Today, on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we call on the European Union and EU countries to take strong action to protect the rights, safety, and dignity of women and girls with disabilities.
This call is supported by the findings of our recently published Alternative Report to the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO). The report highlights persistent gaps in the EU’s policies and legislation, who fail to address violence against women and girls with disabilities.
Women and girls with disabilities represent nearly one-third of all women in the European Union. Yet they remain disproportionately exposed to violence, discrimination, and exclusion. They are two to five times more likely to experience violence compared with women without disabilities. They face additional risks of forced sterilisation, institutionalisation, social isolation, and barriers to justice.
These are no accident: they are the consequences of policy gaps and the absence of meaningful inclusion of women and girls with disabilities.
The Istanbul Convention and the CRPD
The EU acceded to the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (also called Istanbul Convention) in 2024. In the same year, it adopted its first law on combating violence against women. Now those commitments must become a reality.
The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on violence against Women (GREVIO) will have its first evaluation of the EU to see what is being done to comply with this Convention.
In evaluating the EU’s work on violence against women, the experts should remember that the EU and its Members are bound by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It means that States must ensure the full development, empowerment, and equality of women and girls with disabilities (Article 6) and to protect them from exploitation, violence, and abuse (Article 16).
Yet, in its 2025 Concluding Observations, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities expressed several concerns:
- EU gender equality policies, including the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, lack sufficient protection and focus on women and girls with disabilities.
- Forced sterilisation, rape, sexual harassment, and other forms of violence are still not explicitly prohibited in EU law.
- Data on violence against women and girls with disabilities remain extremely limited.
- The voices of women with disabilities are not systematically included in EU policymaking.
We urge Council of Europe’s experts, the EU and its Member States to clearly address and solve these issues when implementing the Istanbul Convention.
What our report to GREVIO revealed
Our alternative report highlights serious shortcomings in EU action on violence against women and domestic violence:
1.Persistent violence and harmful practices
One of the most alarming findings is the continued legality of forced sterilisation in at least 12 EU Member States. This practice is a severe violation of bodily autonomy and human rights, yet the EU has still not required its prohibition
2. Lack of inclusive policies
While the EU has taken important steps, – legal instruments still fail to address the realities of women and girls with disabilities. The absence of a ban on forced sterilisation, actions to ensure accessibility of services, or the adoption of disability-inclusive prevention and awareness strategies leaves many women and girls with disabilities unprotected.
3. Insufficient data
Despite progress by Eurostat and the European Institute for Gender Equality, there is no systematic collection of data disaggregated by type of disability, nor data on violence occurring in institutions or other closed settings.
4. Barriers to protection and access to justice
The new Directive includes essential provisions on accessibility, training for justice professionals, and disability-sensitive guidelines. However, these gains risk remaining on paper without strong monitoring, guidance, and involvement of organisations of persons with disabilities
A call to the EU: inclusion is not optional
We urge the EU to take immediate and concrete action:
- To end forced sterilisation in all Member States, which would include prevention, prohibition, sanction and remedies, with no exceptions based on disability.
- Meaningfully include women with disabilities and their organisations in the design, implementation, and monitoring of all gender equality and anti-violence policies.
- Ensure full accessibility of all protection, support, and justice services.
- Ensure disability-inclusive implementation of the Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence.
- Nominate an EU coordinator on ending all forms of violence against women, who would also address the challenges faced by women and girls with disabilities
- Collect and publish disaggregated data on all forms of violence, including in institutions.
- Address the intersecting discrimination that makes women with disabilities more vulnerable to violence, poverty, and exploitation.
On this International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment: no woman or girl with disabilities should be left behind.