The European Commission, as part of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, highlighted the importance of ending gender-based violence with a "Stop Violence Against Women Now!" panel organised in cooperation with the Gender Equality Platform, KAYAD, SOROV and SOS Children’s Village. The panel took place at EU Programme Support Office, Nicosia on 25 November with the participation of local and international speakers who presented topics such as EU’s policy on ending violence against women, best practices from EU countries on ending gender based violence, implementations in the Turkish Cypriot community and recommendations, local experiences in women’s support initiatives, and the presentation of research results on violence against women in the Turkish Cypriot community. The speakers, Violeta Neubauer, Hatice Düzgün, and Mine Atlı discussed the issues after the opening speeches made by Mrs.Meral Akıncı, Mr.Timo Heino and Ms.Yolanda Valassopoulou.

On the same day the European Commission launched the new EU-wide campaign to end violence against women. This campaign, supported by European Commissioner for Justice Vera Jourová, is part of the Commissions' efforts to combat gender-based violence. The aim is to raise awareness on the issue of violence against women in all of its forms (domestic violence, violence in public spaces, at work) in the EU. Violence against women does not only affect women's health and well-being, but it can hamper women's access to employment, thereby negatively affecting their financial independence and the economy in general. One in three women in the EU has experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15; 75 % of women in a professional job or in top management have experienced sexual harassment. One in ten women has experienced sexual harassment or stalking through new technologies. Gender-based violence is a brutal form of discrimination and a violation of the victim’s fundamental rights. It is both a cause and a consequence of inequalities between women and men.