In February 2020, the Vrouwenraad and the Conseil des Femmes Francophones de Belgique, the Flemish and the French Speaking Councils of Women of Belgium, organized a round-table conference at the Belgian Federal Parliament in Brussels about “Feminicide:  Murder of women because they are women, because of hate of women and honor killing”.

Ayala Bleys, President of the Council of Jewish Women of Belgium (FJB/LJVB) also represents the council at the Vrouwenraad, the Council of Dutch Speaking Women of Belgium, shares what was discussed at the Round Table Conference on Feminicide on 14 February 2020:    

These murders are usually done by the partner, or by the close friends or family. It happens in all levels of society. The speakers were from different countries of the EU. The Belgian Federal Parliament is working on this issue as part of Violence against Women.  Spain is the most advanced of all the European countries.                       

There is a need to educate society from young age to combat violence against women and sexism discrimination. We need to change the society’s attitude toward violence against women, to improve the information and to invest more sources to fight the problem.                                                          

The legal system and the police have not enough means to take care of the problem, therefore it needs to come from the political system. We need good cooperation between the different authorities to achieve effective outcomes.                                                                                

Especially now in the Coronavirus crisis and during lockdown, the problem of violence against women has increased in many countries.  We all agree that we need to combat Feminicide for the security of women and for a better society.