Women Against Violence Europe

The inspiration for WAVE began in 1993 at the World Conference on Human Rights, which was held in Vienna. The conference explicitly named violence against women as a violation of human rights, which was outlined in the resulting Vienna Declaration. The Declaration defined violence against women, and called for states to take concrete steps to prevent it. Following this, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in December 1993. In October 1994, women gathered at the Vienna NGO Forum to prepare for the 4th UN Conference on Women in Beijing, where the idea of creating a European network dedicated to eliminating violence against women appeared. At the Beijing Conference from September 4 until 15 1995, progress was made on forming the network and initiators ran a working group, with the Platform for Action being developed as a result. The WAVE founding group held its constituent session during the World Conference and, in October 1996, WAVE held its first networking session in Utrecht. The group was originally named the “Information Centre Against Violence” before changing its title to “Women Against Violence” and then “Women Against Violence Europe”.[2]

The organization's first meeting took place at the Intervention Centre Against Domestic Violence in Vienna in December 1996, and in 1997 WAVE held its first conference in Belgrade, Serbia. WAVE's work has been supported by the European Commission since 1997. In 2014, WAVE became a legal entity in Austria.

The network's aims are to promote and strengthen the human rights of women and children, specifically by preventing violence against these groups, and to eliminate all forms of violence against women in order to attain gender equality. WAVE seeks to reach these goals by empowering other organizations fighting for women's rights, especially those providing direct services and aid to women impacted by violence.[6]

The WAVE Network is largely funded by the Operating Grant given by the European Union and other grants, including OAK Foundation, UN Women, Open Society Foundation, Federal Ministry, Labour, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection, Federal Minister for women, families and youth, Frauen Stadt Wien MA57. WAVE also receives funding from an annual membership fee.

Every other year since 2008, WAVE has been publishing the so-called Country Reports. The Country Reports inform about the situation of women's specialist support services in Europe. As a guideline to measure progress and deficits the standards defined in the Istanbul Convention is being used. The extensive data collection gives insight into the accessibility and operation of national women's helplines, women's shelters, women's centers and specialist services for survivors of sexualized violence in Europe. The country profiles give detailed information about the status of each country of the large majority of European states (46 states).[15] Data is collected by an online questionnaire that fulfill minimum standards for data collection required by the Istanbul Convention. Data are collected directly from WAVE Country Delegates every two years.[16]

Furthermore, WAVE publishes audiovisuals, a bi-monthly newsletter, policy and thematic papers, research reports and training manuals. There is also the WAVE blog, WAVE fact sheets and WAVE statistics, all accessible through the main website. WAVE publishes a magazine called Fempower, whose articles appear on the WAVE blog.[17] In April 2020 WAVE inaugurated a podcast series called “What the WAVE?” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The podcast is thought to be an alternative informative source from a feminist angle and features inspirational stories of feminist icons. The podcast is advertised on WAVE's social media. WAVE spreads its information on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.[18]

WAVE hosts an annual conference whose theme and location change every year:

2020 – “Structural inequality: the root of the global pandemic of violence against women” (Online conference)

2019 – “25 Years of Defending Women’s Human Rights: Milestones and Visions for the Future” (Tallinn, Estonia)

2018 – “The Importance of Women’s Specialist Services in Tackling Violence Against Women” (Valletta, Malta)

2017 – “From Backlash to Effective Response: Step Up Together for the Protection of Women and Girls from all Forms of Violence” (Budapest, Hungary)

2016 – “Step Up Europe – Unite to End Violence Against Women and Their Children” (Berlin, Germany)

2015 – “Women’s Collective Strength to Stop Violence! Conference to Strengthen the WAVE Network” (The Hague, The Netherlands)

2014 – “Further Perspectives on Preventing Violence Against Women and Their Children” (Vienna, Austria)

2013 – “To Live Free from Violence – A Human Right for Women and Their Children or a Postcode Lottery?” (Sofia, Bulgaria)

2012 – “Whose Voices? Whose Needs? Whose Decisions?” (London, England)

2011 – “Strengthening the Efforts to prevent Violence against Women and their Children in Europe and in the Mediterranean Region” (Rome, Italy)

2010 – “Europe United: Ending Violence Against Women – Towards Better Laws, Policies and Support Services” (Warsaw, Poland)

2009 – “Stop Violence Against Women and Children” (Vienna, Austria)

2008 – “Role of Women’s NGOs in Preventing and Eliminating Violence Against Women” (Košice, Slovakia)

2007 – “Stop Domestic Violence Against Women” (Vilnius, Lithuania)

2006 – (Lisbon, Portugal)

2005 – (Copenhagen, Denmark) **held with LOKK

2004 – (Vienna, Austria)

2003 – “Wave violence goodbye! New strategies from a feminist perspective” (Dunajská Streda, Slovakia)[19]

WAVE also conducts training workshops and study visits for member countries.[19]

• Civil Society Strengthening Platform (CSSP)

• DIS.CO

• Fempower Magazine

• Step-Up Campaign – Youth Ambassadors

• TISOVA

• WAVE Blog

• WHOSEFVA

• MARVOW

• CYBERSAFE