The European Parliament adopted under Rule 123 of its Rules of Procedure a declaration on establishing a European Year of Combating Violence against Women emphasising the importance of combating violence against women in order to help achieve gender equality. It calls on the Commission to establish, within the next five years, a European Year of Combating Violence against Women. Parliament recalls that it has called on several occasions for a European Year of Combating Violence against Women to be established, in particular in its resolution on equality between women and men in 2009.

The declaration notes that the expression "violence against women" denotes any act of gender-based violence causing or liable to cause women harm or physical, sexual or psychological suffering, including the simple fact of threatening such acts or the arbitrary limitation or deprivation of freedom, whether in the public sphere or in their personal lives. Such violence against women is a major obstacle to gender equality and is one of the most widespread human rights violations, knowing no geographical, financial, cultural or social barriers. This is a critical problem in the European Union, where 20 to 25% of women suffer physical violence in their adult life and over 10 % are the victims of sexual violence.