The WAVE Network urges the European Commission to move from words to action in tackling violence against women and girls. Fragmented awareness campaigns are not enough—we need binding EU policies that make violence a Eurocrime, protect the most vulnerable including migrant and refugee women, and put feminist civil society organisations at the heart of change. Only strong, coordinated, and gender-responsive measures will ensure true human security and a future free from gender-based violence.
The Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) Network, representing 186 members and around 1,600 women’s organisations, welcomes the European Commission’s consultation on the next EU Gender Equality Strategy and calls for a comprehensive, transformative approach to preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls (VAWG). While the EU has acknowledged prevention as a priority, current efforts remain fragmented and insufficiently coordinated across all levels of prevention. WAVE stresses that an effective strategy must apply the three essential and interconnected pillars of prevention in a systematic way: primary, secondary, and tertiary.
Despite strong research showing that prevention will be ineffective if any of these layers is ignored, there continues to be an overreliance on fragmented awareness-raising campaigns as the default prevention tool. This approach falls short of producing lasting change. Many campaigns lack targeted messaging, coordination, and sustained impact, often duplicating efforts and failing to engage the wider public or shift entrenched behaviours. Too often, they serve as substitutes for comprehensive policy solutions, obscuring the structural inequalities and patriarchal norms that enable violence.
WAVE calls for new policy initiatives to make violence against women and girls an explicit Eurocrime in EU law through the expansion of Article 83(1) TFEU, enabling binding, harmonised criminal justice responses across all Member States. Recognising VAWG as a Eurocrime would not only create uniform standards for prevention, protection, and prosecution but also send a strong, unambiguous message of zero tolerance from the EU.
WAVE also underlines the indispensable role that feminist civil society organisations play—not only in prevention and advocacy, but also as watchdogs, educators, and providers of specialist services. Despite their critical contributions, they face shrinking resources and increasing backlash. The European Commission must guarantee sustainable funding and protection for these organisations so they can continue their work, shape prevention strategies, and support victims and communities. Their expertise is vital to drafting meaningful laws, facilitating implementation of key directives at national level, and closing gender gaps across Europe.
The situation of migrant and refugee women remains especially precarious in the fight against VAWG. WAVE highlights their disproportionate exposure to violence and the systemic barriers—linguistic, financial, social, and institutional—that hinder their right to protection and support. EU policies must move beyond generic gender mainstreaming and specifically prioritise the rights, safety, and empowerment of migrant and refugee women.
Finally, WAVE calls for a feminist approach to security, urging that EU preparedness strategies—including responses to crises, conflict, and natural disasters—systematically consider gender-specific vulnerabilities, the unique experiences of women and girls, and the necessity of embedding women’s participation in planning and response. Human security must be at the heart of these efforts, ensuring freedom from fear, want, and all forms of violence. This approach recognises that VAWG is both a grave breach of human rights and a threat to the security and well-being of societies as a whole.
WAVE concludes that the next EU Gender Equality Strategy must go beyond symbolic gestures, delivering enforceable, gender-responsive actions and resources that address the rights and needs of all women and girls—including the most marginalised. Only this path will ensure real human security and a future free from all forms of gender-based violence.
To read the full submission please click here.
Sincerely,
the WAVE Network
