Violence against women convention
Senator Noone urges Ireland to sign the Council of Europe convention on violence against women and domestic violence, citing concerns about online content promoting abuse.
I urge the Minister to join the 29 member states of the European Union that have signed the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. In this context, I welcome the announcement that Facebook has finally bowed to pressure concerning the potential for content on its site to promote violence against women. The company confirmed last Tuesday that it would remove supposedly humorous content endorsing rape and domestic violence. An example of this was a picture of Rihanna's face covered in bruises - I hope it is acceptable to mention the likes of Rihanna on the Order of Business - with the caption "Chris Brown's Greatest Hits". That is supposed to be funny but is actually horrendous. Facebook has also agreed to update its policies on hate speech and increase the accountability of content creators. This development marks an important victory for various women's rights activists. It is difficult to comprehend how such offensive material was allowed to remain on the site. I applaud this development in the light of the disturbing statistic that one in five women in this country has been subjected to domestic violence. On more than 2,500 occasions women and their children could not be accommodated-----
Comment on this
We had a debate on some of these issues recently, but I was anxious to raise this particular matter. I urge the Minister for Justice and Equality to join the 29 EU member states which have signed the Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.