NORTH EAST MEP CALLS FOR EUROPEAN YEAR OF COMBATING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 23rd Jul 2010

A North East MEP is supporting moves in the European Parliament to designate a year focused on combating violence against women. Liberal Democrat MEP Fiona Hall says the level of violence against women is simply unacceptable.

An estimated 20 to 25% of women in the European Union suffer physical violence in their adult life and over 10% are victims of sexual violence. In the UK, an estimated three million women experience physical violence, rape, forced marriage, genital mutilation, trafficking or some other form of violence each year.

Said Fiona:

"This is a real problem across Europe and sadly the North East is no exception.

"It is very worrying, indeed, that one in seven people in Britain believe it is acceptable in some circumstances for a man to hit his wife of girlfriend, according to a recent study.

"Violence against women is a serious crime and we need to have an open and public debate on how best to tackle it - by men and women.

"This is why I support moves to designate an official European Year of Combating Violence against Women."