Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting (SHDM) II: Countering Violence against Women – Everyone’s Responsibility

The meeting will  offer  participating  States,  OSCE  structures,  Partners  for  Co-operation,  and civil  society  a  platform  to  discuss  how   to  strengthen  efforts, monitor and assess progress,  as well as to promote good  practices  for  preventing  and combatting violence against women in the OSCE region. It will provide an opportunity to look into concrete actions to support the implementation of OSCE commitments and national legal and policy frameworks to combat violence against women. The event will also explore how measures to empower women can reduce their vulnerability to all forms of violence. Participants will discuss how participating States can further provide protection and assistance to women victims of violence.

The meeting will address good practices from across the OSCE area, with a focus on the following key areas:

• Addressing Violence against Women – the Responsibility of the State 

• Countering Violence against Women in Public Space 

• Protection from Violence and Empowerment of Women at Work and at Home

The meeting will be attended by the participating States as well as other relevant actors including civil society and international organizations. Recommendations may be addressed to participating States, OSCE institutions, including the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE executive structures, the OSCE at large, other inter-governmental as well as civil society actors in OSCE participating States.

Participants

Representatives of OSCE participating States, OSCE institutions and OSCE executive structures, representatives of inter-governmental organizations, representatives of civil society and researchers from 57 participating States that have relevant experience in the topic are invited to participate in the SHDM. The Partners for Co-operation are invited to attend and contribute with respect to their co-operation and links with the OSCE in the field.

Participation in the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting is free of charge, although all travel and accommodation costs should be borne by participants. Participants are kindly requested to make their own travel and hotel arrangements. You can find a list of a selection of hotels in Vienna below.

Civil society organizations can find more information in the document titled “Information for Civil Society”.

Registration

Participants wishing to attend the meeting are requested to register online at http://meetings.odihr.pl by the deadline of Friday, 22 June 2018 (23.59CET). Important note: registration after this date will be closed and registration on-site will not be available.

Modalities & Logistics

The modalities of the meeting are set out in accordance with the decision of the Permanent Council (PC.DEC/476, 23 May 2002).

The meeting will take place in the Hofburg Congress Centre. On Monday, before the opening plenary side events might take place. Please consult the schedule. The meeting will start on Monday, 2 July at 15:00 with an opening session followed by three working sessions, and the closing session will conclude on Tuesday, 3 July at 17:30. For details please see the General Information and Agenda documents.

The side events might take place on Monday, 2 July between 13:00 and 14:45 and on Tuesday, 3 July, between 13:00 and 14:30 – for details please check the Side Events Schedule on the SHDM website, prior to the meeting.

Interpretation will be provided into the six official OSCE languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.

More information on organization of the sessions, seating, guidelines for debate, display and distribution of documents, logistics, etc. is available in the document General Information.

Side events

Side events may be held during the SHDM. To book a side event, please register first through the ODIHR Registration System (http://meetings.odihr.pl) and then proceed to side event booking. The booking system will be open on Monday, 18 June from 9:00 to 23:59 (CET). Detailed information on side event booking is available in the Side Events Information document.

In case of any questions, you may contact:

Programme matters: Mr. Omer Fisher at omer.fisher@odihr.pl

Coordination of side events: Mr. Ireneusz Stepinski at Ireneusz.Stepinski@odihr.pl   

Registration of participants: Ms. Anna Sierant at anna.sierant@odihr.pl