
This will be immediately followed by trainings for Education Officers in schools, and trainings for police officers, social service workers and public prosecutors are planned. The ultimate goal is to further train and raise awareness of all professionals involved in handling cases of violence, all forms of violence covered by the Istanbul Convention, in order to ensure early identification and effective response to such incidents.
I am also pleased to announce that just the day before yesterday, the Council of Ministers, at its meeting, approved a special Grant Scheme prepared by the Institution with the aim of providing grants to Non-Governmental Organizations and other entities for the implementation of programs and actions aimed at preventing and combating gender-based violence. Details of the Grant Scheme will be announced in the coming days on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
At the same time, the Institution is promoting legislation to facilitate the access of women-victims of gender violence to free legal aid services and is coordinating actions for the creation of a unified database of violence statistics on a nationwide basis.
Friends,
Gender equality issues are, as you know, high on the President's agenda. In this context, we are working systematically and in a coordinated manner, in cooperation with all relevant ministries, government officials and institutions, to foster a culture of equality and respect for the human rights of men and women.
At the same time, we recognize that in order to realize equality, deep and substantial changes are needed, which will allow the elimination of entrenched social stereotypes and perceptions that perpetuate unequal power relations between men and women.
At the same time, we recognize that in order to realize equality, deep and substantial changes need to be achieved, which will allow the elimination of entrenched social stereotypes and perceptions that perpetuate unequal power relations between men and women.
We need to dismantle patriarchal structures and mechanisms in order to reach all women who experience multiple inequalities and discrimination on a daily basis and, not infrequently, live in conditions of poverty, abuse, deprivation and violation of their rights.
Dear friends,
As Minister responsible for gender equality, combating gender-based violence and promoting human rights, I assure you that I will always be at your side and at the side of all organisations that support and promote women's rights in order to achieve our common goals and objectives. Women and their rights will always be at the centre of our reform efforts and we will work systematically and in a coordinated manner to create the conditions for equal opportunities in all areas of life: education, work, health, justice and power. Thank you.
(ASP/EATH)
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