Skip to content
GAMAG
  • Home
  • About us
    • About us
    • Governance
  • News
  • Calendar
  • Resources
  • Members
  • Contact Us
#25N

As 25 November marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women members of the Global Alliance on Gender and Media in Europe express solidarity with women in Poland, united under the banner of Women’s Strike (Strajk Kobiet) in defense of their right to self-determination.

Violence against women can take the form of denying women access to affordable and adequate sexual and reproductive health care, including the right to choose whether and when one becomes pregnant and decides to continue with the pregnancy. Access to abortion is part and parcel of comprehensive health services, fundamental human right! Yet, the Polish government once again decided to restrict women in Poland from having access to reproductive health services and challenged their right to safe motherhood.

GAMAG Europe expresses firm opposition to this treatment of women by the Polish government. Opinion polls show that as many as 70% of Poles support Women’s Strike and understand the unethical nature of the attempt to tighten abortion law in Poland, in effect forcing women to continue pregnancies in cases when fetuses have severe congenital defects.

That is why GAMAG Europe supports Women’s Strike in Poland. Attempting to deprive women of their rights and civil liberties at a time so difficult for Poland, Europe and the world as the COVID -19 pandemic is an expression of the worst political and social instincts. We stand in solidarity with Poles who are protesting, organizing and arguing that women’s rights, including the right to freedom from violence, are fundamental to the wellbeing of the whole society.

It is also with great concern we observe police violence against the protesters and the increased brutality against women, non-binary and LGBT people in public spaces in Poland. These developments are all the more terrifying in light of the Polish government’s attempt to revoke the Anti-Violence Convention. This European treaty aimed at combating violence against women, is the first legally binding treaty of its kind in the world and leaving the Convention would be a major setback in the prevention, prosecution and elimination of violence against women in Poland. We see this as yet another decision of the Polish government to legitimize violence against women at all levels.

GAMAG Europe expresses full support for the demands of the Women’s Strike in Poland and calls on the Polish government to support work on the elimination of violence against women, as well as ensuring women’s sexual and reproductive rights. Bearing in mind that gender equality is a principal value of the EU we call Ursula von der Leyen, the President of European Commission, to condemn the attempts made by the Polish government to restrict abortion rights in Poland, revoke the Anti-Violence Convention, as well as legitimize police violence against the protesters and journalists in Poland, a direct attack on freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Greta Gober, representative of GAMAG Europe Coordination Committee from Poland and Vice-President of  IAWRT; Joanna Warecha, member of GAMAG Europe from Poland, journalist, reporter and human’s rights activist.

Stockholm and Warsaw, November 25, 2020

Online presentation of the AGEMI web platform
25 N: Gamag Europa (GE) i Strajk Kobiet sprzeciwiają się przemocy wobec kobiet i atakom na wolność prasy

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Posts

  • EJES DEL DEBATE PARA LA REGULACIÓN DE LA VIOLENCIA SOCIODIGITAL
  • GAMAG contributes to Inter-American Model Law to address online violence against women
  • Beijing +30: Upholding commitments on “Women and the Media”
  • GAMAG contributes to the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls to the HRC on the concept of Consent in relation to violence against women and girls (I)
  • Gender equality and inclusion in #OurDigitalFuture

Archives

  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • June 2024
  • March 2024
  • January 2024
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • February 2023
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
Theme by Colorlib Powered by WordPress