Roundtable at the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) of the Council of Europe, 9 October 2023, on the topic:

“Gender equality is a Human Rights issue. How can we join forces to promote and protect it today?”

The Conference of INGOs at the Council of Europe (CoE) started their Autumn session with a high level roundtable discussion on the topic “Gender Equality is a Human Rights issue. How can we join forces to promote and protect it today?” It was highlighted that gender equality is a cross cutting task in the entire work of the Conference of INGOs. The panel was organized by the Gender Equality-Committee and co-chaired by Anita Schnetzer-Spranger, Chair of the ZI CoE Committee and Zonta representative at the CoE.

Gender equality is central to the protection of women’s rights and an important policy goal of the Council of Europe. It is a transversal matter, touching all spheres of life. The Conference of INGOs’ common objective is to make the INGO Committees cooperate with each other on cross cutting topics. For the organizing Gender Equality-Committee, this means contributing to gender mainstreaming and supporting other INGO Committees to observe the gender perspective in their work.

The roundtable session provided a platform for discussion and exchange of competencies. The participants stressed the necessity and renewed the statement that every working group and committee at the Council of Europe is including gender equality aspects in their deliberations and outputs and that the defense of gender equality must be a joint task of all and everyone.

Respect and full compliance with human rights will only be a reality if men and women have the same rights and the same opportunities. The roundtable session on gender equality strengthened the Conference of INGOs as a relevant and significant part in the Council of Europe

16 October 2023