Prime Minister Alexander De Croo met with a delegation from Amnesty International this afternoon in order to discuss the fight against sexual violence.
“He told us that his government is going to increase budgets for the fight against sexual violence, comparing the phenomenon to a pandemic which therefore requires significant resources,” said Zoé Spriet-Mezoued, campaign and advocacy coordinator for Amnesty International Francophone Belgium.
The organisation presented De Croo with a petition calling for action against sexual violence that accrued more than 50,500 signatures.
De Croo visited the Center for the Care of Sexual Violence (CPVS) in Ghent this morning, on International Women’s Day.
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The Amnesty International delegation appreciated hearing Belgium's Prime Minister assure them that the fight against sexual violence is a priority of his government.
Stéphanie Jacquet-Parienté, lawyer at SOS Viol (which provides services for victims of sexual violence), and Philippe Hensmans, director of the Belgian French-speaking section of Amnesty International, urged the De Croo administration to “put in place a specific, sufficient budget” for combatting this issue.
Their two entities also hope that the new National Action Plan to Combat All Forms of Gender-Based Violence (PAN) will be both concrete and ambitious.
Helen Lyons
The Brussels Times
