Considerations on COM(2024)525 - - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2024)525 - . |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2024)525 |
| date | November 14, 2024 |
(2) In accordance with Article 66(1) of the Convention, the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (‘GREVIO’) has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Convention by its Parties. In accordance with Article 68(3) of the Convention, the subsequent evaluation procedures following GREVIO’s initial baseline evaluation procedure, shall be divided into rounds, which are referred to as GREVIO’s thematic evaluation rounds. Pursuant to Article 68(11) of the Convention, GREVIO is to adopt its report and conclusions concerning the measures taken by the Party concerned to implement the relevant provisions of the Convention. Based on the GREVIO reports, the Committee of the Parties to the Convention may adopt recommendations addressed to the Party concerned, in accordance with Article 68(12) of the Convention.
(3) The first thematic evaluation round, entitled 'Building Trust by Delivering Support, Protection and Justice' was launched in 2022 and will run from 2023 to 2031. It addresses 19 specific provisions of the Convention17 and concerns Parties’ implementation of provisions of the Convention which also apply to the Union with regard to its own institutions and public administration.
(4) In September 2024, the Secretariat of the Committee of the Parties shared a draft decision on the recommendations to be adopted by the Committee of the Parties in light of GREVIO's reports adopted as part of its first thematic round of evaluation [IC-CP(2024)10], which provides for a procedure for the adoption of recommendations and their subsequent supervision by the Committee of the Parties and contains a model recommendation. The draft decision is to be discussed and, if possible, adopted at the 17th meeting of the Committee of the Parties on 17 December 2024.
(5) The Union has exclusive competence to accept obligations set out in the Convention with regard to its own institutions and public administration, within the scope of Article 336 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In its Opinion 1/19 (Istanbul Convention) of 6 October 2021, EU:C:2021:832, paragraph 305, the Court of Justice has confirmed that a significant part of the obligations of the Convention relating to the adoption of preventive and protection measures are, in essence, binding on the Union as regards the staff in its administration and as regards the members of the public visiting the premises and buildings of its institutions, agencies and bodies.
(6) It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union’s behalf in the Committee of the Parties as the envisaged act will determine the procedure for the adoption and the supervision of the implementation of recommendations addressed to Parties with regard to matters related to institutions and public administration of the Union. Those recommendations will be capable of decisively influencing the content of Union law in that they may affect the interpretation of relevant provisions of the Convention in the future.
(7) According to the draft decision, the recommendations should be limited to the most pressing concerns identified by GREVIO in its reports. These include shortcomings that GREVIO considers requiring immediate action, where it uses the verb “urges”, as well as those issues that GREVIO believes should be remedied in the near future, indicated by the verb “strongly encourages”, covering all chapters of the Convention.
(8) As regards the supervision, the draft decision provides that the Committee of the Parties should supervise the implementation of these recommendations by requesting the Party to submit a written report on the measures taken within a 3-year period after the adoption of the recommendations. The Committee of the Parties may thereafter choose to not take any further steps in its supervision to avoid overlap with any future evaluation rounds by GREVIO.
(9) Lastly, the draft decision provides that the recommendations should recommend the Party to implement the remaining, less urgent proposals from GREVIO, as a way to endorse GREVIO’s conclusions in their entirety, and to invite the Party to a continued dialogue with GREVIO.
(10) It is proposed that the Union agrees with the draft decision, as the suggested procedure aligns with the baseline evaluation procedure which has been effective and ensures effective implementation of all provisions chosen for the thematic evaluation, while avoiding overlapping monitoring processes.
(11) The position of the Union within the Committee of the Parties should therefore be to support the adoption of the draft decision in document IC-CP(2024)10, including the proposed model recommendation in its Appendix I.
(12) In order to allow for the necessary flexibility during the meeting of the Committee of the Parties, it should be provided that minor changes to the draft decision may be agreed without further decision of the Council.