At the last Women@PACE group meeting during the PACE spring plenary session, Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg joined parliamentarians, ambassadors and experts for an exchange of views on structural gender-based violence, placing survivors’ voices and lived experiences at the centre of the discussion.

Opening the meeting, Petra Bayr (Austria, SOC), member of the Women@PACE Bureau and PACE rapporteur on conflict-related sexual violence, underscored the structural nature of gender-based violence. “If a woman becomes a victim of violence, it’s never her personal individual fault — very often, there are structural reasons behind it,” she said. Citing the ideology of male superiority as a root cause, she added: “Some men want to deprive women of our decisions. That’s what structural violence is about.”

The Grand Duchess highlighted that “the visibility that I have only makes sense for two reasons: to serve my country and to shed light on women and children, especially the women, who are not heard”. She recalled how the 2019 Stand Speak Rise Up! forum in Luxembourg brought together over 50 survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. Through her association, the Grand Duchess supports survivor-led initiatives. She stressed that the association also fosters a growing network among survivors “who are starting to exchange good practices and get inspired by each other’s projects”.

Chékéba Hachemi, co-founder of Stand Speak Rise Up! and President of Afghanistan Libre, spoke of the ongoing plight of women in Afghanistan: “We fought the first Taliban regime, only to be confronted with a second. The Afghan women are not in the forefront. There is political indifference, and little has been said about their fate.” She stressed that rape is not collateral damage but a deliberate strategy of war: “It is used as a weapon, as the destruction of the future generations.”

The Dutch Ambassador to the Council of Europe, Tanja Gonggrijp, Chair of the Committee of the Parties to the Istanbul Convention, underlined the importance of solidarity and coordination: “Countries are at different stages of gender equality, but we face the same fight against violence.” She announced that GREVIO will carry out its first evaluation mission in a conflict context in Ukraine in May 2025 and stressed the importance of recognising sexual violence in the Register of Damage for Ukraine to ensure victims receive compensation.

In conclusion, PACE Secretary General Despina Chatzivassiliou encouraged parliamentarians to put forward ideas on addressing this issue in their national contexts and keeping it high on PACE’s agenda.