On 4 September 2026, the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) published its first baseline evaluation report on Ukraine’s implementation of the Istanbul Convention. Public authorities and civil society organisations, including the NGO Women in Media, provided information for the evaluation.
GREVIO is an independent Council of Europe expert body that monitors how states implement the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, known as the Istanbul Convention.
In its report, GREVIO commended Ukraine’s political will and the measures taken to strengthen the protection of women from violence amid Russia’s full-scale war. At the same time, the expert group stressed that the war has significantly increased the risks of gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence and domestic violence.
A separate section of the report addresses the implementation of Article 17 of the Istanbul Convention, which concerns the participation of the private sector and the media in preventing violence against women. Women in Media provided GREVIO with information to support its assessment of Ukraine’s implementation of this article.
Among the positive developments in the media sector, GREVIO highlighted:
- legislative prohibitions on discriminatory content and gender discrimination in advertising;
- the powers of the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine to promote gender equality and protect people from discrimination;
- the regular publication of the Gender Profile of Ukrainian Media study in co-operation with civil society;
- methodological guidance on media coverage of gender equality, sexist stereotypes and violence against women;
- the development of a standard gender equality policy for media outlets and training for journalists on the ethical reporting of violence.
At the same time, GREVIO expressed concern about the widespread online violence faced by Ukrainian women journalists. The report cites data from the Gender Profile of Ukrainian Media 2025: 81% of the women journalists surveyed had experienced online attacks, while only 25% of media outlets had practices in place to respond to such violence.
The expert group stressed the need to encourage media organisations and journalists’ associations to take concrete action against gender-based discrimination, victim-blaming and violations of the privacy of women victims of gender-based violence and their children. Incidents of online violence against women journalists should be properly investigated, and perpetrators should be held accountable.
“It is important to us that GREVIO has not only recognised the problem of online violence against women journalists but has also identified it as an issue related to Ukraine’s implementation of the Istanbul Convention. This means that the safety of women in the media requires not isolated responses but a systematic policy involving the state, law-enforcement agencies, media outlets and professional associations,” Women in Media noted.
Overall, GREVIO positively assessed improvements to Ukrainian legislation, the development of mobile support teams, professional training and co-operation between public authorities and women’s rights organisations. Remaining concerns include lenient sanctions for violence, insufficient protection for children exposed to domestic violence, barriers to reporting domestic and sexual violence, and the inconsistent implementation of the Istanbul Convention across the country.