Europe

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=973959

This article examines the evolving EU policy against human trafficking, especially trafficking that targets migrant women for sexual exploitation. It maintains that even though action against trafficking is now firmly on the EU agenda, current policies excessively focus on repressive measures and lack attention to the broader setting in which the exploitation of migrants takes place. This means that current EU anti-trafficking policy remains ineffectual, and may in some cases even be counterproductive.

http://jech.bmj.com/content/60/2/123

*The full article is available through this link. This article may be available free of charge to those with university credentials.

The acceptability of domestic violence against women (DVAW) plays an important part in shaping the social environment in which the victims are embedded, which in turn may contribute either to perpetuate or to reduce the levels of DVAW in our societies. This study analyses correlates of the acceptability of DVAW in the European Union (EU).

http://eige.europa.eu/rdc/library/resource/IAV_ADL96337

CDEG (2005) 1 

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=197&CM=8&DF=06/07/2015&CL=ENG

1.   Trafficking in human beings is a major problem in Europe today. Annually, thousands of people, largely women and children, fall victim to trafficking for sexual exploitation or other purposes, whether in their own countries or abroad. All indicators point to an increase in victim numbers. Action to combat trafficking in human beings is receiving worldwide attention because trafficking threatens the human rights and the fundamental values of democratic societies. 

2.   Action to combat this persistent assault on humanity is one of a number of fronts on which the Council of Europe is battling on behalf of human rights and human dignity.

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=197&CM=8&D...

Trafficking in human beings violates the rights and affects the lives of countless people in Europe and beyond. The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, which entered into force on 1 February 2008, aims to prevent trafficking in human beings, protect victims of trafficking, prosecute traffickers, and promote co-ordination of national actions and international co-operation. The countries which have signed up to the Convention are monitored by the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA). The Council of Europe also supports governments in the implementation of the Convention and the recommendations emerging from its monitoring process.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur63/005/2004/en/

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This campaign leaflet calls on the government to take action to end impunity for the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes against women.

http://gtd.sagepub.com/content/7/1/31.short

*The full article is available through this link. This article may be available free of charge to those with university credentials.

This article weaves together three dimensions of sex trafficking, notably commercial sex as violence against women, as a livelihood option, and as part of the social formation of an inter-state system of transaction of sex as a commodity. Based on data from Europe, the article shows how analysis of violence against women in commercial sex must be taken beyond the workplace and located in social processes that precede it — economic policy of transition and intra-state violence that undermine women’s human insecurity in their daily lives. Diverse forms of violence at the workplace are outcomes of the treatment of women as a commodity on the labor market through unethical self-regulating recruitment systems, as well as an ineffective regulation of migration and commercial sex. Responses to this problem at EU level could benefit from a human security framework sensitive to existing sex/gender systems and their dynamics.

https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=280915

Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence ¹ 

(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 30 April 2002 at the 794th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)

The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 15.b of the Statute of the Council of Europe,

Reaffirming that violence towards women is the result of an imbalance of power between men and women and is leading to serious discrimination against the female sex, both within society and within the family;

Affirming that violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms;

Noting that violence against women constitutes a violation of their physical, psychological and/or sexual integrity;

Noting with concern that women are often subjected to multiple discrimination on ground of their gender as well as their origin, including as victims of traditional or customary practices inconsistent with their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/7/7/732.abstract

*The full article is available through this link. This article may be available free of charge to those with university credentials.

Prevalence estimates play a role in academic and policy analyses of violence against women. The debate on available figures and what they measure has tended toward overgeneralization with too little consideration of differences that might emerge from cross-national or cross-cultural comparison. The present review introduces 11 prevalence studies carried out between 1986 and 1997 in nine European countries, their research goals and methodology, and some salient figures. With a growing understanding of the need for sensitive research and clear definitions, there is regrettable lack of interchange within Europe, impeding comparative analysis. Issues for future research are discussed.